Listen now on: Spotify | SoundCloud | Apple | YouTube
By institutionalising anticipatory action within social protection systems, preparedness becomes a regular part of disaster risk management rather than an ad hoc or reactive measure.
In this episode of I Think You’re On Mute, your host Beth Eggleston looks at how anticipatory action can tap into existing social protection systems to respond to potential crises swiftly and efficiently, while protecting the most vulnerable groups, exploring a pilot by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the Philippines with guests Rhodora G. Alday and Ruth Georget.
Podcast host and guests
Beth Eggleston
Beth is the Director of the Humanitarian Advisory Group (HAG) and co-founded the organisation in 2012. She has worked in the humanitarian sector specialising in civil-military coordination and humanitarian reform for the last two decades and has field experience in Afghanistan, Liberia, Tonga, Costa Rica, Laos PDR, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
Director Rhodora G. Alday
Rhodora Alday serves as the lead technical support to the Philippine Sub-Committee on Social Protection and has direct experience in implementing social welfare and development reform projects. In the span of 20 years with the Department, she has acquired extensive experience in development policy and programming, specifically in the areas of social protection and social welfare. Rhodora is a registered social worker, and has two post graduate degrees – MA in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies (The Hague, Netherlands), and Master of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development from the University of Newcastle (New South Wales, Australia).
Ruth Georget (FAO Philippines)
A development practitioner with over 15 years of experience in international development, currently serving as the Social Policy and Programme Coordinator for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the Philippines. Ruth focuses on linking agriculture, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and social protection to build resilient communities. Previously, Ruth worked with the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the Typhoon Haiyan response and coordinated the MDG Joint Programme on Youth, Employment, and Migration. She also spent 10 years with Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), designing corporate social responsibility programs and supporting poverty reduction efforts.
Podcast research and links
- Humanitarian Advisory Group | On the Front Foot: Envisioning a model for anticipatory action in the Pacific
Podcast transcript
Beth Eggleston: Before we begin, I’d like to acknowledge the traditional custodians and their ancestors of the unceded lands and waters on which we live, work and depend. We recognise all First Nations peoples around the world and celebrate their enduring connections to country, and pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging.
Welcome back to the third season of I Think You’re on Mute. There’s so much to unpack as we dive into another year filled with challenges and progress in the humanitarian sector. As crises continue to unfold around the globe, our conversations in this season aim to inform and influence those making the decisions. By popular demand, we’re taking a deep dive into anticipatory action, exploring the latest developments and future directions in this space in the first two episodes of this season. We are delighted that we’re able to collaborate with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO as a technical partner for these episodes. This builds on a collaboration with FAO on the Humanitarian Horizons report launched in October last year, On the Front Foot: envisioning a model for anticipatory action in the Pacific. You can find a link to this in the show notes.
Then we’ll bring you all the insights from our Humanitarian Horizons research programme, which is wrapping up this year. This is I Think You’re On Mute, a podcast exploring who’s talking and who’s listening in a humanitarian emergency, and how we can improve humanitarian response for the better. I’m your host, Beth Eggleston.
So, what makes anticipatory action such a game changer in humanitarian response?
[soundbite 1] Anticipation Hub | Anticipatory action: five key policy asks
By forecasting when hazards will strike, analysing their risks, agreeing on actions and enabling financing ahead of time, humanitarian organizations and communities can act before disasters hit. This way, anticipatory action saves lives and livelihoods – and ultimately preserves people’s self-sufficiency. It’s a faster, more efficient and more dignified way to protect people against predictable crises. We want to shift the humanitarian system to be more proactive, instead of reactive, but for anticipatory action to reach more people, cover more locations, address more types of hazards and create lasting impacts in the lives of the most vulnerable, more can and must be done.
Beth Eggleston: So what has happened in this space since our last season? New global standards and guidelines are being developed to standardise anticipatory action practices and ensure effective implementation. And there is a growing focus on integrating anticipatory action into national and regional disaster management policies and frameworks. As part of this evolution, the vital role that social protection systems can play in anticipatory action is really being recognised. But what exactly is social protection? Essentially, it refers to policies and programmes designed to reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability. Anticipatory action can tap into existing social protection systems to respond to potential crises swiftly and efficiently, leveraging existing administrative structures, databases, and distribution networks.
But what makes this approach particularly powerful? Anticipatory action can enhance the targeting of social protection programmes, ensuring that resources reach those most at risk, like low income households, elderly individuals, or marginalised communities, before disaster strikes. Social protection programmes that incorporate anticipatory action like early cash transfers or food assistance, empower communities to take proactive measures to safeguard their assets, self-sufficiency and well-being. This approach ensures that vulnerable groups who might otherwise be excluded from post disaster assistance, receive the support they need, helping to promote social equity. By institutionalising anticipatory action within social protection systems, preparedness becomes a regular part of disaster risk management rather than an ad hoc or reactive measure.
[soundbite 2 FAO]
Constantly at risk of natural hazards, from droughts to typhoons to floods, the Philippines sees it’s most vulnerable and marginalised populations constantly on the verge of losing their livelihood and agricultural assets vital to sustain food security. Innovative methods to disaster risk management are needed more than ever.
Beth Eggleston: I’m thrilled to be joined now by Rhodora G. Alday, who is the director of the Policy Development and Planning Bureau, Department of Social Welfare and Development (SWD) in the Philippines, a government agency that focuses on implementing social services, protecting vulnerable populations and promoting social development. Director Alday, it’s so lovely to have you on the podcast.
Director Alday: Thank you Beth. Actually, it is my pleasure to be here in your podcast to share the Philippine experience in the in social protection (SP), and specifically in the pilot testing anticipatory action and its integration in our existing SP systems.
Beth Eggleston: Director Alday, could you start by sharing with us which social protection programmes in the Philippines have benefited from incorporating anticipatory action?
Director Alday: Together with the FAO here, SWD and the FAO, piloted anticipatory action which we called BSPARED. So BSPARED stands for building on social protection for anticipatory action and response in emergencies and disasters, so it’s quite a mouthful. And from the project, name itself, the project was, is, was introduced as an approach to disaster management which focused on reducing impacts of imminent disasters. So that’s how anticipatory action was introduced as part of our disaster response.
Beth Eggleston: Fantastic. And in what ways have you seen anticipatory action build greater community resilience?
Director Alday: Since the pilot project has just been around for more or less, less than two years, I think in the Philippines, it’s a bit early to draw conclusions on how, how it contributed to building resilience, but, what I have what have been shared by the communities who have implemented the project, I can definitely say have established some of the basic foundations towards building a community resilience. For one, the community themselves, together with the local government officials and the communities, were able to use scientific data or information in understanding risks and vulnerabilities, and they were able to also, able to identify who among the population would be most likely to be affected, and the possibility of having a programme that would actually reduce the impact. In itself is already a significant step towards building resilience. It is a demonstration actually of building the capacity to anticipate, so that’s I think one.
And then the second is, of course, is improving the existing governance mechanism. As I have mentioned earlier, it was integrated in the existing disaster response mechanism of the Philippines. It doesn’t have to be a new one, but actually improving on how the way we do things, which is I think also a significant element in building community resilience.
Beth Eggleston: And now looking to the future, doctor Alday, what would you like to see done in the area of social protection going forward?
Director Alday: Okay, I think I really support and advocate that multi hazard early warning systems should be set up and incorporated into the entire social protection delivery system, especially the impact based forecasting, so that we can really improve our beneficiary targeting system. This would actually have an impact on the financing available. So of course, it would really help us if there’s a ready financing available for these type of programmes, because currently we have challenges on the current financing available for providing anticipatory action.
Beth Eggleston: Thank you so much Director Alday, That’s fantastic, it’s wonderful to learn just how community resilience can be supported through these social protection programmes, and that integration of anticipatory action. Thank you so much.
Director Alday: Thank you Beth.
Beth Eggleston: Another big development in the intersection of anticipatory action and social protection is the move towards shock responsive social protection, or SRSP for short, FAO is a leader in exploring this space.
[soundbite 3 FAO]
By working closely with various government counterparts in Isabela Province, FAO and DSWD pioneered the Anticipatory Action through Social Protection approach and supported over 964 affected farming households through timely flexible and effective actions such as distribution of conditional cash for supplemental irrigation to bring
water to their farmlands, distribution of farming tools to beneficiaries of the cash for work and cash for training program of DSWD’s project LAWA and BINHI, and distribution of multi-purpose cash assistance to promote food security.
Beth Eggleston: Recently, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific conducted an independent evaluation of a programme aimed at promoting both anticipatory action and SRSP in the ASEAN region, with a focus on sustainable financing. The evaluation showed that integrating anticipatory action with SRSP enhances the effectiveness of social protection systems in preparing for and responding to crises, which in turn improves community resilience by enabling timely and targeted support during emergencies.
I’m so pleased to have Ruth Georget joining us from the Philippines. Ruth works in social protection with FAO. Ruth, would you like to introduce yourself to our listeners, please?
Ruth Georget: Hi, Beth. So my name is Ruth Georget and I work for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and we are a partner of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the implementation of anticipatory action and we link it to social protection systems in the country.
Beth Eggleston: So Ruth, linked to that, I’m interested to understand how has anticipatory actions supported your work in social protection?
Ruth Georget: When we speak about anticipatory action, what’s important is that we look at several critical elements. One is in terms of looking at the early warning systems and forecast information. This will help us determine the potential severity of a disaster. But what’s important with this information is how is it used to be able to inform communities and government to respond, and using the existing poverty registry of the government, we’re able to reach out to the poorest and most vulnerable sectors, and this is why it’s important to link anticipatory action with social protection. You know Beth, in the Philippines are a lot of pilots for anticipatory action, but what is unique with this work with the SWD, is knowing there is a robust social protection system, meaning targeting, delivery in terms of additional potential programmes or social assistance programmes, we are able to scale up this approach.
Beth Eggleston: It’s so interesting to hear that you’ve mentioned that there are many pilots, it certainly seems that anticipatory action is really a thematic area that has so much interest in it. So do you feel like there’s any common misconception about the effectiveness of anticipatory action that you think need to be addressed or challenged?
Ruth Georget: Well, first and foremost, anticipatory action is still a more, let’s say, a young concept in terms of humanitarian response. Like in the past, a lot of practitioners are familiar with disaster preparedness and ex post response, but anticipatory action is different because it requires, like I said information, a robust science that will give you accurate information for a potential severe hazard. Let’s say typhoons, and with that information if you reach a particular threshold, then you should be able to deliver services that will help save lives and protect livelihoods. And the misconception there is because we have not been fully been able to capture the evidence or test in full and at scale, anticipatory action. And that’s why this pilot BSPARED or building on social protection for anticipatory action in response to emergencies and disasters – it’s a mouthful – we need to be able to capture, capture that evidence and bring it up to a level where people can better understand what is the impact, or what would be the advantage of pursuing this.
In some studies Beth, especially within FAO, or we say that for every dollar you invested in anticipatory action, you can reap the benefits of, or save four dollars. So that’s a way of measuring how AA is really different and has created an impact. But again, it’s still young, we still need to gather more evidence and I think this is where our partnership with the government will really help in this endeavour.
Beth Eggleston: And Ruth from your experience, what are the key factors that contribute to the success of anticipatory action interventions?
Ruth Georget: As I’ve mentioned, one would be having a robust social protection system that you can latch on. We have a very clear targeting mechanism to do this standard or the poverty registry. Second is that we need to have the science-based information that will help us have more accurate information for an impending disaster. And the third flexible financing. We need to have the financing that will be made available before a disaster hits. In the Philippines right now, the law allows for an ex post response, like after the fact, when a disaster likely hits or when a flood hits, but there is no existing, policy or legislation that will make available what we call anticipatory cash transfers before a disaster. So that’s really one of the bottlenecks. But so the success, is the partnerships that we have with government, the robust social protection systems, the collaborative efforts with also international non-government organisations, so it’s important for us to have those critical facilitating factors to move. But at the same time there are some bottlenecks.
Beth Eggleston: Thank you Ruth. It’s so great to hear from your experience about what needs to be challenge, what working and what needs to be scaled up in the future. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Ruth Georget: Thank you. Beth.
Beth Eggleston: The FAO evaluation highlights seven key recommendations: improving coordination and budget alignment across agencies; integrating anticipatory action and SRSP into government systems; reforming financial management for sustainable funding; building technical capacities for early warning systems; enhancing monitoring and evaluation practices; clarifying terminology to avoid confusion; and ensuring inclusivity and effective community engagement in programme design.
These steps are crucial for strengthening anticipatory action and SRSP in the region, ensuring better protection against predictable crises and supporting people’s livelihoods, self-sufficiency, and well-being.
In the next episode, we’ll explore the technology being tested and employed to make anticipatory action even more efficient and effective. I’m Beth Eggleston, and this is I Think You’re On Mute.
This podcast, I Think You’re On Mute, is supported by the Australian government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views expressed through this podcast are the presenters alone and are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government.
A special thanks to FAO colleagues for connecting us with such wonderful guests and sharing the work that they’re doing in the region.
This podcast was produced and recorded by Room3, a production company that works with not-for-profits and social enterprises, and supported by Green Letter Communications.
