Anticipatory Action - Dry Corridor: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

Getting Ahead of Drought

Today, we can predict with increasing confidence the occurrence and humanitarian impact of certain climatic shocks. By combining different analytical approaches, out-of-the-ordinary weather events can not only be predicted, but their projected humanitarian impact can proactively be mitigated based on pre-identified anticipatory actions.

Building on growing evidence that acting prior to the onset of a predictable, severe hazard is significantly more (cost-)effective than traditional humanitarian response, OCHA is facilitating the setup of multiple collective anticipatory action frameworks that, upon being activated, are implemented with funds allocated from CERF. Beyond CERF, other donors are encouraged to contribute funds to the frameworks within their own established criteria and in complementarity.

The framework for drought in the Dry Corridor, covering El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, was designed by humanitarian partners , with support from OCHA. The framework was endorsed by the Resident Coordinators of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the UNDCO Regional Director (Nicaragua) and the Emergency Relief Coordinator in February 2024, and is valid for a period of two years.

The objective of the anticipatory action framework is to mitigate the impact of forecasted severe drought on vulnerable, at-risk individuals and communities in the four countries through collective, cross-sectoral anticipatory actions, as soon as the triggering threshold is reached (in one or more countries).