Resilience of Local Communities: Lessons from COVID-19

Authors: Albert Norström, David Mfitumukiza, Emilie Beauchamp and Mohammad Feisal Rahman

This brief provides a first assessment on how 15 local communities in the Global South are building resilience in the face of COVID-19. We found that communities used many different coping strategies, spanning multiple social domains of resilience, when responding to a crisis. Social domains of resilience not only imply communities having access to capital, but also that people having the flexibility to change strategies, the willingness or agency to influence change, the capacity to organize themselves collectively in order to mobilize responses, and having reservoirs of trust and social cohesion. Importantly, community-based organizations, such as womens’ and youth groups and grassroots movements, were key resilience-building features.

Funding for the broader Voices from the Frontline initiative is provided by CDKN.