By Fabien Nappa
(Former) Head of Office - DRC/OP at International Cooperation
The concept of resilience, a term borrowed from physics that refers to the material resilience, was given the honor by the neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnick.
Applied to humanitarian, the resilience is the ability of an individual, a household, a community, a country or a region to withstand, cope, adapt, and quickly recover from stresses and shocks such as violence, conflict, drought and other natural disasters without compromising long-term development - It is not only before, during or after a crisis, it's both survive the crisis, adapt and bounce back after a crisis.
There is an urgent need to help people and communities to withstand and recover from increasing shocks and stresses. In other words, help them build their resilience.
The increasing frequency and intensity of disasters and humanitarian crises and the resulting suffering and losses represent a major threat to long-term development, growth and poverty reduction, in particular in the poorest and developing countries. There is an urgent need to help people and communities to withstand and recover from these increasing shocks and stresses. In other words, help them strengthen their resilience
The costs of humanitarian crises are rising and become increasingly unaffordable, as climate change generates more severe weather-related events and as the world faces new pressures such as population growth, urbanisation, land and eco-systems’ degradation, scarcity of natural resources, fragility of states and complex conflicts.
It should be noted that investing in disaster resilience today is more cost effective than responding to a crisis tomorrow.
Action now, to reduce future suffering and loss, is vital in order to ensure better results on the ground, in areas of recurring crises and predictable risks.
Focusing on vulnerabilities and addressing root causes rather than dealing with the consequences underpin this approach.
