A Dangerous Delay: The cost of late response to early warnings in the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa
More than 13 million people are still affected by the crisis in the Horn of Africa. There were clear early warning signs many months in advance, yet there was insufficient response until it was far too late.
Governments, donors, the UN and NGOs need to change their approach to chronic drought situations by managing the risks, not the crisis.
This means acting on information from early warning systems and not waiting for certainty before responding, as well as tackling the root causes of vulnerability and actively seeking to reduce risk in all activities. To achieve this, we must overcome the humanitarian-development divide.