CAS: Anticipatory Humanitarian Action

The demands on security and crisis management for German NGOs are high. In this course we will have a look at our own security and crisis management concepts and benefit from the knowledge of our experienced trainers and the good practices of other participants. You will register for an online series including two online seminars and (if the situation allows) one face-to-face seminar on security and crisis management. In between, you will apply your knowledge by discussing each others’ security and crisis management concept with one other participant in a peer-to-peer phase.

The first two online sessions will be held on 09 and 23 February. The final event of the series will take place on 16 and 17 March and will be conducted either online or -depending on the pandemic situation- in Hannover. The course is taught in English and includes regular breaks.

INFORMATION: This course is booked up, please register for a different training.

Mechanisms for anticipatory humanitarian action, such as Forecast-based Financing (FbF), enable early action before extreme weather events occur through the use of forecasting models and risk data as well as the rapid availability of funds. In this way, humanitarian consequences of disasters can ideally be mitigated and the response time and efficiency of humanitarian efforts can be improved.

In this three-day online course, you will gain an overview of the opportunities and limitations of anticipatory humanitarian action using Forecast-based Financing as an example. You will learn about existing examples of the use of extreme weather forecasts and become familiar with the basics of setting thresholds ("trigger levels") to enable anticipatory humanitarian action.

The training sessions will be held in English and include regular breaks.

Anticipatory action means acting prior to the onset of predictable hazards and thus, prevent their impact, if possible, and reduce human suffering and losses. It has only been a few years since humanitarian agencies started to develop systems to take action based on forecasts and risk analysis. Hence, Early Actions are a core component of anticipatory humanitarian action as their implementation aims at reducing the impact of extreme events. This course provides an overview of early actions in some of those projects from the Red Cross Red Crescent movement as well as from different NGOs.

Hence, you will be introduced to the overall concept of Anticipatory Action and its current funding mechanisms, but the focus will be on the selection and planning of early actions for various hazards (e.g., short onset such as floods but also long onset such as droughts) by taking into account different lead times and identified impacts. In this course, you will learn about key principles for identifying Early Actions as well as tools for prioritizing, planning and evaluating their effectiveness. Overall, examples will be taken from both, larger humanitarian agencies such as German Red Cross and Welthungerhilfe, as well as smaller NGOs who have a stronger focus on community-based approaches. The training is part of aha's certification scheme and can be credited towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in "Anticipatory Humanitarian Action".

Projects of anticipatory humanitarian assistance are currently mostly limited to extreme weather events, but the approach can also be useful in conflict situations. In this course, you will explore whether and how existing approaches to anticipatory humanitarian assistance can be transferred to conflict contexts and what opportunities (and risks) exist in linking them to crisis monitoring tools. The training is exploratory in nature.

The training is part of aha's certification scheme and can be credited towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in "Anticipatory Humanitarian Action". The course is planned as an online event in October 2021 and will include regular breaks. Further information and details on the registration period will follow shortly via our newsletter.

Climate change has brought increasing number and change in climate and weather extremes that may cause disasters. Anticipating the climate change impacts and taking appropriate actions to manage the risk of extreme events has become necessary within humanitarian action.

This modul provides basic foundation and understanding of climate change adaptation, especially looking at managing of risk and anticipatory action towards climate-related extreme events. Several speakers from international organizations / research institutions will talk about the relevant key concepts and approaches in the thematic areas, which will be followed by discussions and group exercises on the topics and relevant case studies.

The course is planned for October 2021, more details will be provided.

The use of geospatial data in humanitarian aid and crisis management holds great potential. This course teaches you the most important applications of geospatial data in humanitarian aid. You will get an overview of existing data sources, including user-generated data such as OpenStreetMap. You will learn how to use this data systematically, with a particular focus on the use of geospatial data in the context of risk analysis to provide needs-based and anticipatory humanitarian assistance. Within this module, you will also learn basic skills in using the open-source software QGIS.

The training is part of aha's certification scheme and can be credited towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in "Anticipatory Humanitarian Action". The course is planned as a face-to-face event in January 2022, but due to the dynamic developments in the context of the Corona pandemic, it might be changed to an online-only format. Further information will follow shortly.

The visualization of geo-coded data in maps offers significant advantages for humanitarian interventions in general and risk analysis in particular. In this course, you will receive an advanced introduction to QGIS, building on the basic knowledge acquired in the training course "The Use of Geo-Data in Humanitarian Action". The focus of this training is on humanitarian risk analysis and the creation of so-called impact maps in the field of anticipatory humanitarian aid. Supported by various practical examples, your proficiency in the use of QGIS will be consolidated.

The training is part of aha's certification scheme and can be credited towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in "Anticipatory Humanitarian Action". The course is planned as a face-to-face event in April 2022, but due to the dynamic developments in the context of the Corona pandemic, it might be changed to an online-only format. Further information will follow shortly.