Coping without crisis
Adaptive capacity is the ability of people and communities to make changes in their lives and livelihoods.
Resilient livelihoods are income and food sources that are secure, risk diversified and flexible. Secure, in this context, describes predictability of return.
Sustainable natural resource management is the use and care of natural resources that results in their long-term flourishing for the good of all.
Disaster risk management includes disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness where the emphasis is on reducing and managing known risks.
Health and relationships support the physical, mental and social wellbeing of people and communities, which enables active engagement.
Hope is the personal belief that despite current problems things will improve; that in the long run good will win out and justice will prevail (eg Isaiah 40:31; Jeremiah 29:11; 1 Corinthians 15). This is often based on a faith worldview that there is more than can be seen.
Building resilience
Fundamentally, resilience-building is a call to increase our focus on risk management rather than disaster management. For example, putting more effort into reducing vulnerability to and the impact of a disaster before it takes place rather than into responding to the needs of those impacted by shocks and stresses after the event. These are intrinsic to truly sustainable development.
The focus then is not so much on getting people and communities back to where they were – vulnerable to whatever the shock or stress was – but helping them reduce their vulnerability. In this way they are less likely to suffer the same level of impact for a similar shock or stress.
Designing a resilience-building programme
The top two distinctive things to keep in mind when designing a resilience-building programme are integration and uncertainty.
- Integration: resilience programming should not focus on just one category of shock or stress (such as natural disasters, high food prices, climate change or conflict). Rather, we need to design a holistic response that addresses the most significant shocks and stresses together.
- Uncertainty: resilience programming needs to help people prepare for unpredictable and unknown risks – not just the risks we can predict based on what’s happened in the past.
Also, some aspects of general sustainable development good practice are especially important for resilience programming. These include:
- A focus on strengthening/building community institutions. By institutions, we mean both community organisations (for example, leadership councils, churches and farmer groups) and the ‘rules of the game’ that they work by (for example, how leaders are chosen and how resources are shared). Strong institutions are required for joint decision-making and action, management of common resources, and experimentation and learning – all vital activities for resilience.
- A thorough understanding of all the livelihood strategies available in an area – that is, how people use their available assets to obtain food, income and other necessities. Resilient people have diverse, flexible and ecologically sustainable livelihood strategies.