The Regional Dialogue Platform in Central America: a forum to further integrate risk management and anticipatory action

The last decade has seen an exceptional shift in risk management: from reaction to anticipation. Acting before a disaster saves lives and helps to build resilience, and now, anticipatory action is not only a recognized humanitarian approach, but is increasingly being integrated into the operations of the humanitarian system.

Under the motto ‘Towards a more local and integrated anticipatory action’, the Regional Dialogue Platform in Central America will promote the further integration of this approach into national risk management systems in the region. Bringing together 200 actors from national risk management systems and the anticipatory action sector, as well as partners with technical, operational and financial resources and experience, it will take place from 31 October to 2 November 2023 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

This year’s event is being held alongside the Mitch +25 forum, which will convene regional leaders to discuss the progress made and challenges that persist after 25 years of the impact of the phenomenon that forever transformed the region. Claudia Herrera, the executive secretary of the Coordination Center for the Prevention of Disasters in Central America and the Dominican Republic (CEPREDENAC), has highlighted the importance of holding these events jointly, which will allow progress on the regional roadmap to continue strengthening comprehensive risk management in Central American governments through anticipatory action, and in a safe, sustainable and resilient way.

The agenda will include plenary sessions, workshops and parallel sessions on specific technical issues, as well as a dialogue around a proposal for recommendations for anticipatory action by Central American governments. For more details, please read the concept note for the event.

About the Dialogue Platforms

The Dialogue Platforms are organized at a global and regional level by the Anticipation Hub – an initiative of the German Red Cross, the IFRC and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre – to facilitate exchange and learning about anticipatory action initiatives in the face of disasters and crises. The 2023 Regional Dialogue Platform in Central America is co-organized by CEPREDENAC, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Honduran Red Cross, the German Red Cross and the World Food Programme (WFP). It is financially supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Previous Dialogue Platforms in the Americas have been held in Arequipa, Peru, in 2018; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in 2019; Panama City in 2021; and Antigua, Guatemala, in 2022.