Press Release: Council conclusions on EU approach to resilience

The Council on 28 May 2013 at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, adopted conclusions on a EU approach to resilience.

Resilience is understood to mean the ability of an individual, a household, a community, a country or a region to prepare for, to withstand, to adapt, and to quickly recover from stresses and shocks without compromising long-term development prospects. The new approach to building resilience provides an opportunity to bring together political dialogue, humanitarian and development work and priorities in a comprehensive, coherent and effective approach to achieve better results on the ground.

Building resilience not only reduces suffering and loss of life but is also more cost effective.