Together with the Joint Strategic Frameworks of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, BOS+ organised a hybrid workshop on socio-ecological resilience in Lima (Peru) on 19 February 2025 on behalf of SECORES. In addition to representatives from the Belgian development cooperation administration and the Belgian embassy in Peru, 26 organisations participated, with a total of 37 people.
- 13 participants in the live workshop and 24 online;
- 9 Belgian actors with 12 participants (3 from Peru, 3 from Bolivia, 4 from Ecuador and 2 from Belgium);
- 17 partner organisations with 23 participants: 8 partners from Peru (11 people), 8 partners from Bolivia (11 people) and 1 partner from Ecuador (1 person).
The workshop included several presentations:
- a brief summary of some concepts related to socio-ecological resilience;
- the application of the SEPLS method in Burundi with the measurement of socio-ecological resilience (click here for more information);
- a presentation by VIA Don Bosco on how they have integrated socio-ecological resilience concepts into their programme with young people and future professionals;
- NCI Peru and BOS+ shared their experiences with monitoring socio-ecological resilience by local communities.
In groups (one in person and two online), participants discussed the following questions.
- How can we link or translate the concepts of socio-ecological resilience and the four strategic goals of SECORES to our programmes?
- What information or tools do we need to continue applying the concept of resilience in our work?
- How could resilience be implemented or improved within our programme?
- What synergies are useful for achieving this?
Participants’ programmes clearly align with one or more of SECORES’ strategic objectives: protecting and restoring ecosystems; improving access to and sustainable management of ecosystem services; increasing awareness, knowledge and skills; and improving rights, policies and governance. Some specific points to note:
- the importance of awareness and knowledge is often mentioned, with particular attention to indigenous and ancestral knowledge;
- management by and with local communities, which must be strengthened for this purpose.
- the need for consultation and good relations with governments.
- caring for what is common; forests are often mentioned, not only in relation to ecosystem protection, but also as a source of food;
- who we work with on socio-ecological resilience is as important as the role of women, young people, local organisations and vulnerable groups (who often live in vulnerable ecosystems); collaboration is important in this regard;
- agroecology, sustainable food systems, the circular economy, strengthening vulnerable economies and food forests are all related to socio-ecological resilience;
- socio-ecological resilience is related to climate change and the energy transition;
- it is important to work on systemic changes, manage risks, develop resilience after a crisis, and seek a balance between social and ecological issues, paying attention to well-being, trauma, and mental health.
In order to continue working on this, the following expectations were compiled:
- analysis of what the climate crisis means in everyday life;
- methods for implementing (e.g. participatory diagnosis) and measuring socio-ecological resilience. In this regard, measuring social resilience is even more difficult, as it goes beyond simple access to ecosystem services. The impact of external factors such as migration, uncertainty and diversity is considerable. Therefore, collecting reliable data is a challenge;
- how to communicate the results to the population; this requires translating the methods and results into local languages.
Some recommendations for integrating socio-ecological resilience into future programmes, if possible in collaboration with other actors:
- integrate the concept from the outset of the programme and do so in close collaboration with the local population, who should also be involved in monitoring. To do this, it is necessary to establish a good baseline, paying attention to the diversity of the local community;
- see which organisations develop thematic strategies that pay attention to the environment; it is important to collaborate with a wide range of actors: academic institutions, communication centres, organisations working in the same region, adult education centres, etc.;
- indicators must go beyond the economic and also cover human well-being;
- social-ecological resilience is not only important in rural areas, but also in urban areas;
- finally, it is useful to establish a link with the doughnut economy model.