Preparing for Shocks: Building Capabilities for Rapid Pivots to Meet Emergency Needs

An increasingly unstable world puts a vast proportion of development program target populations at risk from natural, climate, or conflict-related crises. It is imperative that development actors, ideally, in partnership with humanitarian teams, take every opportunity to use their programming to build resilience to shocks and support risk reduction. These activities prepare for a ‘pivot’ in times of crisis by the implementing partner, but they also build resilience and response capacity in activity participants.

This session will explore the following questions:
– Given that shocks should be expected, what are the essential actions that all development teams should undertake to ensure they are preparing for potential shocks? And what actions should humanitarian actors take to respond quickly to emergency needs without undermining building resilience capacities of the population they support?
– How can we encourage and build capacity for development and humanitarian teams to better plan before a crisis takes place?
– Where have we seen successful early action that mitigates the need for a larger humanitarian response?
– What supporting conditions and behaviors from IPs and donors have we seen in successful pivots and responses? What has impeded quick and early action?

This session will be moderated by Perrine Pitton, Chief of Party of the Building Resilient Communities in Somalia (BRCiS) consortium, Norwegian Refugee Council. Speakers include implementing partners of USAID/Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance-funded Resilience Food Security Activities:
– Saeqah Kabir, Director of Knowledge Management, Research, Learning and Communications, “Nobo Jatra,” World Vision Bangladesh
– Thierno Diallo, Chief of Party, “Albarka,” Save the Children Mali

*This event will be in English with French interpretation*

Implementing partners of both humanitarian and development activities are encouraged to participate, share their own experiences, and engage with the speakers.