Risk and resilience: effects of adverse childhood experiences

In a recent conversation, someone suggested that many people are damaged in childhood. Then they spend the rest of their lives trying to fix it.

The words instigate some profound thought. Everyone is a product of the environment in which they grew up and childhood experiences help to form the adults that each person becomes. For some – too many? – the term, ACE (adverse childhood experiences) comes into play. As we become adults, we get to choose how we want to live our lives, or should…

Belize: Social Resilience in an Age of Climate Change, Disasters

Eleven communities in Southern Belize now have data on how climate change and disasters could impact their livelihood after a week-long workshop organised by the Community Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (CDDRF).

A main conclusion of the workshop was expressed by CDDRF Project Manager Claudia James who said, “It is pressing and urgent for us to strengthen our social resilience, financial resilience and our environmental resilience in order to absorb the stresses, adapt to the changes, and evolve to a desirable state that will ensure we are better prepared to respond to changes and recover quickly.”

This workshop was under the Caribbean Development Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Local Government and Rural Development (Belize) and the Social Development Commission (Jamaica).

“We recognise our vulnerability to natural… hazard events and the impacts of climate change. We also know that we can be proactive and take actions to build the resilience of…