Transforming Lives Through Ingenuity: Practical Action and Early Warning Systems

Early warning provides an opportunity for people to take action to save lives and livelihoods, reducing the impacts of rapid onset disasters. For an early warning system to be truly effective, we must take a holistic and people-centred approach to ensure that timely, accurate, reliable, and understandable information reaches everyone in the right way for them to take action. This publication outlines the key elements of an effective early warning system; explains why these elements are so important and what considerations need to be taken for each; and explores how Practical Action is incorporating these elements into our early warning systems work.