Anticipatory action is increasingly applied in fragile, conflict-affected, and displacement-affected (FCV) settings - contexts where early action can prevent harm but can also inadvertently exacerbate tensions, exclusion, or protection risks. In these environments, marked by volatility, institutional fragility, shifting authorities, and rapidly changing access conditions, AA cannot rely on stable systems or rigid protocols. Protection risks often escalate around forecast windows, and delivery decisions—who gets what, where, when, and who decides - become critical Do No Harm pressure points. 

This session introduces new inter-agency guidance on conflict- and protection-sensitive anticipatory action, developed jointly by FAO and DRC with input from the AA in Conflict and AA for Displacement Working Groups. The guidance provides a practical, field-ready framework ensuring AA is safe, ethical, and adaptable in FCV settings - integrating conflict and protection lenses across all phases from design through monitoring.

Building on lessons from operationalising AA across the Horn of Africa and other fragile contexts, the session will unpack key challenges: how to maintain 'light but live' context analysis when situations shift rapidly; how to develop scenario-based triggers that incorporate protection and conflict indicators; and how to design flexible delivery approaches that adapt to cancelled activities, changing authority control, and sudden insecurity.

Participants will engage with the core questions guiding this work: Who benefits from anticipatory action - and who might be left out? Who controls when to act - and how is that perceived? Whose voices inform analysis, planning, and implementation?

Through interactive discussion, participants will explore how to operationalise the guidance within their own programming, share early field-level experiences of what's working and where challenges persist, and identify practical strategies for embedding conflict and protection sensitivity into AA systems across diverse FCV contexts. The session aims to support a shift in practice — toward AA that treats conflict sensitivity and protection not as add-ons, but as fundamental safeguards determining whether anticipatory action does good or causes harm