On Tuesday, 27th January, we held our final community of practice in a series exploring the role of resilience in maintaining a thriving and impactful development sector. Over the past few months, we’ve been bringing together development practitioners, academics, and students to talk through the difficulties of operating within a development space often troubled by crisis, stagnation, and obstruction. From aid cuts to burnt out workers, there was much to discuss during our one-hour online sessions.

The aims of the communities of practice weren’t to find neat solutions to highly complicated issues. Rather, they provided a space to discover concerns in common, share valuable knowledge, and reflect on the kinds of questions we should be asking when approaching difficult problems. Participants were generous in sharing their wisdom, comparing past experiences across a range of roles and sectors to work through tough questions. In so doing, a sense of community emerged, reducing feelings of isolation and facilitating learning across different geographies.

The final session drew together discussions from previous sessions, clarifying some of the ways in which different kinds of resilience complement and reinforce one another. We refreshed our memories of issues covered in the first session, which addressed the importance of personal resilience in navigating development roles, as well as subsequent sessions on organisational toxicity, community resilience, and the role of hope.

Of course, personal resilience is intertwined with other types of resilience, such as organisational resilience, and the relationships between these imperatives can sometimes be tense or conflictual. For example, many organisations recognise that employees’ personal resilience can impact the broader ability of the organisation to operate efficiently. Understandably, therefore, an increasing number of organisations are choosing to adopt wellness programmes such as free gym memberships or wellbeing courses.

However, without changing the structural and deeply embedded problems responsible for employee burnout, such efforts may seem cynical or tokenistic. They may also create an environment that encourages people to focus too closely on their own resilience and personal growth, to the detriment of their peers. As a result, such programmes may backfire and generate a culture of individualism that hinders team cohesion and growth.

On the flip side, as Natalie noted during the session, organisations within certain sectors may fail to appreciate the importance of personal resilience. A climate NGO, for example, may carry out impressive work on developing community resilience through environmental programmes. Without addressing people’s personal wellbeing, however, individuals may start to suffer.

So, how can we repair such tensions? As participants discussed by sharing their personal insights and experiences, truly effective resilience initiatives require integrated and sustainable investment in developing resilient capacity across various levels, from the individual to the wider community.

What next for our communities of practice?

There’s still so much to discuss about the nature of resilience within the development sector, especially as geopolitical upheavals continue to impact how our participants live and work. As such, we’re planning to launch another series of session in March, focused on challenging common biases and perspectives that may hinder our ability to remain resilient in challenging times. Keep an eye on our social media for more information!

Photo by Paico Oficial on Unsplash.

Note:  This article gives the views of the author/academic featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the Global Development Institute as a whole

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