Rethinking Resilience: How Policies Can Help People to Prepare, Recover, and Adapt

In development discussions, resilience to climate change is often framed in defensive and reactive terms, focusing on top-down measures that treat individuals as passive victims unable to anticipate or protect themselves from shocks. This narrow approach overlooks a critical aspect: the capacity of firms, farms, and households to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to disruptions. True resilience is about enabling people to take proactive measures—preparing for disruptions, recovering from shocks, and adapting to changing circumstances. However, this requires access to the right tools and resources, such as financial means, actionable information, insurance, and liquidity. When these are lacking, communities are left vulnerable. Policies can help bridge this gap—but how?

Addressing this challenge requires a change in perspective: moving from reactive defense to proactive empowerment. This approach recognizes people as agents of change, capable of anticipating risks and acting on them when provided with the necessary tools. With adequate resources and better access to climate and weather information, individuals can assess risks, make informed decisions, and seize opportunities to invest in new skills, expand businesses, or relocate to safer environments offering better prospects.

This perspective lies at the heart of the World Bank Development Economics Vice Presidency’s (DEC) research program on resilience. The program seeks to reconceptualize climate resilience not only as a result of public awareness and investment but also as a product of private actions by firms, farms, and households. By prioritizing policies that promote sustainable income growth, deliver actionable information, support the development of insurance tools, improve infrastructure, and provide targeted support to the poor, resilience can become a catalyst for sustainable development in an era of escalating climate risks.

This seminar will present key ideas from the DEC research program on resilience and explore their applicability in the Asia region. Drawing on lessons from Japan and other countries in the region, the event will feature cutting-edge insights on disaster risk management and climate resilience. By integrating regional experiences with the World Bank’s global expertise, the seminar will aim to identify actionable solutions and foster collaboration to strengthen resilience across Asia.

Objectives

1. Discussion of ideas from the Development Economics research program on Resilience
   - Present key insights from the program to inform and shape national and regional policies on integrating climate and disaster resilience into development policies
   -Provide fresh perspectives and evidence-based recommendations for enhancing resilience strategies.
2. Facilitating Knowledge Sharing and Regional Collaboration
   -Serve as a platform for policymakers, experts, and practitioners to exchange critical findings, best practices, and innovative solutions in disaster risk management (DRM) and climate resilience.
   -Strengthen regional cooperation by customizing resilience strategies to specific regional challenges.
3. Advancing Policy and Investment Strategies for Long-Term Climate Resilience
   -Equip decision-makers with actionable policy insights to integrate resilience into sustainable development strategies and poverty reduction efforts.

Speakers: 

Indermit Gill
Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, World Bank Group

Yoichi Mine
Executive Director, JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development  

Others (to be confirmed)

To participate: 

Please register by online form posted on this webpage, indicating your preferred mode of participation, in-person or online by Webex.   For online participants, Webex link will be sent on April 2.

About the Knowledge for Change Program

Housed in the office of the World Bank Chief Economist, the Knowledge for Change Program is pushing the knowledge frontier in development policy and practice by delivering high-impact, policy-relevant research and knowledge products. The program helps catalyze evidence-based policy reforms, galvanize debates on global public goods, facilitate knowledge exchanges and partnerships, and foster capacity building and learning in research and data activities. The KCP was established in 2002 as a Multi-Donor Trust Fund and has since supported over 400 projects in research, data, and analytics. Over the course of four phases of operation.