What Does it Mean to be Resilient (Part 2) - Community Organization and Connectivity

In the first part of our series on what it means to be resilient, we focussed on the health and knowledge of the community. In part 2, we’ll look at how a community is organized and how well it is connected to surrounding communities, within the region and globally. As before, we use the SDGs to provide a frame of reference for the type of actions that can be undertaken at the community level to improve resilience and adaptation to the ever changing world.

What does it mean for a community to be ‘organized’? In this framework we take organized to mean governance and rule of law. SDG Goal 11 focuses on sustainable cities (and communities). Why? Because 95% of urban expansion in the next decades will take place in developing countries, and the Pacific is no exception. Urban areas account for 60-80% of energy consumption, while rapid urbanization puts undue pressure on freshwater supplies, on public health and the general living environment. In order to be resilient in the face of vulnerabilities and shocks such as cyclones, drought or epidemics, communities need to ensure access to safe housing.

This doesn’t necessarily mean concrete houses, but houses that adapt to local conditions using local materials wherever possible, whether wood, bamboo or concrete. They need to provide safety to occupants. Housing needs to be planned - communities ensuring housing is not too close to shorelines to protect from storm surge and sea level rise, and away from river beds to protect from flooding. Communities need safe and reliable local transport to be able to access services such as markets and health care, and have backup plans for times when public transport is not functioning. This includes transport to surrounding communities, as well as within the community.

Goal 9 looks at infrastructure and sustainable innovation. For example, 2.6 billion people in developing countries have difficulty accessing electricity full time, while 1-1.5 billion people do not have access to reliable phone services. What does this mean? The lack of (sustainable, renewable) energy infrastructure limits connectivity to other communities and learning opportunities, as well as limiting opportunities to invest in and develop the local economy. It means information is not always transmitted to vulnerable and remote communities in a timely manner, and communities are less engaged in national processes such as planning, budgeting and decision making. While the SDGs proposed to significantly increase access to information and communication technology, including affordable access to internet in LDCs, this may be beyond the capacity of Pacific countries simply due to geographic constraints and costs. However, focussing on providing safe, sustainable energy options such as solar panels or wind turbines, overcoming issues of available electricity is within reach. Communities can provide free charging stations and perhaps public access to internet (if possible) in local schools or churches. This is just food for thought, but connectivity is key for information sharing and learning, which we discussed in our previous post.

Finally we turn to Goal 16 on institutions. Did you know that the institutions most affected by corruption (at all levels) are the judiciary and police? Corruption, bribery theft and tax evasion cost USD 1.26 trillion per year in developing countries - money that should be invested in national and community development. This may seem a bigger problem than a single community can take on and hope to have impact, but there are actions that can be taken to improve trust within the community and result in more effective institutions that can help to build resilience. First is to promote the rule of law. In the Pacific at the community level, customary law and formal law often exist in parallel. Community leaders, together with local police and judiciary, need to work closely to identify where customary law takes precedent and where formal law should be enforced. Any agreement should be binding and the community made aware so that there is no (or little) room for dispute in the future. It will also lessen opportunities for corruption of community leaders and police when dealing with local crime, for example. Another target is to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision making in the community. While community leaders or elders will often have the last say, when it comes to planning for adaptation to risks and vulnerabilities such as climate change, all members of the community should be consulted and the onus is on community leaders to make that happen. If planning and decision making is only taking into consideration a narrow perspective of the community, the resilience of the entire community is undermined. Only some risks will be addressed, leaving people more vulnerable to shocks. Finally, you can only protect those who you can physically count, and sometimes that counting needs to take place on paper. Communities need to get paperwork in order - ensure all community members are registered and have proper identity cards, homes identified on a central map, and contact information collected. This is particularly important for emergency planning and management following a disaster such as a cyclone or flooding. It helps to ensure individuals or whole households are not forgotten when aid needs to be delivered or when planning for service delivery.

This is not a particularly fun or sexy topic to discuss, but when it comes to being organized, the community needs to lead. Don’t wait for national government to come and organize you. The more quickly and effectively that a community is organized, the more quickly other areas of intervention to increase resilience and manage risk can be addressed.