Guidance: Acting Ahead of Floods (as of September 2025)

Anticipatory Action is grounded in the principles of timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness - ensuring that life-saving humanitarian assistance reaches vulnerable populations ahead of anticipated disasters. Anticipatory action is defined as - “acting ahead of a predicted hazardous event to prevent or reduce the impacts on lives, livelihoods and humanitarian needs before they fully unfold. This works best when activities, as well as trigger thresholds or decision-making rules, are pre-agreed, and decisions are made to guarantee the fast release of prearranged funding” (see Grand Bargain on anticipatory action).

Anticipatory action is part of OCHA’s objectives to promote a proactive humanitarian response. Since 2020, OCHA has facilitated coordinated anticipatory action to get ahead of climate-related disasters and cholera outbreaks. By September 2025, OCHA had facilitated anticipatory action for floods in seven countries. For more up-to-date information about the OCHA-facilitated anticipatory action portfolio, please see OCHA’s Anticipatory Action website.

Designed for OCHA and partners at country, regional and headquarters-level, this guidance was developed in 2025 with the objective of giving an idea of suitable triggers and assistance packages for anticipatory action. It will be regularly updated with learning and good practices from implementation, in an effort to support continuous improvement of coordinated anticipatory action.