Save the Children defines Anticipatory Action (AA) as acting ahead of a predictable hazard to prevent or reduce the impacts on communities before they fully unfold. Anticipatory Action offers the potential to address potential humanitarian crises in a way that is proactive rather than reactive, to save lives and protect livelihoods. The model facilitates dynamic thinking about risk, improves linkages across disaster risk reduction, humanitarian, development, adaptation and peacebuilding sectors and recognizes the agency of communities and children.1 Save the Children’s aim for AA is to prevent and reduce the impact of predictable crises on children so that they can survive, learn and be protected.

This AA Guide is designed to provide practical guidance to Save the Children teams on how to plan, design and implement AA activities while promoting local leadership and supporting children’s right to participation in decisions that affect their lives. It accompanies Save the Children’s Framework for Anticipatory Action, builds on Country Office work on Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Emergency Preparedness, and provides further guidance to support the Early Action Protocol (EAP) development process.