Telling an ongoing story for Forecast-based Financing for Drought in Southern Africa

Anna Lena Huhn, German Red Cross, Regional Project Delegate Southern Africa and Dorothy Heinrich, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Technical Advisor shared their journey on the emerging topic regarding Forecast-based Financing (FbF) in Southern Africa.

Anna Lena:
"We built on what had been done in Mozambique and then expanded into a regional setup with Namibia and Lesotho joining in and sharing the common hazard of drought to set up FbF for drought risks. We needed to diversify the network that we were working with and engage the local academia to support the analytical process. We tried to use the RCCC notes for guidance, translating drought guidance into programmatic and analytical steps. By asking all these different questions at different stages, we were able to gather all the relevant information. We then embarked on merging analytical tools to find the best operational fit of Drought FbF per national context. We did that while ensuring wider stakeholder engagement with various groups to gain ownership and participation at all levels."

Dorothy:
"The philosophy of FbF is based on our ability to understand and predict future weather/climate. Forecasts are thus the cornerstone for early actions. We do this by understanding the hazard and its drivers, exploring national capacity at producing relevant forecasts, and complementing this with regional and international forecasts. We consider the object of the forecasts, spatial or temporal resolution, the outlook as well as periods of availability, and skills required for the program."