Author: Christopher Aucoin

Forecast-based financing (FbF) developed from a long-standing element in Climate Centre work: assisting the mainstreaming of the early warning early action model into Red Cross Red Crescent disaster management worldwide.

In recent years, climate change impacts have created grave new threats to rural livelihoods. Drought has become more frequent, while erratic rainfall (e.g., late onset, early cessation, irregular timing and intensity) and periodic flooding are dangerous new problems.

Kadiatu Bangura, 13, is a young girl with a bright future ahead. But, for the moment, she cannot let go of the past. The soft spoken teenager was only 11 when she crossed the threshold of the Red Cross Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone. She was alone, separated from her mother, father, and siblings who were all taken to different facilities after falling ill with the potentially deadly disease.

In many villages in Liberia, it has long been part of the culture for people to routinely search out the services of witch doctors or traditional healers when they are not feeling well.