The Early Warning System ensures local communities, and the organizations that support them, have verified information about projects being proposed at major development finance institutions and clear strategies for advocacy – – ideally before funding is decided.
Communities and organizations around the world lack accessible and timely information on development projects and resources to reinforce their engagement in the development process.
The Early Warning System exchanges information, advice, tools, and resources with communities, the local organizations supporting them to inform development actors. The information exchanged includes accessible information about projects at development finance institutions, including the roles of any private actors, and critical data from community-led research efforts. With data from local communities and development finance institutions, the Early Warning System exposes trends in development by sector, bank, geography, and community response.
The Early Warning System relies on Community-led Response Partners to contribute tactical support, as determined by local priorities. Methods of community response may include, accessing decision-makers, community-led surveys and research, understanding possible leverage points related to investments made by private actors, filing complaints, and determining local development priorities.
The Early Warning System includes the first civil society-led database to organize, summarize and standardize projects at 13 development finance institutions. The growing database is updated daily and holds more than 10,000 projects proposed since 2016. The database itself is an important resource, however, the Early Warning System Team focuses on outreach – getting this information and support to those nearest the proposed project who need it most. In 2018 alone, the Early Warning System Team and partner organizations conducted outreach on 2,000 projects.
The newest information on proposed projects and mobilization support can inform local development priorities and campaigns, and change how development is done today. The Early Warning System provides an early advantage and broader trends analyses for communities and groups to take action for the development if any, they envision.