In the discourse of development and philanthropy, the term resilience is used across the spectrum between two poles. In some contexts, resilience means weathering the transition to change (such as for the three case studies mentioned above), while in others it is used to protect the structural frames of the status quo and so to absolve the state and other actors of responsibility. In this paper, we explore this paradox. The goal is to develop an understanding of resilience in development and philanthropy so that it can be applied more meaningfully in our work.
Resilient is a word frequently used by human rights activists and the development sector, to describe persons affected by war and violence. In Sri Lanka, the mothers of the disappeared are praised for their resilience when they continue their struggle for justice despite intimidation and harassment. Women headed households labouring to eke out a living…
Resilience has been the word on everyone’s lips over the last year. We’ve probably all felt our resilience tested or reaffirmed in different ways. For those of us who have been directly responding to the impacts of the pandemic on people and planet, resilience has been a helpful concept to frame the individual and collective…
Sometime during a recent PEXForum conference, I wrote on my notepad that resilience has become the development sector’s new buzzword. Others have made the same discovery. PSJP’s new paper, Building Resilience in International Development lists a raft of references to the term in the later literature of development and it seems that multilateral organisations, foundations,…
This paper considers what resilience looks like in practice. It is based on the work of three organizations – Tewa, Global Greengrants Fund and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. It is far from a complete account of resilience and that more work is needed. We hope that you will join us in this learning journey and share your stories.
What builds community resilience? In this article posted on the India Development Review, Ruchita Chandrashekar, a behavioural health researcher and independent psychologist focusing on trauma and post-violence recovery offers important lessons for development and philanthropic organizations in their attempt to support communities through difficult times. As elements that are integral to building community resilience, she…
Over the last few months, likely each and every one of us has felt pushed to the limits of our abilities to cope with the current global situation. Even for those of us for whom lockdown is no more than an inconvenience, this moment has undoubtedly led to more self-reflection, and an appreciation of the…
The COVID-19 crisis is bringing extraordinary challenges for us personally and for the communities that we serve. As we adjust and adapt to the seismic changes, there are opportunities for us to model responses to the crisis, protect the most vulnerable and build back better after it has blown over. PSJP is now using the…
By Avila Kilmurray A recent study of community activism in Northern Ireland highlights resilience as a key outcome of the contribution of community action during times of both violence and tentative peacebuilding. In situations of protracted conflict, where abnormality becomes the norm, community-based organisation can create the necessary space for activists to articulate concerns and…
In the next episode of ‘Let’s build peace: here and now’ hosted by the Foundations for Peace Network, Melanie Greenberg of Humanity United will speak with Nomfundo Walaza, co-founder of Unyoke Foundation and a clinical psychologist about her work on the empowerment and the healing of victims of torture, trauma and violence; and with Colette Rausch about her work in war-affected countries around the globe at the intersection of justice, trauma, and peacebuilding.