Reaching the Last Mile: Evidence and Practice for Inclusive Early Warning Systems
About the series
Early warning systems have expanded significantly in recent years, yet coverage alone does not guarantee protection. Formal coverage does not ensure reach, and even where systems exist, warnings may not be perceived, understood, or acted upon. Barriers related to identity, ability, geography, and circumstance often leave the most vulnerable without access to life-saving information.
To help close this gap, GDPC supported multi-country research exploring the inclusivity, accessibility, and effectiveness of EWS for "last-mile" communities — groups and populations that are geographically remote, socially marginalized, or otherwise underserved by formal systems and services. Building on this work, GDPC published a meta-synthesis report that consolidates findings across these studies. The report provides geographically diverse evidence base on last-mile EWS, drawing on research from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
This four-part webinar series will share the key findings and recommendations from this research and create space for while also creating space for direct engagement between the researchers and a broader audience of practitioners, policymakers, and fellow researchers. The four sessions move through the evidence in sequence: who is reached and who is not; where the system fails to see; what communities already know; and how to translate warnings into action.
This research was funded with UK International Development from the UK government. The views expressed in the research and in this series do not necessarily reflect the UK government's official policies.
Webinar Sessions
Each session runs 75 minutes with researcher presentations, followed by moderated discussion and audience Q&A. Register separately for each session.
Webinar 01
When the warning doesn’t reach: who falls through the cracks.
How disability, illness, gender, and cultural context shape who gets reached by EWS
Early warning systems are often evaluated by whether they reach a geographic area, but reaching a place is not the same as reaching the people in it. This session examines how disability, chronic illness, gender norms, and cultural context determine whether warnings are actually received, understood, and acted upon. Through cases spanning sensory and physical disability, non-communicable disease, and gendered access barriers, it shows how communities formally "covered" by national EWS can be functionally excluded by the very ways warnings are designed and delivered — and what inclusive design would require.
Researchers presenting
Webinar 02
Where the system doesn't see: geography, identity, and access
How place and identity shape last-mile access to warnings
When a warning system reaches a region but overlooks the communities within it, what does meaningful coverage actually require? This session explores how rural isolation, urban informality, ethnic and cultural identity, and governance gaps create last-mile exclusion even where EWS infrastructure formally exists. Drawing on cases from contexts as varied as remote rural Europe and urban West Africa, it challenges what we count as "coverage" and asks what it takes for EWS to engage with the social and spatial realities of the people it is meant to serve.
Researchers presenting
Webinar 03
What communities already know: indigenous and first-mile knowledge
What people use when formal EWS is absent, delayed, or distrusted
When official early warning systems are absent, delayed, or distrusted, communities don't wait — they draw on their own knowledge. This session explores the indigenous, occupational, and place-based expertise that communities use to anticipate hazards, and what formal EWS designers can learn from it. Through cases spanning pastoral peoples, traditional fishing communities, and last-mile rural contexts, it challenges the assumption that EWS effectiveness depends primarily on the strength of formal systems and shows how community-led early action, grounded in local knowledge, can fill the gaps formal systems leave behind.
Researchers presenting
Webinar 04
From warning to action: design, partnerships, and practice
How warnings translate — or fail to translate — into early action
A warning that arrives but doesn't produce action is a warning that failed. This session focuses on the operational choices, partnerships, and enabling conditions that determine whether communities actually act when a warning reaches them. Through cases spanning flood-prone river communities, urban heat in informal settlements, and participatory EWS design, it explores how government coordination, humanitarian partnerships, and community engagement shape what happens between a warning and a response.
Researchers presenting
