With funding and support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, ‘Water at the Heart of Climate Action’ is a new partnership between the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), The Netherlands Red Cross, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF).  

Launched in September 2023, this collaboration will combine local knowledge and global technology to help communities understand and act on water-related risks before they become disasters. The programme is focused on supporting the countries of Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, which make up the Nile River basin.

The ‘Water at the Heart’ collaboration will use the latest science and technology to monitor and forecast weather and water-related hazards. It furthermore invests in communications technologies to warn communities of what is coming and enable early action.  As a result, this programme is a direct contribution to the UN Secretary General’s ‘Early Warnings for All’ initiative.