乐鱼 体育

鈥淩esilience isn鈥檛 an outcome,鈥� said USAID Resilience Coordinator  at a recent 乐鱼 体育 event on measuring resilience; it is 鈥渢he ability to manage adversity and change without compromising future well-being.鈥� The wide array of individual factors that contribute to building resilience鈥攔anging from livestock insurance and microsavings, to risk tolerance and women鈥檚 decision-making鈥攃an be challenging to measure individually, let alone in concert. But this assessment is essential for designing and implementing successful development projects: 鈥淲e have to be able to answer the question: Is this building resilience, yes or no?鈥� said Cornell University鈥檚 .

Counting Social Capital: Measuring the Social and Behavioral Factors Behind Resilience

 can be 鈥�,鈥� but it can also simply be a lack of negative outcomes, which makes it hard to measure in the same way as other development goals, such as access to clean water or energy. Some traditional indicators鈥攈ousehold income level, disaster preparedness, and access to formal safety nets鈥攃an be useful ways to measure resilience. But development practitioners can learn more about resilience by measuring the psychological and social factors that underlie it.

 Resilience is not strictly response to large stressors and shocks; it is also how people handle a series of 鈥渋diosyncratic shocks鈥攁 health crisis within an individual household, or a loss of a wage earner,鈥� said Collins, 鈥渢hat are just as important to people鈥檚 ability to withstand shocks and stresses as big droughts.鈥� Thus, assessing the psycho-social dynamics within households is critical. 鈥淚t is about people鈥檚 capacities, and empowering people to make choices; and it is why things like social capital and aspiration matter so much,鈥� added Collins.

 鈥淥f all of our findings, social capital has always turned out to be an important factor that explains households鈥� abilities to recover鈥� [and] maintain higher levels of food security outcomes after being exposed to shocks,鈥� said Mark Langworthy from TANGO International.  is 鈥渢he quantity and quality of social resources, networks, memberships, and groups,鈥� said  from Tulane University, that enable people to 鈥渁bsorb, adapt, and transform in the face of shocks.鈥�

According to Mock, social capital has three aspects:

• bonding within communities;
• bridging between communities; and,
• linking communities vertically with higher-level authorities.

This 鈥渂onding-bridging-linking鈥� sequence is key to developing effective capacities for  and household-level resilience.

However, Langworthy suggested that social capital does have its limits: Tango International鈥檚 work in Ethiopia found that 鈥渟ocial capital does help households respond to the shocks, but鈥ver time, that social capital erodes.鈥�

It is also important to measure key psychological traits, including aspiration, self-efficacy, and the confidence to adapt. We must understand and generate evidence of 鈥渢he behavioral factors that are making a difference in resilience,鈥� said Mock.

Women鈥檚 Empowerment: A Powerful Force of Resilience

 is a 鈥渟trategic source of resilience,鈥� said Mock. Women鈥檚 empowerment can be measured by assessing a woman鈥檚 ability to participate in community activities, her decision-making power, and her mobility, said Langworthy. Through its household monitoring, TANGO International has found that women鈥檚 empowerment plays a strong role in recovery and transformation processes.

CARE has developed a  to quantify the effects of climate change on young girls, as compared to young boys. 鈥淐ARE now uses markers to measure along a scale from harmful to transformative [for] how well our programs increase gender equity,鈥� said CARE鈥檚 Mara Russell, 鈥渁nd we are moving in the direction of that in terms of resilience as well.鈥�

Evaluating the effects of , such as CARE鈥檚 , may also help in the quest to quantify women鈥檚 independence. In Mali and Somalia, for example, these groups had 鈥渁 very catalytic effect鈥� on women鈥檚 resilience, said Mock, by giving women a space to take their finances into their own hands and develop financial safety nets for themselves.

An evaluation of a  project in Ethiopia found that following education on safety nets, 鈥渕en and women increased inclusive decision-making and were more likely to plan together for droughts,鈥� said Russell. 鈥淲hen men listened to their wives, this helped them to be more resilient.鈥�

Challenges Moving Forward

鈥淚 do hope that one of the takeaways for people today is how far we鈥檝e come on resilience measurement,鈥� said Collins. But despite great strides in understanding the traditional and non-traditional factors that contribute to resilience, developing the tools to quantitatively measure this qualitative concept remains a challenge.

Looking forward, the effort to measure resilience will also help increase it: 鈥淚f we can measure these elements, they take on new meanings,鈥� said Russell. 鈥淚t creates more of a rationale for people, households, and NGOs to address them, and it raises the .鈥�

Sources: CARE, U.S. Agency for International Development

Event Resources:

鈥�

Written by Yuval Cohen and edited by Sarah Barnes and Meaghan Parker