The Blue Sky Thinking: AA Roadblocks and Milestones session reflected our theme for this year’s DP: “Anticipatory Action to Meet the Challenges of the Climate Change Crisis". It was awesome putting thoughts on what’s missing in the region and what we need in the coming years to face a changing climate with AA systems. The forum that has been operating since 2017 and it brings together partners like the Climate Centre, IFRC, German Red Cross, FAO, WFP, START Network and OCHA as they try to find collective solutions towards AA. Raymond Zingg, Regional FbF Coordinator at the IFRC Asia-Pacific Regional Office, and Damien Riquet, Regional Anticipatory Action Specialist at FAO led us through the discussion.

Raymond Zingg underscored some achievements so far and also echoed the need for continued engagement among actors going forward. Expressing his gratitude to the session contributors, Raymond noted: “We are feeling the need for working together so we look forward to interacting with you in the course of time – we do not need to wait for the next platform; we can start the discussions now!”

Damien Riquet put forward some key questions that need answers regarding the future of AA in the region: Issues such as where and how to access or share learnings on the various triggers being tested successfully; how to do IBF if impact data and how to make sure that AA is feasible came out strongly. “We have tested AA by humanitarian/development partners, emerging experience in making AA conflict sensitive, and some countries are testing the use of existing social protection systems for anticipating shocks. Regarding the collection of evidence, more and more studies are available on the added value brought by AA, documentation is available on the Anticipation Hub webpage,” he said.

The team is currency collecting ideas and thoughts to scale up AA so if you have ideas or proposals to share, join the conversation on www.anticipation-hub.org/ to make your contribution.