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A Pandemic, Natural Disaster, and Refugee Crisis: Learned Resilience Strategies of Czech NGOs

Thu, July 18, 4:30 to 6:00pm, TBA

Abstract

Beyond the sphere of academic research, the concept of “resilience” continues to gain popularity amongst civic leaders as crises, ranging from geopolitical tensions to climate disasters, continue to occur more frequently and in rapid succession with little time for recovery or perceived stability. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February of 2022 caused a humanitarian refugee crisis on a scale unseen since World War II. The scale and speed by which refugees surged into other European countries required significant resources to respond to this influx. This paper examines how the strategies adopted by NGOs in Czechia prior to and during the Ukrainian refugee crisis demonstrate a learned resilience of Czech civil society organizations and the sector as a whole.
Drawing from the existing literature of resilience, crisis management, and collaborative governance, this paper examines the pragmatic strategies adopted by NGOs that promote resilience for organizations and the wider NGO sector. Organisational resilience is the capacity for organisations to develop response strategies and opportunities in adverse circumstances and situational pressures (Fernández Guzmán Grassi & Nicole-Berva, 2021). Resilience is also understood as the capacity for organisations to adapt to sudden disruptive changes in the environment compared to standard operating contexts (Witmer & Mellinger, 2016). Resilience for NGOs is developed through several strategies, including financial management, organisational adaptation, and strategic planning before crises occur (Hutton et al., 2021). However, once initial disruptions occur, NGOs utilize other strategies to continue to build capacity to remain resilient.
This paper expands on the field’s understanding of resilience, especially in the context of migration, as the response in the Czech Republic continues to be informed through the strategies and practices NGOs gained throughout other crises experienced over a relatively short period of time including including the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic globally in March 2020 and a fatal tornado in the southern region of the Czech Republic in June 2021. Using an original dataset collected from Czech NGO organizations in April-May 2023, this paper expands on and is informed by prior research and data collected by the researchers (Bryan et al., 2023). Based on a qualitative analysis of participants’ responses from interviews completed in 2022, three strategies were identified as critical to the NGO sector’s response to the crisis. These three identified strategies were implemented by both refugee-serving and non-refugee-serving organizations in order to address the crisis and include - collaborating with other NGOs, mobilizing supporters, and providing direct material assistance (Bryan et al., 2023). In building on this qualitative research with survey data across a larger sample (n=239), this paper provides a greater understanding to the size and scope that these strategies have been implemented and how NGO response strategies have led to perceived reputational gains for the NGO sector as crisis responders.

References

Bryan, T., Lea, M., & Hyánek, V. (2023). Resilience, ambiguous governance, and the Ukrainian refugee crisis: Perspectives from NGO leaders in the Czech Republic. Central European Economic Journal, 10(57) 35-49. https://doi.org/10.2478/ceej-2023-0003

Fernández Guzmán Grassi, E., & Nicole-Berva, O. (2022). How perceptions matter: Organizational vulnerability and practices of resilience in the field of migration. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 1-15.

Hutton, N. S., Mumford, S. W., Saitgalina, M., Yusuf, J., Behr, J.G., Diaz, R., & Kiefer, J. J. (2021). Nonprofit capacity to manage hurricane-pandemic threat: Local and national

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