Funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the Programme for a continental coordination, early warning and action system in Africa is implemented by UNDRR and CIMA Research Foundation. The program is dedicated to strengthening continent-wide risk management, focusing on the development of a warning system and information exchange. More specifically, the project aims to strengthen the capacity of the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Member States to effectively collect, exchange and analyse information on risks relevant to early warning systems for early action and the management of transboundary risks.
The project contributes to the implementation of the African Road Map for improving the continental warning system. This Road Map was prepared prepared by CIMA Research Foundation on behalf of UNDRR and in coordination with AUC, REC’s and other international partners, such as the WMO and ACMAD, as part of the Building Disaster Resilience to Natural Hazards in Sub-Saharan African Regions, Countries and Communities Program, which ended in 2019..
The project and CIMA Research Foundation’s role
The first year of implementing the Road Map, spanning 2020 and 2021, laid the foundations for the African Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Action System for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMHEWAS for DRR) by establishing and validating a legal and institutional framework for the Early Warning System in Africa.
The first three centres of the system, operational 24/7, were established between 2021 and 2022: a Continental Situation Room in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the headquarters of the AUC, connected to two regional centres, one in Kenya (Disaster Operations Center, at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development – IGAD) and the other in Niger (ACMAD Multi-Hazard Advisory Centre, in Niamey). In June 2023, a fourth situation room was established in Nigeria for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The network of AMHEWAS centers is connected through the myDEWETRA.world platform, developed by CIMA Research Foundation, which includes the analysis, processing, and integration of data for forecasting, monitoring, and disseminating risk information. This information is disseminated to all system actors through standardized bulletins, allowing timely response actions (Early Action) to effectively reduce risk.
In addition to overseeing the establishment of the various situation rooms that make up the AMHEWAS network, CIMA Research Foundation, together with UNDRR, provides continuous technical support and training for the personnel operating in the centers, ensuring their full autonomy.
In 2023, a third phase of activities began, aimed at extending the network to the Central African region (Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS), leading to the inauguration of the first national situation room, the National Situation Room for Early Warning and Disaster Operations in Dodoma (Tanzania) in June 2024. This third phase of the program, which will establish two additional regional situation rooms, also saw the creation of the first impact-based drought forecast bulletin (African Drought Watch).
In June 2024, the fourth phase of the project also began, focusing not only on the continuous strengthening of the existing situation rooms but also on the expansion of activities at continental, regional and national levels, including through field simulation exercises. Among the most significant activities were the extension of wildfire risk information starting from SADC countries and the integration with AGRHYMET (a regional centre specialized in meteorology, hydrology and agronomy for the Sahel and West African region), aimed at developing fully integrated regional warning products, training personnel and strengthening the connection with the ECOWAS Emergency Operations Centre. This phase of the project also included the development of flood and drought risk profiles in selected countries and support for the use of these tools in the Sahel region, one of the most vulnerable areas of the continent.
In 2025, the fifth phase of the programme began, focusing on the enhancement of AMHEWAS products and the strengthening of national technical capacities. Activities include the improvement of the Continental Watch and the African Drought Watch, with the integration of new exposure and vulnerability data, the inclusion of new hazards, and the update of the drought bulletin with impact-based forecasts. This phase also includes the development of an e-learning module, new guidelines for the institutionalization of national situation rooms, the development of a manual for Simulation Exercises, and a Training of Trainers (ToT) dedicated to the use of AMHEWAS products in exercises. The objective of this ToT is to train experts from AUC, UNDRR and the RECs to develop simulation exercises in Angola, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia. Another project output includes the development of activities in Seychelles to make the myDEWETRA platform fully operational through the customization of local data and specific training pathways.
