Community Resilience: Key Concepts and their Applications to Epidemic Shocks

Schmidt‐Sane, Megan; Hrynick, Tabitha; Niederberger, Eva

doi:10.19088/sshap.2021.003

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(80 reference statements)

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“… 23 Here, the phrases ‘build back better’ or ‘leave no-one behind’ suggest that disasters and emergencies are not only moments to address vulnerabilities but also to engage with their causes and so addressing inequality and injustice. 24 25 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others see resilience in terms of adaption and transformation, changing the system in response to shocks and stresses 23. Here, the phrases ‘build back better’ or ‘leave no-one behind’ suggest that disasters and emergencies are not only moments to address vulnerabilities but also to engage with their causes and so addressing inequality and injustice 24 25…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe

Bwerinofa¹,

Mahenehene²,

Manaka³

et al. 2022

BMJ Glob Health

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Based on real-time recording and reflection of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, this article identifies the features of ‘community resilience’ across sites in rural Zimbabwe. The findings confirm the importance of local knowledge, social networks and communication, as highlighted in the literature. In addition, a number of other aspects are emphasised, including the importance of adaptable livelihoods, innovation and collective learning. Flexible adaptation was especially important for responding to lockdowns, as livelihoods had to be reconfigured in response to public health measures. Meanwhile, innovation and shared learning was vital for generating local treatment responses to the disease. In the Zimbabwe context, these adaptation and innovation capabilities emerge from a particular historical experience where resilience in the face of harsh economic conditions and in the absence of state support has been generated over years. This is often a more resigned coping than a positive, empowering, transformational form of resilience. While adaptation, innovation and shared learning capabilities proved useful during the pandemic, they are not evenly spread, and there is no singular ‘community’ around which resilience emerges. The article therefore argues against seeing ‘community resilience’ as the magic bullet for disaster preparedness and response in the context of pandemics. Instead, the highly differentiated local practices of adaptation, innovation and shared learning—across gender, age and wealth differences—should be seen as an important complement to public, state-led support in health emergencies and so are part of a wider, plural health system.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe

Bwerinofa¹,

Mahenehene²,

Manaka³

et al. 2022

BMJ Glob Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While a community resilience approach is relatively new to epidemic preparedness and response, it frames epidemic shocks more holistically and from the perspective of a whole system. [4][5][6] While epidemic response often focuses on mitigating vulnerabilities, there is an opportunity to use a resilience framework to build existing capacities to manage health, social, psychosocial, and economic impacts of an epidemic. This makes a resilience approach more localised, adaptable, and sustainable in the long-term, which are key tenets of an epidemic response informed by social science.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Key Considerations: Operational Considerations for Building Community Resilience for COVID-19 Response and Recovery

Schmidt‐Sane¹,

Niederberger²,

Hrynick³

2021

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As the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is a need to robustly support vulnerable communities and bolster ‘community resilience.’ A community resilience approach means to work in partnership with communities and strengthen their capacities to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, including its social and economic fallout. However, this is not resilience which returns the status quo. This moment demands transformative change in which inequalities are tackled and socioeconomic conditions are improved. While a community resilience approach is relatively new to epidemic preparedness and response, it frames epidemic shocks more holistically and from the perspective of a whole system. While epidemic response often focuses on mitigating vulnerabilities, there is an opportunity to use a resilience framework to build existing capacities to manage health, social, psychosocial, and economic impacts of an epidemic. This makes a resilience approach more localised, adaptable, and sustainable in the long-term, which are key tenets of an epidemic response informed by social science. This brief presents considerations for how health and humanitarian practitioners can support communities to respond to and recover from COVID-19 using a community resilience approach. This brief was developed for SSHAP by IDS (led by Megan Schmidt-Sane with Tabitha Hrynick) with Anthrologica (Eva Niederberger).

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