That’s the guiding principle of anticipatory action, a kind of protective humanitarian programming that more and more agencies and governments around the world are now using to shield people from climate- and human-induced disasters. And that’s with good reason: evidence continually shows that anticipatory action supports vulnerable people at a stage when receiving aid bears the biggest results: before a crisis has taken place. This means humanitarian interventions can become investments in resilience and progress rather than recovery. Anticipatory action acknowledges vulnerable people as leaders in development and agents of change in their own lives and communities. And by providing them the right kind of support at the right time, it helps people weather a storm so they can keep going – and growing food. Investing in the resilience of farmers is a direct investment in the food security of their families and communities – and by extension in the resilience of our food systems. That’s why the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been a long-time advocate of anticipatory interventions. Technological advances are making it easier than ever before to forecast natural and other hazards. With that growing availability of information comes a growing responsibility to act on it. Anticipatory action uses that technology and intervenes quickly based on early warning signs. Since acting early to protect is often many times cheaper than responding and rebuilding, anticipatory action is not just the more dignified way of supporting communities, it’s also often the smarter choice financially. And that’s not a trivial point at a moment of unprecedented needs across the world, with aid budgets stretched to the extreme to meet them.