Measuring development resilience in the world’s poorest countries

The dangerous nexus of climate change, rapid population growth, and conflict has pushed several poor regions of the world—notably in rural areas of the Sahel, the Horn, and the Great Lakes regions of Africa—into states of seemingly permanent crisis (Fig. 1). The distinction between short-run humanitarian response and development assistance aimed at longer-run outcomes has grown increasingly blurred in such places. This disturbing state of affairs, along with social scientists’ expanded knowledge of the intimate interactions between short-term shocks and long-run economic development, has catalyzed widespread interest in building “development resilience,” which has quickly become a centerpiece of many humanitarian and development organizations’ programming.