CHAPTER THREE: RESILIENCE AND

HUMANITARIAN CONCEPTS AND

PRINCIPLES

Resilience Concepts and Principles;

Vulnerability, Capacity and Inclusion;
Humanitarian Principles; and
The Core Humanitarian Standard
 Resilience Concepts and Principles

Definition:
• Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting
to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through
mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment
to external and internal demands.

• In other words, resilience is the capacity for a community and

its ecosystem to:
– Withstand extreme events and other forces or risks;
 Resilience Concepts and Principles
Cont.
– Quickly recover interconnected social, economic and ecological
systems’ structure and function in the aftermath of a disaster;
and
– Develop ongoing adaptability to rapidly changing environmental
conditions and forces.

• Resilience Principles provide a straightforward way for

communities and practitioners to understand and apply
different concepts that form resilience.
– When combined together, these principles support planning
initiatives and projects that are more adaptable, equitable,
compatible with the natural environment and considerate of
long-term effects.
 The Seven Principles of Resilience

Principle one: Maintain diversity and redundancy

• Systems with many different components (e.g. species, actors or sources

of knowledge) are generally more resilient than systems with few
components. Redundancy provides ‘insurance’ within a system by allowing
some components to compensate for the loss or failure of others: “don’t
put all your eggs in one basket”.

Principle two: Manage connectivity

• Connectivity can be both a good and a bad thing. For example, the most
positive effect of landscape connectivity is that it can contribute to the
maintenance of biodiversity. Through a variety of collaborative initiatives
with diverse stakeholder groups, connectivity can contribute to resilience.
 The Seven Principles of Resilience
Cont.
Principle three: Manage slow variables and feedbacks

• Managing slow variables and feedbacks is often crucial to make sure

ecosystems produce essential services. If these systems shift into a
different configuration or regime, it can be extremely difficult to reverse.

• Feedbacks are the two-way ‘connectors’ between variables that can either
reinforce (positive feedback) or reduce (negative feedback) change.

– An example of a positive feedback loop could be introduced grasses cause

fires, which promote further growth of the grasses and curb the growth of
native shrub species. More grass leads to more fire which, in turn, leads to
more grass. This becomes a loop and self-reinforcing feedback.
– An example of a dampening or negative feedback is formal or informal
sanctioning or punishment that occurs when someone breaks a rule.
 The Seven Principles of Resilience
Cont.
Principle four: Foster complex adaptive systems thinking

• A complex adaptive systems (CAS) approach means accepting that

within a social-ecological system, several connections are occurring
at the same time on different levels. It also means accepting
unpredictability and uncertainty, and acknowledging a multitude of
perspectives.

Principle five: Encourage learning

• Because social-ecological systems are always in development there

is a constant need to revise existing knowledge and stimulate
learning in order to enable adaptation to change. More collaborative
processes can also help make values about different ecosystem
services more explicit.
 The Seven Principles of Resilience
Cont.
Principle six: Broaden participation
• There are a range of advantages to a broad and well-functioning
participation. An informed and well-functioning group has the potential to
build trust and a shared understanding – both fundamental ingredients for
collective action.

Principle seven: Promote polycentric governance

• Polycentric governance is a complex form of governance with multiple
centers of semi-autonomous decisions-making.

• Polycentricity, a governance system in which multiple governing bodies

interact to make and enforce rules within a specific policy arena or
location, is considered to be one of the best ways to achieve collective
action in the face of disturbance and change.
 Vulnerability, Capacity and Inclusion

Vulnerability:

• Vulnerability refers to the long term factors which weaken

people’s ability to cope with the sudden on-set of disaster, or
with drawn-out emergencies. They also make people more
susceptible to disaster.
 Vulnerability, Capacity and Inclusion
Cont.
• Vulnerabilities are different according to the types of losses.
The four types of vulnerabilities are:

– Physical vulnerability,
– Economic vulnerability,
– Social vulnerability, and
– Environmental vulnerability

• Capacity:
Capacities are built over time and determine people’s ability to
cope with crises and recover from it.
 Vulnerability, Capacity and Inclusion
Cont.
• Inclusivity
Inclusive resilience (inclusivity) is a resilience strategy designed
for all people that incorporates design solutions that meet needs
related to gender identity, race, age, socioeconomic status and
culture. Inclusivity increases resilience at all these scales.

• Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) is a participatory

investigative process designed to assess the risks that people
face in their locality, their Vulnerability to those rises, and the
capacity they have to cope with the hazard and recover from
it when it strikes.
 Humanitarian Principles

• Humanitarian principles:

Humanitarian principles define what humanitarian aid is, which

is delivering life-saving assistance to those in need, without any
adverse distinction.

– They distinguish humanitarian aid from other activities, for

example those of political, religious, ideological or military
nature.
– Adherence to the humanitarian principles facilitates access and
acceptance, and helps humanitarian workers carry out their
work.
 Humanitarian Principles
Cont.
• The four humanitarian principles are:
• The principles of humanity,
• neutrality,
• impartiality and
• Independence.
 Humanitarian Principles
Cont.
• Humanity means that human suffering must be addressed
wherever it is found, with particular attention to the most
vulnerable.

• Neutrality means that humanitarian aid must not favor any side in
an armed conflict or other dispute.

• Impartiality means that humanitarian aid must be provided solely

on the basis of need, without discrimination.

• Independence means the autonomy of humanitarian objectives

from political, economic, military or other objectives.
 The Core Humanitarian Standard

• The Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and

Accountability (CHS) tells organizations and individuals how to
ensure they deliver quality, effective and accountable
humanitarian responses.

• The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and

Accountability (CHS) sets out Nine Commitments that
organizations and individuals involved in humanitarian
response can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of
the assistance they provide.
 The Nine Commitments of the CHS

1. Communities and people affected by crisis receive assistance

appropriate and relevant to their needs.

2. Communities and people affected by crisis have access to the

humanitarian assistance they need at the right time.

3. Communities and people affected by crisis are not negatively

affected and are more prepared, resilient and less at-risk as a
result of humanitarian action.
 The Nine Commitments of the CHS

4. Communities and people affected by crisis know their rights

and entitlements have access to information and participate in
decisions that affect them.

5. Communities and people affected by crisis have access to safe

and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints.

6. Communities and people affected by crisis receive

coordinated, complementary assistance.
 The Nine Commitments of the CHS

7. Communities and people affected by crisis can expect delivery

of improved assistance as organizations learn from experience
and reflection.

8.Communities and people affected by crisis receive the

assistance they require from competent and well-managed staff
and volunteers.

9. Communities and people affected by crisis can expect that the

organizations assisting them are managing resources effectively,
efficiently and ethically