CASE STUDY EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE RESILIENCE PROGRAMMING

The document analyzes 44 resilience programs to determine which design elements contribute to success in helping vulnerable populations persist, adapt, and transform in the face of shocks. Key findings highlight the importance of community-led vulnerability assessments, the role of savings as a critical resilience buffer, and the necessity of integrating climate risk interventions into local governance and market systems.

• Community-level vulnerability assessments are essential for identifying the most in-need populations and understanding existing capacities, but they require consistent application and sufficient resources to avoid mis-targeting by local elites.
• Financial savings act as a primary contributor to both absorptive and adaptive capacities, serving as a buffer that prevents households from resorting to negative coping strategies, such as removing children from school, during prolonged shocks.
• Women's groups provide a more immediate route to increasing agency and access to assets than public forums, though a 'twin track' approach involving men is often necessary to overcome social norms and male reluctance.
• Community-led design increases the relevance and ownership of interventions, with cost-benefit analysis in Kenya showing that $1 invested in community-based adaptation can generate between $1.45 and $3.03 of wealth for the community.
• Decentralized information systems, such as SMS alerts for weather and pests, are effective for urgent actions but require integration with one-to-one coaching and field agent visits to drive the adoption of long-term agricultural practices.
• While one-off asset transfers (e.g., livestock) can increase resilience and prevent a return to poverty, the effectiveness depends on the quality and maturity of the asset transferred.
• Crisis modifiers—contingency funds for emergency deployment—are effective when based on ex ante plans and flexible donor funding, allowing development programs to respond to severe shocks without abandoning long-term goals.
• Vertical integration into government systems is a key sustainability strategy, but there are concerns regarding whether governments can afford to adopt high-cost, intersectional, or household-level targeting approaches.

APA

Murphy, B., Hepworth, C., & Verkaart, S. (2019). CASE STUDY EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE RESILIENCE PROGRAMMING. Global Resilience Partnership. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-effective-programs.pdf

Chicago

Murphy, Ben, Catrin Hepworth, and Simone Verkaart. CASE STUDY EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE RESILIENCE PROGRAMMING. Global Resilience Partnership, 2019. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-effective-programs.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Murphy |first1=Ben |last2=Hepworth |first2=Catrin |last3=Verkaart |first3=Simone |title=CASE STUDY EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE RESILIENCE PROGRAMMING |publisher=Global Resilience Partnership |date=September 2019 |url=https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-effective-programs.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{murphy2019case, author = {Murphy, Ben and Hepworth, Catrin and Verkaart, Simone}, title = {{CASE STUDY EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE RESILIENCE PROGRAMMING}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-effective-programs.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }