IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and other stakeholders pose for a photo during the East Africa Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Action in Mombasa on October 28, 2026. / IGAD

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has warned that delayed funding is undermining efforts to protect communities from climate shocks and other emergencies, calling on governments and development partners to invest in preparedness before disasters strike.

IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said early-warning information must trigger timely decisions and release resources before the impacts of droughts, floods and other hazards become severe.

Speaking at the second East Africa Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Action in Mombasa on Wednesday, Gebeyehu said the region continued to face interconnected risks, including climate shocks, conflict, economic pressures and public health emergencies.

“We know, too often, that the warning comes before the disaster, but the resources arrive after the damage. That is the gap we have come here to close,” he said.

Gebeyehu said anticipatory action could protect livelihoods, preserve assets, reduce humanitarian needs and limit the costs associated with responding after a crisis had unfolded.

He argued that early action could offer greater economic value than waiting until communities had suffered losses and required emergency assistance.

“Every dollar spent early can save several dollars in losses and response costs,” he said.

The IGAD chief said the region needed to move beyond pilot projects and isolated interventions towards systems that make anticipatory action a routine part of government planning and disaster management.

He called on member states to integrate anticipatory action into national policies, disaster-risk management frameworks, sectoral plans, local government systems and development planning.

He also urged governments to connect early-warning systems with the institutions responsible for agriculture, water, livestock, health, social protection and humanitarian response.

Gebeyehu said predictable financing was essential because governments and local institutions could not be expected to act before disasters if funds were uncertain, fragmented or released too late.

He called for national budgets, contingency arrangements and disaster-risk financing systems to provide resources that could be released when agreed risk thresholds were reached.

The IGAD executive secretary also urged governments and partners to explore ways of combining climate finance, adaptation funding, social protection, insurance and other financing instruments to support early interventions.

He said development and humanitarian partners should invest in the systems that enable anticipatory action, including early-warning infrastructure, local institutions, preparedness and pre-arranged financing.

“We invite you to move beyond financing isolated activations and invest in the systems that make anticipatory action possible,” he said.

The dialogue also focused on strengthening community-led preparedness. Gebeyehu said local communities, which are often the first to experience the effects of climate extremes, needed the capacity, authority, information and resources to act.

He called for women, young people, pastoral communities and people affected by displacement to be involved in decisions affecting them.

“Anticipatory action must not only reach communities. Communities must shape and lead it,” he said.

The meeting builds on the first East Africa Dialogue Platform held in Mombasa in 2024. Gebeyehu said member states and partners had since developed and strengthened national anticipatory action roadmaps, while regional cooperation on early warning, operational delivery and financing had advanced.

He said the next step was to institutionalise these efforts so that early action would be integrated into government systems rather than depend mainly on short-term projects.

Gebeyehu reaffirmed that IGAD, through its Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) and Disaster Risk Management Programme, remains committed to supporting regional coordination, strengthening early-warning systems and helping member states advance anticipatory action.