From Early Warning to Early Action in Somalia: What Can we Learn to Support Early Action to Mitigate Humanitarian Crises?

Author(s)
Feeny, E.
Publication language
English
Pages
44pp
Date published
02 Oct 2017
Type
Research, reports and studies
Keywords
Early warning, Disaster preparedness, resilience and risk reduction, Accountability to affected populations (AAP)
Countries
Somalia
Organisations
Oxfam

More than three years after it was initiated in the aftermath of the 2011 famine, the early-warning, early-action trigger mechanism for Somalia remains a work in progress. This paper looks at how the mechanism has functioned during the 2016/7 drought crisis response, uncovers a widespread consensus about the value of the tool, and explores the challenges involved in developing the dashboard, generating support and putting in place an accountability framework. It looks for learning around the effectiveness of such tools, which could potentially support similar models in other countries. This paper also highlights suggestions from a range of stakeholders regarding actions that might support greater buy-in to the dashboard and broader collaboration at all levels, helping ensure the mechanism meets its aim of facilitating decision making for early action, thereby better protecting the people of Somalia.