Collaborating for Resilience: A practitioner’s guide

Book excerpt: In many countries, resource conflict is a leading risk to livelihoods. For some communities, it is a matter of survival. Yet, many development interventions aiming to address these challenges fail or fall far short of their potential. Common reasons include conflicting agendas, power and politics; poor local commitment and leadership; lack of coordination; plus high costs and low sustainability, as programs often unravel when development finance ends. Overcoming these obstacles requires a shift from typical approaches to planning, implementing and evaluating rural development and natural resource management initiatives. This manual introduces one approach to achieving such breakthroughs in collective action, called "Collaborating for Resilience.” The manual presents a set of principles and field-tested guidance on exploring the potential for collaboration, facilitating dialogue and action, evaluating outcomes, and sustaining collaboration over time.