Paper details

Paper authors	Rosanne Anholt
In panel on	Resilience: Blurring the Humanitarian and Development Boundary
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Since the turn of the decade, institutions and organizations like the United Nations and the European Union, governments and non-governmental organizations have embraced the notion of resilience to guide contemporary responses to protracted crises.
This study aims to explore practitioners’ understanding of the concept of resilience, by considering why and how the concept rose to prominence; what practices characterise resilience-based approaches; and what the value of the concept has been thus far and for future international crisis governance practices.
Thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with experts from various international organisations at the governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental level.
The interviews yield that resilience is a response to the changed nature of contemporary crises as widespread, recurring and protracted (‘stretched in time’) on the one hand, and the internal challenges of the international system (institutional, financial) on the other.
Practitioners point to a number of characteristics of a resilience approach, most notably a recognition of the need to overcome the so-called ‘humanitarian-development nexus’. Building resilience to contemporary crises necessitates a convergence of short-term humanitarian approaches and the medium to long-term development approaches. While this poses many challenges, resilience offers the opportunity to design context-sensitive approaches that are inclusive of local actors.
In conclusion, the insights gained from practitioners’ accounts are invaluable for academic reflections that have until now primarily relied on analytical explorations of resilience. Their understanding of resilience offers an explanation of the concept’s pervasiveness, and sets out directions for further research.

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