Measuring Development Process Resilience: A Test from Northern Kenya

Lance W. Robinson, Jonathan Davies,Polly J. Ericksen, and Simon Mugatha

Building Resilience forFood Nutrition and Security

Addis AbabaMay 2014

Social-Ecological Resilience

“The capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks.”

(Walker et al., 2004, p. 5).

Not necessarily desirable. (e.g., poverty traps)

Development Resilience

“The ability of a household to keep with a certain level of well-being (i.e. being food secure) by withstanding shocks and stresses”

(FAO, 2010).

“The capacity to cope with adverse stressors/shocks without adverse development consequences .” (Resilience Measurement Technical Working Group)

Development Resilience

In the face of recurring drought:

• The DRR community focuses on maintaining well-being in the short-term, and

• The development community focuses on interested in improving well-being in the longer term.

Measurement ofDevelopment Resilience

Some Key Principles for Resilience Measurement

Distinguish outcomes of resilience from determinants of resilience

Development resilience is not simplyo The inverse of vulnerabilityo Coping with shocks

More and better data vs. economy and realism --need for a balance

Resilience Measurement:Three Main Types of Data

We need measures of:• The state of human development

(indicators of well-being, and their changes over time),

• Shocks (measures of the extent and severity of shocks such as droughts), and

• Broader social and ecological conditions (indicators of determinants of resilience).

Response of Well-Being To Drought

Drought AB

C

D

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Well-Being

Poverty Line

Drought

Wel

l-Bei

ng In

dex

What Development Resilience IS NOT

Inci

denc

e -%

Marsabit, Kenya

Global Acute Malnutrition Among Children

Moderate Drought

Severe Drought

Extreme Drought

Based on SMART Nutrition Survey Data

Suggested Conceptualization

(mWB after shock x severity of shock) ƒ RD1, RD2, RD3….mWB before shock

WB = Well-beingRD = Resilience determinant

Some final thoughts

• A local-level HDI would have great value

• Resilience thinking (system resilience) has much to offer – let’s not lose sight of its insights

This work contributes to the CGIAR Research Program onDryland Systems.

It is supported by the Technical Consortium (TC) for Ending Drought Emergencies and Building Resilience to Drought1 in the Horn of Africa.

Acknowledgements

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