Actions taken:
Partners for Resilience is an alliance of five Netherlands-based humanitarian, development, environmental and climate change organisations. Through their network of 40+ local civil society partners in ten countries, they have worked to strengthen the resilience of poor and vulnerable communities. They have done so by focusing on the capacities to pursue dialogues on DRR, notably with the inclusion of ‘climate risk management’ and ‘ecosystem management and restoration’ – brought together in what PfR refers to as Integrated Risk Management. The strengthened capacities have been applied for engaing with stakeholders (governments, but also other CSOs and international organisations) to engage them in risk-informed policies, investments and practices. Targeted dialogues have been pursued not only at national level, but also regionally (since many risks manifest itself cross-border, involving multiple countries) and globally.
Especially the prominent role of Ecosystem Management and Restoration is new within the Red Cross-way of working on strengthening Community Resilience. The uptake of this element provided challenges for many National Societies and relied to a large extent on expert knowledge from other partners – as per the intention of the alliance. Furthermore the programme constituted a shift from (exclusively) community interventions to pursuing dialogues to influence policies, investments and practices. This implies a stronger focus on Humanitarian Diplomacy within the Red Cross, to be able better position itself vis-à-vis the different stakeholders and their interests while maintaining adherence to the organisation’s Fundamental Principles, notably independency and neutrality. Finally the engagement with the private sector has proven challenging, both as a stakeholder that makes its investments risk-informed and more generally as a supporter of PfR’s work.
These challenges however have not stood in the way of achieving significant results. At national level, but also at local level, collaboration with governments resulted in better risk-informed policies and plans, and also budgeting has been brought in line with these ambitions. Alignment has been established between local and national initiatives and PfR’s global positioning in relation to i.a. Sendai Framework for DRR, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and Paris Climate Agreement through engagement in follow-up meetings. Also within the alliance members’ international networks (‘families’), IRM has made significant strides. For a more elaborative overview of results and a discussion on challenges, reference is made to the Partners for resilience website, where especially the Newsletters and the Annual Reports provide an anthology of the alliance’s results at local, nation, regional and global level.
