New funding from Denmark will scale up Early Warnings for All initiative in Africa

The Early Warnings for All Initiative (EW4ALL) has a bold vision of a world in which every individual is protected by life-saving Early Warning Systems (EWS) by 2027. Seeking to work more coherently across the full EWS value chain, the EW4ALL initiative is led by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), each as on our four pillar leads, relevant to their mandated expertise.

While the initiative is well underway, significant gaps are still being identified, particularly in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Africa.

Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda face significant challenges related to climate resilience and EWS, essential for protecting their population from recurring natural hazards such as flash floods and droughts. These hazards normally result in loss of life and substantial economic and material impacts. To support mitigation of these effects, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark has provided CHF 4.9 million for a new four-year project contributing to EW4ALL in these countries.

The Danish Project will support immediate actions required to roll-out activities across the four pillars of the EW4ALL initiative: disaster risk knowledge; detection, observations, monitoring, analysis and forecasting; warning dissemination and communication; and preparedness and response capabilities. It will further strengthen anticipatory action, leveraging the WMO Coordination Mechanism (WCM) to support the design, delivery and uptake of climate and risk information services for climate action.

Following national consultations in Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark endorsed the project proposal in March 2024 and agreed upon four main outcomes:

• Develop national Early Warning Systems in five African LDCs;
• Support Early Warning and Early/Anticipatory Action in Fragile and Conflict-affected Contexts (FCVs);
• Enhancing Climate Science Information for Climate Action; and
• Effective Global and Regional Coordination and Support by WMO for EW4ALL

The main project activity will involve facilitating the implementation of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in all five target countries. This includes the production, analysis, interpretation and use of climate and risk information to strengthen MHEWS. Countries will be capacitated to monitor and forecast priority hazards to generate and disseminate actionable early warning responses. Communities will develop their capacity to respond, prevent or mitigate impacts of climate related hazards. Finally, countries will benefit from the development of an enabling policy framework, fostering effective coordination between relevant agencies and stakeholders.

The Danish project officially began in April 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2028.