Ten ways to create people-centred early warning systems in conflicts and recurrent crises

This brief considers what it means for early warning systems (EWS) to be ‘people-centred’ and highlights how essential it is that an EWS is designed and operated as part of a wider disaster risk reduction strategy. To serve its purpose, it is not enough for an EWS to generate timely and accurate forecasts. A people-centred EWS must maximise the chances that people will receive, understand, interact with, trust and act on the information that they need.

The earlier that individuals, businesses and countries receive accurate warnings about likely threats and shocks, the better prepared they can be, and the more likely that exposure to the hazard can be reduced and its impacts mitigated. Because many places and many people are vulnerable to different hazards that can be interconnected, early warning has to look at more than one hazard at a time – a ‘multi-hazard’ EWS.