How NGOs approach resilience programming

Abstract

Resilience is more than the ability of a system (such as a household or community) to bounce back to its predisaster state. Rather, a more integrated and holistic definition suggests that resilience is the abil-ity to withstand (absorb) shocks and stresses, as well as the ability to adapt to dynamic conditions and put in place mechanisms that enable longer-term, systemic responses to the underlying causes of vulnerability (Barrett and Constas 2013). The definition adopted for the purposes of this chapter is the one developed by the Resilience Measurement Technical Working Group: “Resilience is the capacity that ensures adverse stressors and shocks do not have long-lasting adverse development consequences ” (Constas, Frankenberger, and Hoddinott 2014). Over the past five years, considerable work has gone into the development of conceptual frameworks of resilience that help users understand how shocks and stresses affect livelihood strategies and household well-being, and help identify the key leverage points to be used in a theory of change, which in turn informs programming designed to enhance resilience. A resilience framework integrates livelihoods, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation approaches into a single assessment framework. Thinking on resilience has evolved from characteristics-based or outcome-based approaches to a focus on capacities. Building the resilience of individuals, households, communi-ties, or higher-level systems to deal with shocks and stresses requires improv-ing absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities, which are distinct but interrelated, are mutually reinforcing, and exist at multiple levels. This chapter seeks to enhance our understanding of resilience processes, activities, and outcomes by examining initiatives to enhance resilience capac-ity that are designed and implemented by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It reviews the theories of change and approaches developed by This chapter was originally published as Nongovernmental Organizations ’ Approaches to Resilience Programming,