Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public-Private Collaborations Around the World

This report by Meister Consultants Group, Inc. (MCG) for the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) examines public-private collaborations (PPCs) designed to build climate and disaster resilience in developing countries. Through an analysis of nine case studies, the report identifies how formal and informal partnerships between governments, businesses, and civil society can overcome market barriers to deliver adaptation and disaster risk management solutions.

• Public-private collaborations (PPCs) leverage the combined resources and expertise of government and business to address the increasing need for climate and disaster resilience investments, helping to overcome traditional market barriers.
• Businesses are motivated to invest in resilience through internal drivers, such as revenue generation and business continuity, and external drivers, such as corporate citizenship.
• Two primary barriers hinder private sector investment in resilience: the requirement for high upfront costs and long-term planning—which particularly affect micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—and the difficulty of monetizing resilience investments to realize a financial payback.
• The report identifies six success factors for policy-makers to drive resilience through PPCs: building on local engagement and trust, starting small and local for future scale, integrating skill building for community ownership, strengthening livelihoods to build adaptive capacity, creating partnerships across value chains, and finding innovative alternatives to traditional infrastructure.
• Resilience-building PPCs often focus on small-scale, replicable measures that engage local stakeholders, such as smallholder farmers and micro-businesses, rather than relying solely on large-scale public procurement contracts.
• Building resilient livelihoods is a core mechanism for addressing climate and disaster risks, as it increases a community's ability to adapt and prepare. This is often achieved by fostering micro-enterprises and creating alternative income sources.
• The public sector's role in PPCs often involves funding start-up costs, training, and capacity building, frequently taking a secondary role once the initiative matures or spins off into a self-sustaining enterprise.
• Civil society partners provide critical local knowledge and implementation capacity, acting as trusted connectors between public/private resources and the communities they serve.
• Case studies demonstrate that innovative alternatives to traditional infrastructure, such as the water kiosk model in Zambia, can provide essential services while avoiding high capital costs and creating local entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Supply chain partnerships are an effective way to build resilience, not only for multinationals but also for SMEs, by helping suppliers adopt sustainable techniques to avoid shortages and protect production.

APA

Becker-Birck, C., Crowe, J., Lee, J., & Jackson, S. (2013). Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public-Private Collaborations Around the World. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/MCG_ResilienceinActionReportweb.pdf

Chicago

Becker-Birck, Christina, Jon Crowe, Joanne Lee, and Summer Jackson. Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public-Private Collaborations Around the World. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2013. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/MCG_ResilienceinActionReportweb.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Becker-Birck |first1=Christina |last2=Crowe |first2=Jon |last3=Lee |first3=Joanne |last4=Jackson |first4=Summer |title=Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public-Private Collaborations Around the World |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=July 2013 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/MCG_ResilienceinActionReportweb.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{beckerbirck2013resilience, author = {Becker-Birck, Christina and Crowe, Jon and Lee, Joanne and Jackson, Summer}, title = {{Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public-Private Collaborations Around the World}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2013}, month = jul, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/MCG_ResilienceinActionReportweb.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }