Measuring resilience: UCCRTF Endlining study underway in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, and Viet Nam
UCCRTF team with city officials in La Trinidad, Philippines, during the Endlining activities in June 2022
(photo by UCCRTF).
October 2022
A series of endline studies are underway in cities across four ADB Developing Member Countries (DMCs). The studies aim to quantify the impact of ADB’s Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) interventions on the resilience of communities, measuring the change in perceived resilience compared to a baseline study that was conducted in the same cities in 2018.
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The urban resilience measurement project, carried out under TA 9217, is designed to provide evidence to feed into the UCCRTF’s wider Design Monitoring Framework (DMF), and specifically on impact indicators 1 and 3. Indicator 1: At least 50% of the poor and vulnerable in cities that have had a UCCRTF-supported intervention have improved their resilience by 2026 measures the overall benefits to poor and vulnerable populations of changes[1] in the larger system of urban planning and investment. Indicator 3 (Estimated costs due to the effects of climate change reduced by at least 15 % across all UCCRTF cities by 2026) measures the changes in the resilience of individuals (poor and vulnerable people) to climate change, as a result of UCCRTF activities.[2]
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The baseline survey data were collected at both the city and, in some cases, at the household levels to assess resilience and provide benchmark data points. At the city level, data were collected from 17 cities. Household surveys were conducted in 12 cities to assess resilience at the household level.[3]
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The results of the baseline assessments were shared at the city level through workshops and a set of sixteen City Resilience Profiles (CRPs) providing a snapshot of urban resilience across four key dimensions: health and well-being, economy and society, infrastructure and ecosystems, and leadership, and strategy.
The endline assessment, follows the same principal approach as the baseline in order to measure any perceived changes in resilience after UCCRTF interventions have taken place in the cities. City stakeholders are being asked a combination of 102 qualitative and quantitative questions to form a resilience profile. Where household surveys are being conducted an average of 100 questionnaires with 106 questions will be applied in each city to get the beneficiary perspective.
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Engagement in the Philippines
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The endlining data collection is complete in Janiuay and La Trinidad, the Philippines. The UCCRTF conducted the assessment in La Trinidad on 3-4 August and in Janiuay on 8-10 August 2022.
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The team had productive and insightful discussions with municipal government officials and barangay leaders. The team firstly shared a presentation of the UCCRTF city resilience measurement approach and a recap of the 2018 baseline findings to provide more context for the 2022 scoring.
Figure 1. Courtesy Call with Mayor Romeo Salda and Vice Mayor Roderick Awingan of La Trinidad, Benguet.
City-level surveys were conducted with representatives from different municipal local government unit (LGU) departments including the mayor’s office; municipal council; municipal administrator; planning and development; disaster risk reduction and management; environment and natural resources; engineering; social welfare; civil registrar; legal; budget; general services; police; fire; utilities, and others.
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The team focussed their efforts on assessing the impact and effectiveness of UCCRTF-supported projects that were implemented from 2018 to 2022 in each city. Interviews and discussions[4] with the municipal and community representatives provided concrete information and narratives on the contribution of the community-led projects in addressing flooding of agricultural areas in Barangay Betag and neighbouring barangays (Valley area), La Trinidad; and household’s lack of access to reliable and safe water supply in Barangay San Julian, Janiuay, as well as community participation and empowerment.
Figure 2. Betag Climate Resilient Flood Mitigation Project Site Visit with Barangay Captain Comila
The complex assessment intends to measure aggregated impacts of multiple and multi-sector interventions. The process underscores that systemic urban resilience is complex – operating in multiple dimensions, scales, geographies, and contexts. Measuring the impact of resilience projects, therefore, requires an assessment methodology that can proximate these complexities and how they may shift, as well as the complexities of the interventions itself.
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The data from the endlining exercise is still being processed with results expected in the coming months.
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The resilience measurement activities are conducted under TA 9217 Knowledge Management and Resilience Measurement for Urban Climate Change Resilience (UCCRTF Subproject 2), led by Arup.
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[1] Both UCCRTF attributable interventions and wider changes to which UCCRTF has indirectly contributed
[2] These activities must be both attributable and additional
[3] 12 cities where household surveys were carried out: Bangladesh (3): Patuakhali, Bagerhat, Faridpur Viet Nam (4): Hue, Hoi An, Vinh Yen, Dong Hoi Pakistan (5): Sahiwal, Sialkot, Mardan, Peshawar, Abbottabad
[4] The CLP visit in Janiuay together with the SP3 mission team provided more opportunities to interact with the community partners and get insights on the impacts/ contribution of UCCRTF-supported projects in the city/community, challenges, and lessons learned.