Madagascar’s Early Warning System: An Assessment of SMS Alert Performance

Madagascar is one of the countries most exposed to climate extremes, with tropical cyclones, flooding and drought regularly affecting communities across the island. Mobile-enabled early warning systems play a critical role in helping people anticipate, prepare for and respond to these hazards, yet understanding how communities receive, interpret and act on warning messages remains essential to strengthening their effectiveness.

This report, developed by the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme in collaboration with Madagascar’s disaster management authorities, examines the performance of SMS alerts within Madagascar’s national early warning system. Drawing on an SMS performance test, stakeholder interviews and qualitative field research, it explores how warning messages are disseminated, received and acted upon, providing recommendations to strengthen SMS-based, multi-channel alerting and support more effective early warning systems.