The work on resilience by the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform evolved around its Annual Meeting 2012. This meeting explored operational experiences to achieve higher levels of resilience of communities and institutions, and asked about the action points necessary to strengthen such efforts in peacebuilding contexts. This theme connected the wide use of the ‘resilience’ concept in various policy communities, but also critically examined its applicability to peacebuilding contexts.
The discussion on resilience that occurred around the Annual Meeting has been distilled into three publications:
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Jennifer Milliken (2013) Resilience: From Metaphor to an Action Plan for the Peacebuilding Field (Platform Paper 7);
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Ken Menkhaus (2013) Making Sense of Resilience in Peacebuilding Contexts: Approaches, Applications, Implications (Platform Paper 6); and
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Oliver Jütersonke and Moncef Kartas (2012) Resilience: Conceptual Reflections (Platform Brief 6).
In their own way, these publications develop a better understanding of the resilience concept in relation to peacebuilding and its applicability in peacebuilding contexts. They also draw together the operational experience from different sectors and institutions to achieve higher levels of resilience of communities and institutions, and identify a series of action points to strengthen resilience in peacebuilding contexts.
