The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), has launched the Anticipatory Action Roadmap (2025–2031), a national plan aimed at enabling Uganda to act before disasters occur rather than responding after lives and livelihoods have already been affected.
The roadmap seeks to use early warning information and weather forecasts to trigger timely interventions before disasters such as floods, droughts, landslides, disease outbreaks, pests, and other hazards escalate, thereby reducing humanitarian losses and strengthening community resilience.
It was launched on Friday at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe and is expected to strengthen early warning systems, improve preparedness, and protect livelihoods by ensuring that scientific forecasts inform early action.
Launching the roadmap, Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Sam Engola said Uganda can no longer afford to wait for disasters to occur before responding.
“The Action Roadmap reflects the Government’s commitment to shifting from reactive disaster response to proactive preparedness, promoting early action to protect lives and livelihoods, safeguard the country’s development gains, reduce humanitarian response costs and strengthen national resilience,” Engola said.
He noted that climate change has made disasters more frequent and severe, increasing the urgency for preparedness.
Referring to recurring droughts in Karamoja and forecasts of above-normal rainfall in other parts of the country, Engola said government intends to rely on scientific forecasts to guide early interventions.
“We know there are always problems, but we wait until they happen before taking action. This roadmap is about changing that so we preserve the lives of our people and strengthen preparedness,” he said.
The roadmap calls for stronger coordination among government ministries, local governments, development partners, researchers, civil society, and the private sector to ensure that early warning information translates into timely action on the ground.
The Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Alex Kakooza, described the roadmap as a major policy shift that places prevention at the centre of disaster risk management.
“This roadmap represents a clear national commitment to shift from reactive disaster response to a proactive approach that anticipates risks and takes action to protect lives and livelihoods,” Kakooza said.
He noted that Uganda is increasingly facing floods, droughts, landslides, disease outbreaks, pests, conflicts, and displacement, all of which require faster and more coordinated responses.
Kakooza said the roadmap is anchored on six strategic pillars, including strengthening early warning systems, integrating anticipatory action into national policies, improving coordination, ensuring sustainable financing, and promoting research and innovation.
“The true measure of success will not be this document itself, but the lives that will be protected, the livelihoods that will be preserved, and the communities that will become more resilient through its implementation,” he added.
Representing the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Head of Mission Joselyn Bigirwa said Uganda’s initiative contributes to regional and continental disaster risk reduction efforts and could serve as a model for other countries.
“Success will be measured by implementation—by whether early warnings lead to timely action and whether early action reduces disaster impacts before crises escalate,” Bigirwa said.
She emphasized that achieving the roadmap’s objectives will require sustained political commitment, adequate investment, and strong coordination among stakeholders.
The Acting Country Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Uganda, Marcus Prior, said the roadmap marks a fundamental shift in how humanitarian crises are managed.
“This roadmap signals Uganda’s commitment to moving from reacting to disasters towards anticipating and acting before disasters strike,” Prior said.
He noted that advances in science and forecasting now make it possible to identify impending disasters early enough to intervene before lives and livelihoods are lost.
“The evidence is clear. Acting before a predictable shock is not only more humane, it is also more cost-effective than responding after losses have already occurred,” he said.
Prior cited ongoing anticipatory interventions in Karamoja, where drought forecasts have triggered early cash assistance for vulnerable households instead of waiting for conditions to worsen.
He added that implementation will focus on strengthening multi-hazard early warning systems, improving contingency planning, expanding anticipatory action plans, and integrating early action into Uganda’s national disaster risk management framework.
