How can we bridge the disconnects between food security, climatic and natural disaster Early Warning Systems and the anticipatory actions that pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the Horn of Africa can take to overcome recurring shocks and threats to their lives and livelihoods?

Applications are closed

Background & Detail:

Early warning (EW) and anticipatory action (AA) are fundamental to stronger drought resilience that guides early actions to prepare for, respond to and recover from shocks. Improving the links between the two (so appropriate actions follow predicted impacts) is central to securing the livelihoods of pastoralist communities.

Different countries use different tools and approaches to document and prepare for the onset of droughts. Since early warning systems have a good track record of predicting emerging food crises, EW systems are widely used to prepare and plan for humanitarian and other responses. However, there is a poor record of these warnings actually triggering timely anticipatory actions. Thus, the effectiveness of Early Warning Systems (EWS) to translate warnings into effective action remains low in many arid and semi-arid parts of the region.

Recent efforts to overcome late responses to hazards are increasingly based on linking forecast data and information with pre-agreed actions and funding. However, the disconnects between early warnings and anticipatory actions results in ineffective drought responses – by the many organizations set up to address these issues as well as by dryland communities themselves.

The overall aim of this impact collaboration is to propose changes to the end-to-end processes linking the products of Early Warning Systems (their data, information, analysis and predictive impacts) with decision-making at community levels, so pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the Horn of Africa can better manage seasonal variability and its effects on their food security, nutrition and livelihoods.

Desired Outcome:

Resulting from this collaboration, pastoral and agro-pastoral communities will be able to take advantage of more relevant and reliable information, data and other products of Early Warning Systems, applying them as appropriate in their own decisions and anticipatory actions.

The project should:

• Characterize and understand the needs and preferences of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities for data and other products of Early Warning Systems and how trust and other factors determine the early and anticipatory actions taken by local communities.

• Examine the drivers of anticipatory action and how these are shaped by operational programming, EWS and uncertainties in prediction and forecasted impacts.

• Determine how the data and products of Early Warning Systems can be most effectively linked and tailored to meet the needs and local contexts of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities and decision-makers.

• Advocate for sustainable change (whether that be process, system, data, organisational or behavioural) in the actions of agencies working to deliver Early Warning Systems and anticipatory action for food security in the Horn of East Africa

Skill Sets:

Below are the broad skill sets needed to meet this challenge. It is likely that there may be additional skills required. We encourage applicants to propose capabilities that may lie out with the work packages below, as these will also be considered when forming a collaboration.

1. Data Visualisation

The collaborative team will need expertise in data visualisation, using communication skills to thoroughly understand the end user and data producer’s combined needs. There is a need to simplify complex data sets into consumable information for actionable insight. Information needs to be tailored to contexts, and impact needs to be understood.

2. Dryland Systems and Pastoralism

The collaborative team will need expertise in the pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities to help with community/stakeholder engagement, defining the needs, understanding impacts on livelihoods, and understanding contexts and local realities.

3. Disaster Preparedness and Anticipatory Action

The collaborative team will need contextual expertise in anticipatory action and the impact, interactions and interfaces between early warning systems on anticipatory action. There is a need to understand operational planning, resourcing and capabilities.

4. Climate Science

The collaborative team will need contextual expertise in the domain of climate prediction and forecasting, data collection in manned and automatic weather stations and earth observation data.

5. Spatial Data Analysis

The collaborative team will need expertise in spatial data analysis to enable understanding of the mapping of climate risk, vulnerability and exposure.

6. Community Led Facilitation

The collaborative team will need expertise in community led facilitation, information gathering, reporting and ensuring inclusivity.

7. Data Engineering, Collection and Analysis

The collaborative team will need expertise in understanding the depth and breadth of the data sets under consideration and advise on ways in which they can be brought together to generate meaningful insight.

Funding Availability:

For this challenge question, The Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action can fund project partners a portion of up to £148,000.

The funding available to individual organisations will be dependent on the agreed contribution to the project once the collaboration has been formed and delivery plan approved.

We welcome applications from all sectors (private/public/third / academia) and encourage submissions from any team looking to do any in-kind Data for Good work to develop their expertise. If possible, we encourage private sector partners to provide time pro-bono.

Funding is available at 70% of the total contribution with a 30% match funded through in-kind contributions.

This is an experimental development project and VAT will not apply to any agreed funding.

Academic partners will receive 80% FEC.

Timescales & Deliverability:

We would aim for the collaboration to begin work on a project by August/September 2023.

We envisage that a project addressing this challenge question should take approximately 18 months.

The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2023 with the first collaboration workshop taking place week commencing 12 June 2023.

Stakeholders:

Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation)

Save the Children

UK Met Office

ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute)

NDMA (National Drought Management Authority)

FEWS NET (Famine Early Warning System Network)

ICPAC (IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre)