Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 2 June 2022 - The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), organized the “IsDB Resilience Forum: Recovery, Preparedness, and Path to Sustainability” as a side event during the IsDB Group Annual Meeting organized in Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt. During the Forum, IsDB launched its 2^nd IsDB Resilience Report: Pandemic Recovery and Preparing for Future Shocks.

The IsDB Resilience Forum theme and objectives are in line with both the theme of the IsDB Group Annual Meeting “Beyond Recovery: Resilience and Sustainability” and the strategic objectives of “Reducing Poverty and Building Resilience” and boosting recovery of the strategic alignment of the IsDB Group.

In addition to launching the IsDB 2^nd Resilience Report, the Forum objectives were to deliberate on             countries approaches to interconnectedness of dimensions of resilience (economic and livelihood, health and pandemic, environment, forcible displacement), in addition to the need for improved knowledge and statistics in interconnected dimensions of resilience to help investment in preparedness, boosting recovery and resilience building. The Forum also reflected on the prospects of building partnerships to invest in resilience building.

H.E. Dr Mansur Muhtar, the Vice President Operations, IsDB explained in his statement which was delivered by Br. Amer Bukvic, Director General–Global Practice & Partnerships in IsDB - how IsDB was prompted to organize the Forum and produce the report. The opening session was also addressed by H.E. Mrs Kaba Nialé, Minister of Planning and Development, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (IsDB Governor for Republic of Cote d’Ivoire) who shared with the audience the experience of Cote d’Ivoire in resilience building through interventions in critical sectors such as agriculture and education and the lessons learned from these interventions.

“COVID-19 and the ensuing global economic, food security and energy effects in addition to the developing security situation in Europe are most significant world-changing events in recent history. The impacts of these events are testing the resilience of states, systems, and communities worldwide and their capacities to stay the course of sustainable development,” H.E. Dr. Mansur underlined.

The IsDB Resilience Forum included a panel of high-level officials and executives. H.E. Aslam Chaudhary, Alternate Governor-Islamic Republic of Pakistan highlighted the roles innovation in health sector infrastructure and social protection can play in strengthening resilience to future shocks. Ms. Nena Stoiljkovic, the Under Secretary General for Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization at IFRC highlighted the important role innovative financing such as IsDB Sukuk play in supporting resilience building interventions. Mr. Fahad AL Sulaiti, the CEO of Education Above All stressed the importance of building on national plans and addressing issues of wide-reaching effects such as debt relief. Ambassador Ahmed AbdElatif, General Director, Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) emphasized how shocks can aggravate vulnerabilities and how its effects can extend through the peace and development nexus spectrum. Mr. Yannick Du Pont, the CEO of SPARK Organization highlighted the importance of localization and using national capacities in delivering resilience building interventions. Mr. Syed Husain Quadri, Director (Ag), Resilience and Social Development Department, IsDB underlined the importance of considering both incremental and transformative approaches for resilience building and the understanding how to engage the private sector and unconventional partners in funding resilience building initiatives. 

Both the IsDB Forum and the IsDB Resilience Report discus and analyse the shocks and challenges imposed by COVID-19 and their fallout on dimensions of resilience in IsDB member countries. In this sense, they are very significant in terms of studying the interconnectedness of resilience and the inter-dimensional nature of preparedness for future shocks. The report specifically derives lessons and provide policy directions and recommendations for recovery, preparedness for future shocks and development interventions in this regard.

During the launch of the IsDB Resilience Report, Br. Amer Bukvic, Director General–Global Practice & Partnerships in IsDB elaborated on the critical concrete report recommendations on issues including preparedness to future shocks and building resilience through means such as addressing issues of rural health infrastructures, preparing education system for future shocks, leveraging civil society for social cohesion and improving social protection systems. Recommendations also include investing strategically in digitalization and mainstreaming resilience strategies.