A solution to measure community resilience

Through its researches on the characteristics of resilient communities, the indicators contributing to them and the available measurement methodologies, IFRC has recently developed the “Community Resilience Measurement Dashboard” (CRMD), a practical tool to help measure community resilience.

The CRMD helps us measure community resilience by using the three tools: 1) Resilience Star (a tool to measure community resilience through discussion by a group of people, based on the data collected through the Enhanced Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (EVCA) and other available community assessment tools); 2) Resilience Scan (a tool to measure community resilience through key informant interviews with local experts and review of secondary information); 3) Resilience Radar (a tool to assess and illustrate the resilience level of one or several communities through a standard survey).

The CRMD measures resilience by using relevant indicators per each of the 11 resilience dimensions - disaster risk management, health, water and sanitation, shelter, food and nutrition security, social cohesion, inclusion, economic opportunities, infrastructure and services, natural resource management and connectedness.

The CRMD allows users to generate their own measurement tools as per their needs, collect and analyze the data, and show the levels of community resilience through spider webs. Users can track and monitor the progress and effectiveness of resilience programs overtime through the base-line, mid-line and end-line resilience measurements, share and compare these results and modify their programs as needed. The CRMD has been tested in communities supported by RCRC National Societies and received positive feedback from its users. The proposed session contributes to the Priority 1 of the SFDRR and is linked to the GPDRR 2022’s cross-cutting theme of “accelerating and integrating disaster risk management to sustainable development and climate action”. The session will demonstrate the added value of the CRMD and present how to use it.

Choe is a Coordinator for DRR and Resilience Tools and Approaches of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He has over 30 years’ experience of working for the RCRC movement. He worked for the Red Cross Society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a Deputy Secretary General and for the IFRC country offices in Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Myanmar as DRR coordinator, Programme Coordinator, Recovery Coordinator and Head of Delegation. Since 2011 he has worked at the IFRC Secretariat as a focal person for DRR and resilience. The areas of his expertise include disaster and crisis management, DRR, community resilience and organizational development. He holds a master’s degree in international relations and a bachelor’s degree in Asian History.