APPAP W.A.R.N is a grassroots initiative, utilising local resources to monitor and analyse instances of SGBV in a community and provide an early warning capability to responders. Responders can then use this information to respond in a way that both mitigates the harm this type of violence causes and lessens the chances of atrocity crimes occurring.

APPAP W.A.R.N does this by using a four step process summarised below.

1. Data Collection
2. Analysis and Warning
3. Response
4. Evaluation and Monitoring

Data Collection

The system uses knowledge of those who live in the community to monitor and provide useful information on instances of SGBV. This information can be gathered from interactions and interviews with local citizens, media reports and observation of the community. Community members can also submit information to those monitors through a variety of channels.

Analysis and Warning

This information is then analysed against a set of indicators illustrating the kind of violence being monitored. Its severity is determined, as is its likelihood of escalation. Once identification of a threat is finalised, a warning is sent to the appropriate responders with information and recommendations on how to deal with the incident.

Response

The response is initiated as informed by the data analysis in the previous step. This ensures the response is appropriate to both the context and incident being attended to.

Monitoring and Evaluation

After the response is carried out, an assessment of its effectiveness is undertaken, to ensure it made a positive impact in mitigating or preventing an outbreak or escalation of violence. Monitoring of the entire system is also undertaken, to ensure that the collection, analysis and response facets of the system are connected and are working as intended. Knowledge and lessons learned from these assessments are fed back into the system to improve future performance.

While APPAP W.A.R.N collects data and responds at a grassroots level, the workings of the system are intended to go beyond the communities it directly operates in. While the primary focus of the project remains at the community level, its intention extends to a policy and scholarly level as well.

The work undertaken by the system is intended to inform policy at the national and sub-national level on preventing cases of SGBV and atrocity crimes. If the system can effectively prevent and stop violence at a local level, it can therefore be a useful lesson and potentially be expanded to encompass processes on a larger scale. This applies to incidents of SGBV as well as preventing the commission of atrocity crimes.

Furthermore, the work APPAP W.A.R.N will conduct can inform further scholarly research into EWER systems, SGBV, and atrocity crimes. Research on these issues found several examples of EWER systems that focused on conflict and violence at a local level and to varying degrees of success. Few systems made mention of SGBV in the violence they monitored, and no system was found that solely catered for warning and responding to either SGBV or atrocity crimes at a local level. Literature on SGBV and early warning is sparse, and bar a few notable exceptions there is no literature that provides guidance and methods to engender EWER systems to prevent SGBV. The work undertaken by APPAP W.A.R.N is pioneering and inherently experimental. By endeavouring to combat SGBV and atrocity crimes at a local level, it also takes the first steps in creating a body of evidence for best practice in addressing these problems in areas and contexts beyond its immediate focus. Rather than being a definitive method of action, APPAP W.A.R.N intends to be a progenitor of other EWER systems that seek to prevent both SGBV and atrocity crimes.

Therefore, it is hoped APPAP W.A.R.N and the work it undertakes can be a useful case study and inspire further research and action in this field of atrocity prevention.