The Pipeline for the Next Generation of Resilience Professionals?
A consistent theme in my first year of speaking to resilience and business continuity professionals is the pipeline problem. Where are the next generation of professionals coming from? Allied with that is the interesting discovery (for me, at least) that most resilience pros seem to have landed up in their career by accident.
Whilst the evangelical zeal with which many of these people now promote their chosen career, accidental entry isn’t a long-term plan for the industry’s health.
That is one reason why the Next Generation Network was created. Its stated goal is to create space for connection, capability building, and practical contributions for individuals entering the profession through diverse pathways, including career changers and those new to resilience roles.
But what about the step before that? The NGN talk about ‘shared learning, innovation and active engagement’ – and that came to mind when a member alerted me to a session at AFAC on lived experiences of younger people in disaster-affected areas[1].
This seems to be a reference to Heywire[2] an Australian initiative where young regional, rural and remote students have ‘the opportunity to enter the national discussion, where they are often unheard and under-represented, and to drive projects that contribute to the wellbeing of their peers, their schools, communities and themselves...’ Many of these personal stories include elements of resilience.
This, and other initiatives like it, started with the UN's Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction,[3] which identifies children and youth as ‘agents of change’. [4]
Examples
New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency, with the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake, runs "What's the Plan, Stan?". It's a free resource to support schools, teachers and students to develop the knowledge and skills to prepare for emergency events, with content adaptable to local areas and school curriculums. The service provides lesson plans, fact sheets and classroom activities and ties into the New Zealand school curriculum's goals for young people. The aim is for these young people to be confident, connected, and actively involved in reducing disaster risk. It's even been adapted into an augmented-reality game for children ages 6–12.
The US also has a number of initiatives. The National Strategy for Youth Preparedness Education, developed by FEMA, the Department of Education, and the American Red Cross, sets out nine steps for building youth preparedness nationally. Again, it provides resources, including ‘Student Tools for Emergency Planning (STEP)’, a curriculum for grade 4+ that teaches kids to build emergency kits and family communication plans. There is the ‘Teen Community Emergency Response Team (Teen CERT)’ for high schoolers, and the "Prepare with Pedro" activity book for younger children, available in six languages. FEMA also runs a national Youth Preparedness Council for teen leadership.
Other national and regional efforts
Over the past decade there have been national rollouts of disaster resilience education in Turkey, the Philippines, and Indonesia. In Europe, the EU-funded CUIDAR project (Cultures of Disaster Resilience among Children and Young People) examined the roles ascribed to children in disaster risk reduction policy, including a country study of Portugal. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a UNICEF-produced guide for governments, driven by the Declaration of Santiago de Chile on Disaster Risk Reduction, set out strategies for integrating children, adolescents and youth resilience-building into risk management and climate adaptation planning at local, national and regional levels.
Could it be that the young people who have been associated with these initiatives are a good source for the next generation of resilience? As several of the BCI’s podcast guests have said, sometimes people haven’t even heard of business continuity as a concept – let alone as a potential career. So, if there is a pool of young people with existing knowledge, and if other countries take up this approach, is this the starting point for the pipeline?
To watch or listen to industry professionals discuss their experiences visit The BCI Podcast | BCI
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About the author
Brian Runciman
Content Manager, The BCI
