National Risk Watch: A Shared Platform to Scale Anticipatory Action

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (FICR) and the Netherlands Red Cross’ data and digital team, 510, are joining forces to accelerate anticipatory action globally. By 2030, our aim is for at least 30 National Societies to use the new National Risk Watch to continuously monitor around 50 hazards and act ahead of impact. This new service will be made available through IFRC’s GO Platform. Building on a National Risk Watch pilot led by the Malawi Red Cross Society, the service will integrate features and critical operations support provided to seven National Societies by the Impact Based Forecasting (IBF) Portal. This collaboration between IFRC, the Netherlands Red Cross and other key anticipatory action partners is the next step in building a partagé system for anticipatory action across the Movement.

Product vision

National Risk Watch turns forecasts into decisions and decisions into early actions. It provides National Societies, government counterparts and community actors with a single, intuitive workspace to (1) monitor risk in near real time, (2) understand who et ce que may be affected, and (3) trigger pre-agreed actions, well before a hazard becomes a disaster. The platform brings together hazard forecasts, exposure and vulnerability information, and operational context so users can act on time, every time.

What value it brings to end users

• For National Societies: A streamlined way to define thresholds, monitor triggers and document actions, aligned with IFRC’s anticipatory action guidance and tools. This helps teams move from “we knew” to “we acted” with traceable, data driven decisions.
• For government partners: A common operating picture that translates forecasts into expected impacts on people and services, supporting Early Warning for All ambitions and national disaster risk management systems.
• For communities: More timely alerts and earlier assistance, because decisions are based on impact, not just hazard intensity.

Built into the IFRC GO ecosystem

National Risk Watch will adopt GO’s user log-in, design system and navigation, so users experience a consistent look & feel and can move seamlessly between GO’s preparedness, risk, and operations modules. On the back end, the platform will integrate with Montandon, a global crisis data bank which provides the core historical and forecast disaster data commons for the humanitarian sector. This allows countries to contextualize today’s risk against decades of recorded impacts while enabling impact models to improve as new data becomes available.

How it will be managed and governed

National Risk Watch is a co-developed service which will be managed by the Netherlands Red Cross in close collaboration with IFRC and anticipatory action partners. The roadmap is jointly guided to ensure the platform supports Movement-wide priorities such as Early Warnings for All, integration with government systems and the localization of anticipatory action. This model lets us pair the Netherlands Red Cross’ product experience (from the IBF Portal) with IFRC’s global coordination and convening role and GO’s mature web infrastructure, avoiding parallel systems and accelerating scale across regions.

Supporting a smooth transition for existing users

Current users of the IBF portal and the Malawi Risk Watch will be supported through a phased transition: ensuring business continuity while transitioning to the new IFRC product. Because the new platform is part of the GO-ecosystem, National Society teams benefit from a more unified and integrated product suite that feels familiar and provides essential data across the disaster management cycle.

What changes on the ground?

• From hazard to impact: Instead of asking “How strong is the storm?”, teams see “Which districts will likely face which impacts, and when?”, and can act accordingly. 
• From pilots to systems: Embedding in the GO ecosystem positions anticipatory action as routine practice, connected to DREF operations, rather than a standalone platform.
• From data silos to a living evidence base: With Montandon, every activation contributes to a richer record of forecast–impact–action, strengthening models and guidance over time.

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