This is the GFDRR program overview for a weather-based index that serves as an early, objective and accurate predictor of ex-post needs in Ethiopia. By committing these contingent resources, the World Bank has taken the first step in managing a major risk threatening the success of the country’s largest safety net program and hence in taking the humanitarian reform process one step further. Government and development partners agree the index will need to be further developed, back-tested, and finalized through a broadly consultative process; and that ultimately the index will be housed within a Government institution. In this context, this project contributes to reforming the system of emergency relief in Ethiopia, shifting, to the extent possible, away from ex-post disaster relief to ex-ante risk management as the strategy for responding to emergencies with the overarching goal of protecting rural livelihoods and development gains.