Integrating Resilience In Humanitarian Action.pdf

Integrating resilience into humanitarian action is crucial due to increasing disaster frequency, chronic crises, and CARE's mandate to save lives and reduce risks. Key principles include:

1. Participation: Involve women, girls, boys, and marginalized groups in finding locally relevant solutions, strengthening local structures, and driving long-term change.

2. Risk Understanding and Reduction: Analyze and reduce risk and vulnerability, considering context, gender, and assets. Incorporate risk reduction into both development and humanitarian programs.

3. Do No Harm: Ensure interventions do not perpetuate or increase risks and vulnerabilities.

4. Integrated Approaches: Design interventions across sectors to address interconnected factors influencing resilience.

5. Innovative Ways of Working: Incorporate crisis modifiers, learn from communities, advocate for multi-year funding, and plan across development and humanitarian operations.

6. Preparedness: Anticipate crisis scenarios, collect data, and engage with information channels.

7. Local Partnerships: Build resilient local organizations and support them as first responders.

8. Market-Based Approach: Protect and restore markets, prioritize cash-based interventions, and avoid negative coping strategies.

9. Social Safety Nets: Leverage existing social protection programs to support vulnerable communities.

10. Utilize VSLAs: Use Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) as a 'first response' and trusted social structures for delivering assistance and building resilience.

11. Use the Resilience Marker: Assess humanitarian programming using CARE's Resilience Marker to apply a resilience lens and hold ourselves accountable.

To improve resilience integration, conduct risk assessments, tailor activities to local contexts, ensure inclusive participation, and integrate activities and a resilience lens into humanitarian assistance.