Sandy Schilen, Global Facilitator GROOTS International

1. Participatory Public Policies Placing Grassroots Women’s Groups at the Center of Community Resilience Sandy Schilen, Global Facilitator GROOTS International

2. - Helen Clark’s Cambridge Lecture “Achieving resilience is a transformative process which builds on the innate strength of individuals, their communities, and institutions to prevent, mitigate the impacts of, and learn from the experience of shocks of any type, internal or external; natural or man-made; economic, health-related, political, or social.”

3. “Resilience-based sustainable development …invokes the agency of people, institutions, and systems. It calls for developing the agency or capacity of the poor to overcome their conditions; draws on local knowledge and expertise, and the resilience of those who are vulnerable ….(and) is about building the capacities of societies to prevent, resolve, learn, and grow...”

4. “Resilience-focused approaches offer opportunities to build development from the bottom up, from a concern and a deep respect for the people who are the most resilient in the face of crisis – those who are facing and confronting it.”

6. Community Resilience=Facilitating Grassroots Women’s Empowerment Approach Constituency Building & Leadership Securing Access to & Control over Resources Supporting Women’s Effective Community Resilience Practice &Transfer Build Relationship with Local Authorities, Government Officials

7. Elements of Resilience Building in Our Network include: • Disaster preparedness and emergency response • Protecting natural resources and development gains • Ensuring that development does not increase vulnerabilities • Building capacities to participate in long term risk reduction – sustainable agriculture • Reviving and transmitting indigenous knowledge and practices to preserve natural resources • Strengthening organizations and networks • Negotiating with local authorities and government for coordinated response and institutional accountability

9. Hazard, Risk Mapping Land use mapping Indigenous early warning systems Contingency Planning & Disaster Response Committees Community kitchens Sustainable agriculture Rain water harvesting Soil conservation Crop rotation Food security Entry Points for Scaling Up Grassroots Women’s Resilience Efforts • Securing land and housing tenure • Disaster-resistant construction – houses, sanitation, drainage, river embankments. • Improve infrastructure • Access to basic services – health, sanitation • Disaster safe construction – houses, embankments • Community banks, savings and credit • Transmitting indigenous knowledge and practices • Strengthening organizations and networks • Negotiating with institutions COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

10. Advancing Grassroots Women’s Leadership through Public Roles Climate & Disaster Risk Mapping Reducing Vulnerabilities Building Action and Learning Networks Initiating Partnerships and Linkages Resourcing Community DevelopmentInsuring Funds & Opportunities Reach Women in Poor Communities • Climate & Disaster Risk Mapping • Community Resilience Fund • Scaled Up Demonstration Funds

11. The Community Resilience Fund: Urban Rural Roof Retrofitting Roof retrofitting Seed and tool banks for food security • Uganda: Drought resistant crops • Nepal: Vegetable farming • Jamaica: Seed banks and containers • Jamaica: Hurricane resistant roofs and women led construction • Indonesia: Construction of canals, drainage system and pipe reconstruction • Jamaica: Toilet construction and health awareness campaign Sanitation and Drainage Rain water harvesting • Nepal : To combat drought and water irrigation for crops Vulnerability Reduction Initiatives from Risk Mapping Reforestation Mangrove replanting • Peru: Tara tree reforestation • Indonesia: Replanting trees based on 2000 new trees • Jamaica: Prevent environmental degradation and provide shoreline protection Livelihood Diversification Water Recycling Securing land for collective farming • Peru: Building a water tank for irrigation for farming and tree planting • Uganda: Securing land for collective farming Local and National Government Engagement

12. Community Resilience Fund: A Vision of Change Local Authorities recognize and support proactive women’s agendas to take short and long term approaches to risk reduction and resilience Networking (Grassroots Organizations, Local Authorities, and National Ministries) create a critical mass of leaders fostering community focused resilience building Innovative partnerships reduce risks and vulnerabilities and create a culture of resilience Grassroots Women’s Organizations take actions to reduce risk and vulnerabilities and engage local authorities National Ministries and Governments related to disaster and climate change implement pro poor risk/vulnerability reduction policy and programming

13. Community Practitioners PlatformOfficially Recognized by UNISDR Enable grassroots communities to strategically influence decision makers by: • Building coalitions through which they can demonstrate, teach and transfer their practices • Building a network of institutional champions and allies committed to promoting community leadership In order to strategically influence policies and programs so that they advance pro-poor, resilient development.

14. Thank you! sandy.schilen@groots.org www.huairou.org