NEW YORK—The Global Resilience Partnership today announced that 17 finalists in the Global Resilience Challenge will move forward with bold new proposals to build resilience in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and South and Southeast Asia.
These finalist teams are made up of a diverse array of more than 150 experts from countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. After months of research, these multisectoral teams— involving 70 local and 47 international partners from academia, local and international NGOs, and the private sector— have published problem statements addressing some of the toughest challenges to building resilience to recurring shocks and stresses — from droughts and floods to rapid urbanization and chronic food insecurity. In March and April, the teams came together in Bangkok and Nairobi to collaborate and consider how to incorporate innovation, technology, gender assessment tools, and private partnerships into their solutions. In September, the Partnership will announce which teams will each receive funding to implement and scale up their solutions to these challenges.
The Global Resilience Challenge is a three-stage grant competition led by the Global Resilience Partnership, a $150 million effort of The Rockefeller Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to help the global community pivot from being reactive in the wake of disasters to driving evidence-based investments that allow communities to create smart plans that will minimize inevitable risks they face on the path to sustainable development, while enhancing the quality of everyday life.
“What’s new about this Challenge is that we let teams tell us what problems are most salient in their communities,” said Tom Staal, Acting Assistant Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. “We then worked with them to refine how they might address gaps in resilience, from promoting disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction to tackling chronic vulnerabilities among the urban poor. We are excited to see how these new approaches might lead to breakthroughs in building resilience at the local level.”
“The teams are designing innovative solutions that have the potential to help communities from Mali to Malaysia and Burkina Faso to Bangladesh build resilience so that disruptions no longer become disasters, and communities are stronger day-to-day. We’re excited to see their bold solutions, and explore how to implement them widely across each region,” said Dr. Zia Khan, Vice President for Initiatives and Strategy at The Rockefeller Foundation.
For more information on team’s Problem Statements, or the Challenge, please visit the Global Resilience Partnership website.