15 November: Energy, Peace, Relief and Recovery Day
9am – 10 am; Building Climate Resilience in Humanitarian Contexts; (Organizer) Mercy Corps
10.30 am – 11.30 am; Towards the First Annual High-Level Dialogue on Loss and Damage: Perspectives from the Humanitarian Sector; (Organizer) WFP with IFRC
12.00 pm – 1.00 pm; An honest review of anticipatory action: What we’ve learned and what needs to happen to make it work for communities at risk; (Organizer) Ground Truth Solutions with International Centre for Climate Change and Development
Building Climate Resilience in Humanitarian Contexts
Organizer: Mercy Corps
By Irakli Malania
This panel at the Humanitarian Hub explored the intersection of climate change and humanitarian action, addressing how immediate relief efforts can simultaneously lay the foundation for long-term climate resilience. With climate-related disasters increasingly driving humanitarian needs, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected areas, the session emphasized the necessity of integrating climate resilience into humanitarian responses.
Moderated by Anna Renfrew of Mercy Corps, the session featured insights from high-level speakers, including Reena Ghelani, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niño Response; Jacqueline Musiitwa, Deputy Assistant Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance; Ashlee Thomas, Senior Policy and Program Advisor at Oxfam; Olga Petryniak, Senior Director of Resilience East Africa at Mercy Corps; and Anil Pokharel, Chief Executive of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. Discussions highlighted the stark rise in climate-induced humanitarian crises and shared emerging lessons on interventions that build adaptive capacities for vulnerable communities while meeting urgent needs.
Panelists reflected on global and local perspectives, from the challenges of recurrent humanitarian shocks in East Africa to the strategies employed by national authorities to address climate risks. The event also underscored the relevance of new initiatives such as the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage and the Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace Declaration, emphasizing the need to make climate action a central part of humanitarian response efforts.
The open discussion fostered an engaging dialogue on practical approaches to bridging the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus. Participants concluded that addressing the complex overlap of climate and humanitarian crises requires collaborative, multi-sectoral efforts to build resilience while responding to immediate needs.
Towards the First Annual High-Level Dialogue on Loss and Damage: Perspectives from the Humanitarian Sector
Organizer: WFP with IFRC
By Hafiz Kalandarov
This panel discussion, held ahead of the inaugural High-Level Dialogue on Loss and Damage next April, brought together experts to focus on the emerging loss and damage funding architecture and consider topics on complementarity and coherence of the funding arrangements. Through a fireside chat, panelists addressed key issues, including funding gaps, leveraging existing mechanisms, promoting local and national knowledge exchange, and providing recommendations for future responses. The aim was to ensure the funding architecture is effective, equitable, and responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable communities.
The discussion also explored key challenges and opportunities in ensuring climate finance reaches those most in need. Panelists emphasized the importance of proactive and anticipatory financing, with funds being disbursed before disasters strike to minimize impacts and support resilience.
Discussions underscored the need for local engagement, with community voices shaping the design and implementation of the Loss and Damage Fund from the outset. Local authorities and non-governmental organizations were identified as vital partners, capable of tailoring responses to ground realities and existing capacities.
The importance of speed and accessibility in fund disbursement was repeatedly noted. Panelists also highlighted the need for accountability and equity in addressing losses because of the climate crisis, particularly in fragile or conflict-affected contexts. Anticipatory action and cash-based transfer systems were cited as promising tools to integrate into the Loss and Damage framework for more responsive and impactful outcomes.
An honest review of anticipatory action: what we’ve learned and what needs to happen to make it work for communities at risk
Organizer: Ground Truth Solutions with International Centre for Climate Change and Development
By Hafiz Kalandarov
The panel discussion held at the Humanitarian Hub critically examined anticipatory action and its effectiveness in addressing predictable crises across Asia and Africa. The session explored how anticipatory action programmes can better serve at-risk communities and highlighted practical lessons for enhancing their impact.
Ground Truth Solutions presented research from Bangladesh, Chad, and Nigeria, that showcased the importance of community-led systems in anticipating and responding to shocks. Additional insights highlighted the need for long-term solutions to strengthen resilience and address vulnerabilities, especially in fragile contexts. Discussions underscored that prioritizing community engagement and accountability and embedding anticipatory actions in longer term disaster risk reduction efforts are essential for making these programmes sustainable and locally relevant.
Panelists from the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, UNDRR, GiveDirectly, Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction and the Malawi Red Cross echoed these points and stressed that anticipatory action must be integrated into broader disaster management strategies rather than implemented in isolation. Key messages included the importance of early engagement to give communities sufficient time to act, a whole-of-society approach involving governments, and a focus on localization to empower communities. Anticipatory action is more effective when communities are not just recipients but active participants in co-developing solutions. The size of the cash transfer also matters – simply distributing tiny volumes of cash which are dwarfed by what people have lost doesn’t enable people to recover and build their resilience.
The event also addressed challenges, such as the need to listen to communities post-implementation to understand what worked and refine approaches accordingly. While anticipatory action has contributed to reducing risks like mortality from certain hazards, gaps remain—such as addressing extreme heat effectively.
The session concluded with a collaborative call to action: anticipatory action must be needs-based, inclusive, and rooted in continuous dialogue with local communities to build resilience and minimize humanitarian impacts in the face of escalating climate emergencies. As Prisca Chisala from the Malawi Red Cross said,“We must listen to communities, and involve them in what we want to do, then go back to them and listen to them again. So, engage, engage, engage”.
