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".

Anticipatory Action means acting prior to the onset of predictable hazards and, thus, aiming at reducing their impact and overall reducing human suffering and losses. Programs and projects of anticipatory action are currently being implemented in non-conflict context and mostly focused on extreme events linked to weather- and climate-related hazards, however it is evident that places with a high likelihood to be impacted by climate change are the ones affected by armed conflict and violence, which poses major challenges in the humanitarian sector and it is likely to disproportionately affected conflict affected populations severely. In this course, you will explore the potential of setting up AA in situations of armed conflict by looking at two perspectives: a. AA for climate related hazards in context already affected by conflict and b. the anticipation of humanitarian impacts of conflict. You will find out which opportunities, challenges and risks lie in setting AA system for both objectives. The training has an exploratory character and is aimed at participants with previous knowledge in the field of FbF and anticipatory action.

After introducing the concept of Anticipatory Action, current funding mechanisms and its challenges in conflict contexts, the course focuses on existing approaches how to operate in conflict contexts, different actors and their positions. You will furthermore identify options to apply the acquired knowledge in their immediate working environment. Examples will be taken from both larger humanitarian agencies such as Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, UN agencies, the START Network as well as smaller NGOs. The training is part of aha's certification scheme and can be credited towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in "Anticipatory Humanitarian Action".

The requirements for security and crisis management in German NGOs are high. In this course, you will take a look at your own security and crisis management concepts and benefit from the knowledge of experienced trainers and the experiences of other participants. In two online and two face-to-face sessions, you will learn how to improve own security concepts and crisis management, how to safeguard the ownership of staff and how to involve partner organizations. Between the sessions, you are invited to discuss their security and crisis management concepts in peer-to-peer meetings. After the sessions, you can take part in individual coaching with the trainers.

The first block of events will take place online on October 14 and 28. The last part of the event series will take place on November 8 and 9 and is planned as a face-to-face event in Berlin. The event will take place observing current hygiene regulations and protective measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Should the situation change, we reserve the right to hold the seminar days on 8 and 9 November as an online format. The training is part of aha's certificate program and can be credited towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Anticipatory Humanitarian Action.

Anticipatory action seeks to reduce the negative impacts of disasters by providing assistance to populations before predicted crises. It means acting prior to the onset of predictable hazards and, thus, aiming at reducing their impact and overall reducing 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, you will be introduced to the overall concept of Anticipatory Action. However, the focus of this course will be on geoinformation.

The use of geodata in (anticipatory) humanitarian action has great potential. This course teaches the most important applications of geospatial data in humanitarian action. 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 in order to provide needs-based and anticipatory humanitarian assistance. Within this module, you will learn the basics of 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 will take place online in January 2022 and includes regular breaks.

Geodata, GIS and remote sensing are of increasing importance in the humanitarian context and are currently being used more and more intensively in the field of anticipatory humanitarian action. Participants of this advanced course have the opportunity to get to know them in an applied way. The training starts with an introduction to the concepts of anticipatory humanitarian action and the link to geospatial data and related analyses. Using application examples, the use of raster data and analyses, accessibility analyses as well as local/community mapping approaches and their potential for the various areas of the Early Action Protocols are illustrated.The course is intended for all those who already have some experience with the use of GIS and geodata as well as participants of the training "The use of geoinformation in (anticipatory) humanitarian action" in January 2022.

The training is part of aha's certification scheme and can be credited towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in "Anticipatory Humanitarian Action". The event is scheduled as an online event from 14 to 25 March and includes regular breaks. At the bottom of this course page you can find a sheet with further information on minimum system requirements and the installation of QGIS, the software that we will predominantly use in this course.