Skills Capacity Building sits at the heart of our vision. At the Resilience by Design Lab, we believe in the potential of youth as change-makers and climate change leaders within disaster risk reduction and climate change contexts. Our applied, participatory research seeks to support community-level capacity building to strengthen the skillsets, adaptive capacity, and professional competencies now essential in responding to the uncertainties of climate change.
The United Nations defines ‘capacity building’ as ‘the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive.’ As the impacts of climate change escalate in both frequency and severity, the necessity to build, bolster, and reinforce the development of relevant skills and competencies to address the impacts of climate change and drive informed action has become paramount.
Our approach to supporting Skills Capacity Building is multi-faceted. We work with many communities, including youth and working professionals, to actively explore and develop strategies addressing disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Skills and capacity building may focus on ‘hard’ (tactical, task-specific) and ‘soft’ (general) skillsets. Our collaborative, participatory research structure also aims to support youth empowerment by developing core leadership, collaboration, and research skills.
