No Accident. Resilience and the Inequality of Risk

We need a new approach to risk and poverty reduction. Major external
risks, such as climate change and food price volatility, are increasing
faster than attempts to reduce them. Many risks are dumped on poor
people, and women face an overwhelming burden. In many places of
recurrent crises, the response of governments and the international
aid sector is not good enough. A new focus on building resilience
offers real promise to allow the poorest women and men to thrive
despite shocks, stresses, and uncertainty – but only if risk is more
equally shared globally and across societies. This will require a major
shift in development work, which for too long has avoided dealing with
risk. More fundamentally, it will require challenging the inequality that
exposes poor people to far more risk than the rich.