Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2014
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/resi20/current#.U3im6SjDU1w

Resilience, rights and results in Swedish development cooperation
Ian Christoplosa
DOI: 10.1080/21693293.2014.914767
Abstract
Resilience is an amorphous concept for a development agency. This article, reflecting on the findings of a review of how resilience to natural hazards is addressed within Swedish development cooperation, looks at how resilience has been conceptualised and the implications of the emergence of attention to ‘resilience’ as both a new catchword and perhaps a new perspective on development. A key factor is the interplay of human rights and resilience goals in the relations between vulnerable people and duty bearers. In addition, the implications are considered of resilience in relation to the incentives and monitoring and evaluation frameworks that steer today’s results-based management systems for development cooperation. A conclusion is that resilience is a problematic concept in development cooperation, but may provide added value if it is tied to greater understanding of vulnerability, struggles over resources and recognition of the complexity and uncertainty of the development enterprise.