This past month, GRP was participating in the Resilience Measurement, Evidence and Learning Conference 2018 (RMEL) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference brought together over 200 resilience practitioners from dozens of countries and organisations.
GRP co-sponsored the conference and participated in a number of sessions. Nathanial Matthews, GRP’s Program Director, gave a keynote on the second day and chaired a panel on Investing in Resilience with a focus on metrics for business.
Three GRP grantees from the Water Window challenge planned and lead the session, Zurich Flood Resilience. They shared their lessons from their project. The grantees involved were Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET), Lutheran World Relief, and Practical Action-Bangladesh. The Water Window Challenge is $10 million fund by Z Zurich Foundation to surface innovative solutions to flood related issues.
GRP led a session on applying RMEL to Resilience Practice. During this session, experiences from the World Bank, GRP, the Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) program, and the Resilience Alliance were shared and explored with the participants. David Howlett, GRP’s Policy Lead, also participated in the closing round table from Practice to Policy and Investment.
The event demonstrated the significant advancements and interest in resilience measurement, evidence, and learning. In addition, Greg Collins from USAID announced a new body to promote resilience, the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security. The announcement by USAID helps solidify the need for resilience programming and the continued need to measure, evaluate and learn from these programs.