IRIN series examines concept of 'resilience'

"No one working in the aid community in recent years could have avoided the buzzword 'resilience' -- but what does the term mean practically and how has it helped shape action on the ground?" IRIN asks in one of a "series of articles exploring what resilience means for vulnerable communities, and its impact on the architecture of aid." The article examines a number of definitions of the concept and writes, "Resilience can potentially act as a bridge between emergency response and long-term development aid, tackling the vulnerabilities that make people susceptible to shocks," but "there remains confusion over who should be more responsible -- humanitarian workers providing immediate relief in a crisis or longer-term development actors" (3/4). In a related analysis, the news service examines the concept of resilience in the Sahel, where "[d]onors are starting to shift their approach, notably the Sahel's biggest humanitarian donors European aid body ECHO and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), but development donors remain behind, and donor fatigue means vulnerable Sahelians this year risk missing out on emergency aid, let alone aid to build their resilience" (3/4).