Topic outline

  • Acting early before a disaster has actually happened or reached its peak is critical: it can save lives and protect livelihoods from the immediate shocks, as well as protecting long-term development gains by increasing the resilience of local communities over time.

    Using a series of examples and case studies from different countries and contexts, this course provides guidance to set-up an anticipatory action system, i.e. a set of provisions to link early warning signals to anticipatory action options and implementation arrangements. 

    The course focuses on anticipatory action in the context of food security and agriculture.

      • System Requirements

        The online version of this course runs on the latest versions of the major browsers, such as Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox.

        The downloadable version only runs on Windows PC’s and no additional software is needed.

        • Audience

          The course is targeted at professionals working on humanitarian assistance and disaster risk management. Individuals who would especially benefit from taking the course include:

          • Technical practitioners, particularly those involved in work related to food security, agriculture, disaster risk reduction and humanitarian assistance.
          • Government ministries, particularly those involved in agriculture, hydrology, meteorology, disaster risk management, and social protection.
          • Donors, particularly those interested in supporting anticipatory action, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and/ or humanitarian assistance to ensure food security.

          • You will learn about

            • Anticipatory action and its role within the risk management system.
            • Ranking disaster risks in a given location to determine the priorities for anticipatory action.
            • Assessing available early warning information.
            • Setting-up an early warning system.
            • Using a crisis timeline to identify windows of opportunities for anticipatory action.
            • Prioritizing anticipatory actions and preparing an Anticipatory Action Plan.
            • Analysing the impact of anticipatory action projects.

            • Course structure

              The course consists of 6 lessons, ranging from approximately 15 to 40 minutes duration each: 

              • Lesson 1 – Getting started 
              • Lesson 2 – Prioritizing risks 
              • Lesson 3 – Identifying early warning information 
              • Lesson 4 – Setting-up an early warning system 
              • Lesson 5 – Identifying anticipatory action 
              • Lesson 6 – Implementing and analyzing impact of anticipatory action

              • Partners

                European Union (EU)   Government of Belgium.

                • Digital Badge Certification

                  To be granted a digital certification from the FAO e-learning Centre, you will have to take the final assessment test which is part of the course.

                  Please note that, in order to get your certification, you will need to take the final assessment test from the online version of the course.

                  Our digital badge certifications verify that you have achieved the learning outcomes and competencies outlined in FAO e-learning courses.

                  What is a digital badge?
                  Digital badges are online visual representations of learned skills and achievements earned in learning environments. They have already been adopted widely across a range of sectors and are being used to recognize both accredited and non-accredited learning in formal, informal and non-formal settings.
                  Badges can be displayed wherever earners want them on the web, and share them for employment, education or lifelong learning.




                  The final assessment test can be accessed from inside the course. The pass grade is 75%