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Building up resilience in developing countries
Building up resilience in developing countries
SUMMARY OF:
SUMMARY
WHAT DOES THIS COMMUNICATION DO?
It seeks to use the lessons from this region to improve the effectiveness of the EU's contribution to reducing vulnerability in disaster-prone and fragile countries, by including the concept of resilience* as a central goal.
KEY POINTS
EU response to food crises in Africa
Following the food crises in Africa, a humanitarian-development response was put in place by the EU. In addition to life-saving activities, this assistance also contributed to the recovery process, for instance through the provision of seeds and tools, and improved water management.
Longer-term resilience strategies are helping the affected countries and communities to recover and build up their ability to cope with future crises.
The SHARE* and AGIR* resilience initiatives represent an improvement in the way humanitarian and development assistance interact. Short-term assistance is enhanced when the link between relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD) is recognised. The EU can commit to addressing the root causes of food insecurity in the longer term by restoring livelihoods, strengthening social protection and disaster management systems, and improving nutrition.
These measures focus on food security - and food crises - in sub-Saharan Africa. However, this approach is applicable to other regions and other types of vulnerability such as regions threatened by:
It concentrates on 3 key components:
Anticipating crises by assessing risks
Focusing on prevention and preparedness
Enhancing crisis response.
The Communication puts forward a 10-point plan to increase resilience, including promoting dialogue on resilience with non-EU countries through available channels such as the United Nations, and the G8 and G20 forums of rich and emerging nations. The plan was consolidated and expanded in the Action Plan for Resilience in Crisis Prone Countries 2013–2020 which calls upon the EU and EU countries to:
BACKGROUND
Recurrent food and nutrition crises in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa affect millions of people, result in widespread hunger, and contribute to keeping people in a perpetual state of poverty. This situation underscores the need for a long-term and systematic approach to building the resilience of vulnerable countries and populations.
KEY TERMS
*Resilience: the ability of an individual, household, community, country or region to withstand, adapt, and quickly recover from stresses and shocks
*SHARE: Supporting the Horn of Africa’s Resilience
*AGIR: Global Alliance for Resilience
ACT
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - The EU Approach to Resilience: Learning from food security crises (COM(2012) 586 final of 3.10.2012)
RELATED ACTS
Council conclusions on EU approach to resilience, Brussels, 28 May 2013
Commission Staff Working Document: Action Plan for Resilience in Crisis Prone Countries 2013–2020 (SWD(2013) 227 final of 19.6.2013)
last update 25.11.2015