Strengthening Urban Resilience: Five emerging lessons

Strengthening urban resilience is key to achieving Oxfam's vision of a world without poverty. Urbanization has become a major challenge for almost all countries around the globe. Cities and city inhabitants are facing additional and amplified challenges as a result of rapid urbanization, a changing climate and rising inequality in urban areas. The COVID-19 crisis has further highlighted the importance of strengthening inclusive urban resilience to acute shocks and chronic stresses. Oxfam's Resilience Knowledge Hub conducted the Urban Resilience Learning Exchange (URLE) project with pilot programmes in Jordan, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa, Kenya and Bangladesh to develop a better understanding of what it takes to build resilience in urban settings. This paper summarizes the learning from the pilots and looks at how Oxfam can further strengthen its urban resilience programming.