Improving the feedback loop between community- and policy-level learning: Building resilience of coastal communities in Bangladesh

Abstract

Building community resilience has been widely recognized as a learning process at multiple societal levels, yet few prior studies have examined the feedback loop between community- and policy-level learning. Following a qualitative research approach, we document experiential and transformative forms of learning from coastal cyclones in Bangladesh that help local community and their institutions mitigating the impact of cyclonic shocks and recovering from disaster-related losses, both in the shorter and longer term. This study discovers that such community-level learning (when scaled-up) as well as learning from policy failure significantly enhanced programmatic interventions, which in turn enhanced community resilience to cyclones and future disasters. However, this feedback loop can be attenuated by multiple factors, such as lack of attention to community-level learning by policy/decision makers in non-disaster settings and the presence of a strong vested interest group, may impede learning-based policy instrumentation. Boundary spanners or organizations can significantly improve the feedback loop, thus enhancing community resilience and improving policy.