Building partnerships to engage communities in preparedness and early warning systems in the Pacific

Between 2014 and 2016, Red Cross National Societies worked with communities, governments, and regional organizations to develop and implement an “early warning early action” approach in eight island nations in the Pacific.  The Finnish-Pacific (or FINPAC) project brought together relevant stakeholders at the regional, national, island, community, and household levels to develop community early warning systems (CEWS) unique to the context of each respective community. 

The project also explored the feasibility of using forecast-based financing to support preparedness actions as part of a CEWS.  Traditional financing mechanisms that governments use for disasters cannot support an early action system because they generally withhold funding until a certain impact threshold is reached. 

FINPAC has helped communities increase their preparedness and response capacity, resulted in partnerships that provide a springboard for continued collaboration, and has helped to raise the profile of the Red Cross in the Pacific region.

https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/2018-asian-ministerial-conference-disaster-risk-redu…

2018 Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction