Learning Lab: Resilience Thinking
Brief learning journey organized by the SDC Networks Agriculture & Food Systems, RésEAU and Climate, DRR & Environment on mainstreaming resilience thinking in development practice
Overview
In a world increasingly marked by climate disruptions, conflict, pandemics, and interconnected crises, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance must be rooted in approaches that enhance the resilience of people, systems, and institutions. This learning journey is designed to equip practitioners from the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and its thematic networks - spanning food systems, water, climate, biodiversity, and others, with the knowledge and tools to apply resilience thinking meaningfully in their work. The short learning sessions aim to build a shared understanding of resilience as both a conceptual lens and a practical approach for improving development and humanitarian outcomes.
Structured as four online sessions, the journey blends theory, applied examples, peer learning, and interactive group work. It is intended not only to strengthen participants’ confidence in using resilience thinking but also to spark interest in a longer, more in-depth course in the future. Broadly, the four sessions will take place between late August 2025 and January 2026.
Objectives
This learning journey seeks to deepen participants' understanding of resilience, its evolution, relevance, and application in development and humanitiarian assistance, and to promote practical strategies for operationalizing resilience thinking across SDC’s sectors. Connecting theory to action, it will demonstrate how resilience can serve as a driver of effectiveness and sustainability in the face of uncertainty and change. Participants will reflect on their own work, engage with real-world examples, and leave with a clearer sense of how to mainstream resilience in policy and programming. The sessions will also create a space for dialogue across thematic areas, supporting cross-sectoral thinking and collaboration. A particular entry point will be the relationship of resilience and fragility.
Structure and content
Session 1 (27 August 2025, 9:30-11:00 am CET): Understanding resilience – from concept to practice
In a world where disruption is no longer the exception but the norm, development practitioners face a pressing question: Are our systems, strategies, and societies truly equipped to navigate the shocks and stresses of the 21st century? Resilience, once a term confined to ecological science, has evolved into a powerful and necessary lens for development. But what does it really mean? Is it about bouncing back to normal, or about bouncing forward to something better? And how do we make sense of resilience in the context of rising climate extremes, persistent fragility, pandemics, and cascading crises that defy conventional planning?
Objective:
This session invites participants to reflect on where resilience thinking is already present in their own work and where it could be further developed. Rather than offering resilience as a silver bullet, this session will pose critical questions: What does it take to nurture resilience at different levels - individual, community, institutional, and ecological? How do power, equity, and agency shape who is resilient and who is left behind? And what does “mainstreaming resilience” mean in practical terms, beyond rhetoric? The discussion will connect these ideas to participants’ thematic areas - whether food systems, water, climate or biodiversity and sets the stage for a more reflective and grounded exploration of resilience across the four-part journey..
Session 2 (29 October 2025, 9:30 - 11:30 am CET): Resilience in action - Making better programme decisions
Resilience is not a standalone goal but a guiding lens — it shapes how we design, adapt, and deliver our programmes in the face of uncertainty. Building on the conceptual foundation introduced in the first webinar, this second session will address the burning questions raised : "How do we operationalise resilience?" , "How do we handle trade-offs ?".
Objective:
This webinar will explore two complementary ways of putting resilience into practice: the capacity-based approach, which views resilience as a set of measurable household-level capacities that enable people and communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from shocks; and the scenario-based approach, which builds resilience thinking through a systems perspective by exploring what could go wrong and how different actors and structures might respond. Together, these approaches help us anticipate vulnerabilities and strengthen responses. The aim is to move from programming for resilience to programming with resilience awareness woven throughout our work.
Session 3 (21 January 2026): Tracking resilience - Measurement that matters
Translating resilience from a broad and abstract idea into something actionable, and measuring progress, remain some of the most pressing challenges for development agencies. This session introduces practical tools, methods, and frameworks that support the integration of resilience thinking in programme design, implementation, and monitoring.
Session 4 (Early March 2026): Mainstreaming resilience thinking - Building buy-in
This webinar will explore how to make resilience thinking resonate with donors and decision-makers — from communicating capacity assessments that clearly demonstrate impact to using scenario inquiries as compelling evidence for change. We will discuss political strategies to build buy-in, ways to balance short-term funding cycles with long-term goals, and how to combine accountability with the space needed for innovation.
This being the final session, we will also provide some time for reflection, synthesis, and forward planning. Participants will revisit key insights from the learning journey and consider how they can apply resilience thinking in their own roles and contexts.
Contact
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC
Eichenweg 5
Switzerland - 3003 Bern