 La Nina is a global weather phenomenon. It's triggered by cold and average temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, but La Nina in Afghanistan means drought. More than 70% of the droughts we've had since 1984 in Afghanistan have occurred in La Nina years. What we see is that more and more now FAO and our partners in the Food Security Agricultural Cluster are working together to collect this information from the communities and also from more advanced technologies around to bring it together to enable communities to anticipate those shocks but also for us to act in advance of those shocks hitting. We started to get the first indications that we were approaching a La Nina event. What did FAO do? Straightaway we saw how we could reprogram resources to help the farmers most at risk. With early warnings in hand, FAO acted six months before the drought emergency was declared in June 2021 by rolling out a range of anticipatory actions. More than 5,000 households received livestock packages which had animal feed also animal health support as well to enable animals to be better able to defend themselves to stay alive during drought. More than 7,000 households received wheat packages etc which were designed to be more resistant and more tolerant to the ravages of droughts. Cash for work was mobilized to ensure that communities have better access to water through the rehabilitation of canals but also storage as well vital for animals. In addition, alternative crops were provided which can grow with minimal water and high temperatures to keep food on the table in Afghani homes and unconditional cash was distributed to cover families immediate needs and access to food. So how did anticipatory action mitigate the impact of the severe drought on farming families? The major benefits came from avoided losses in animal value, increased milk production and decreased animal infant mortality. Every donor invested in livelihood support resulted in households receiving a benefit of 1 US dollar 42 cents. But there were also valuable lessons learned from the activation. In complex environments like Afghanistan, anticipatory action needs to be programmed into ongoing activities tackling longer term issues such as conflict and poverty. Ensuring our efforts are inclusive of women and vulnerable groups is also essential for success. In all, anticipatory action can play an important role in protracted crises, particularly with multiple risks affecting households and their food security. Anticipatory action is a game changer when it comes to supporting rural household agricultural production, food security and also rural livelihoods.