Components of Resilience
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Institution

Components of Resilience
Introduction
Resilience has become a part of everyday life as it generally determines the functioning of the world. It is the ability of an organism, organization or systems to adapt to adverse, stressful or tragic situations. For there to be growth there needs to be resilience so in a sense resilience does not mean a positive outcome but it can also lead to a negative one. According to Browning and Johnson (2010) there is a possibility that the definition of resilience has been misunderstood creating an impression of resilience and recovery being the same. This paper aims at expounding on resilience and its components and how it applies to everyday running of life and other systems that relate to life especially in India. There are many researchers that have come up with different components of resilience depending on where it is to be applied but in this paper there are five components that have applied in a general context. The application of these components will determine if the result of resilience will be positive or negative. This paper will discuss redundancy, diversification, network connectivity, feedback and recovery and how they have been practically applied to various places to build resilience especially in India and Punjab, Pakistan. It will further discuss two other components of resilience that is strongly related to the named components. Finally it will conclude on the basis of choosing the components and the importance of those components.
Application of the components of resilience
There are many systems that interact in their functioning. The world functions due to interactions such as humans and the eco-system and humans and the climate. The components of resilience determine the how the interaction will occur and what will it result in. As stated there are many components that have been discussed by many researchers but there is a general classification that has been broadly accepted by most of the studies done in terms of the study of resilience and the application of its components. Discussed below are the components:
Redundancy
Redundancy is defined as having resources in excess. Having excess in resources means that the every resource available should be replicated though this might result in wastage as not all the resources will not be used at the same time. However this results in risk spreading which means that if ever there is any form of failure from on one. Pashler et al. (2012) stated that replication has been conceptualized in testing of the validity of experiments showing great promise but the direct application of the same has never been tried. A great example of the application of redundancy as a component of resilience in India is in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN). ACCCRN has been proven to be effective since the program has been replicated in different major cities in India. A research done By Sharma, Singh and Singh (2013) shows that replication or redundancy has the potential of improving the perspectives of resilience in the climate change. The concept of redundancy has been measured studied to determine its real value and many researchers have concluded that where the redundancy falls into determines how effective it is in its application. If human resource is redundant it is more effective than when other resources such as tools are redundant (Azadeh, Hasannia & Salehi, 2016).
Diversification
Diversification of functions has been deemed as a path that can lead to strengthening of resilience (Tyler & Moench, 2012). Monopoly in most of the economic activities in India and Pakistan especially Punjab had led to no growth in the economic prospects of the country. Pakistan depends on agriculture as the main contributor to its growing economy and the main crops that that the government has focused on is grain in nature clearly not giving consideration to diversification Agriculture which is sector which has been relied on by many locals of Punjab as well as contributing to the economy of India has been largely reliant on monoculture which is the cultivation of one type of crop to a very large extent. According to a study carried out by Nexus (2013) the Indian government procures over 75% of the gain for national consumption from Punjab. As much as this contributes a high income it also prevents the Punjab population from diversifying its crop production. Non diversification on their part exposes them to risks such that if the crops are infected the damages will be catastrophic than if the crops were diversified. Monoculture is also known to negatively affect the nutrient composition of soil. Therefore the government has to encourage diversification of crop cultivation not only for nutritional value but also for the ecosystems.
Network connectivity
In any systems there are a number of modules that interact together to achieve optimal productivity. Without these modules being linked it becomes hard to have them work together leave alone being productive. The network that comes about as a result of business interactions is very important to be maintained. If by any chance there is an interruption an alternative route should be put in place to avoid having to deal with unsatisfied consumers. The same principle applies to the ecosystem. There needs to ample network connectivity to ensure there is continuous productivity. Resilience depends on how the reproductive system will use the connectivity component to ensure survival of the system. The ecosystem depends on connectivity to ensue survival as in the example of the coral reefs in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in India are highly depend on the network to avoid extinction of certain species of corals. An interruption on these networks may have an adverse effect on the species in question in terms of its population (Simonsen et al., 2014). Simonsen et al. also concluded that too much networks do not necessarily work for the benefit of the system but against as in the example of a forest fire.
Robustness
All systems, regardless of how small, need to be stable and strong otherwise it can be easily destroyed and its functionality put to a stop. Any system that can maintain its functionality despite some of its modules not functioning is considered to be robust. A study done in southern Punjab, Pakistan, by Kamran and Shivakoti (2010) on irrigation systems show the difference in system robustness. The two systems used in the study were Famer managed spate irrigation systems (FMIS) and Agency managed irrigation systems (AMIS) which includes perennial and non-perennial in both instances. The study showed that the FMIS is more robust and this led to more productivity. A sustainable irrigation system requires robustness to maintain resilience and increase productivity without having to use significant amounts of inputs to keep the system functioning. Robust systems cannot be underestimated especially in the business aspects as there are risks that are faced in a daily basis and institutions need sure that even if they are faced with the risks the functionality of the organization will go on without a major interruption to the productivity. The internet being a global platform needs to be robust to ensure continuous flow of information since it is the most used system in the world. There are regular tests that are done to the global system to ensure that the robustness is maintained.
Feedback sensitivity
Response is very important in any system in order to ensure that the system is working and that the result is as expected or not. A working system is composed of components that work together to form an action that will eventually require a reaction otherwise there is no need for a functioning system. Simonsen et al. (2014) give an example of grass that easily catches fire and burns all including the shrubs and bushes around it. By the grass burning it minimizes the chance of the shrubs and bushes survival but the grass grows back eventually. They termed this as positive feedback as opposed to being punished when being unlawful which elicits negative feedback. In India women have chosen to form courts which are mainly used as a place where women can find legal help as well as protection. As a way of being resilient these women have formed courts known as mahila panchayats (Berman, 2016) which provides a home based solution to sexual violence by actively engaging the perpetrators. Though this type of response has its shortcomings it seems to be a step in the right direction in building resilience in women who are being sexually abused by giving them the voice they require.
Recovery
Most times there are efforts to avoid any form of stressful situation from negatively impacting the running system be it an organization or an individual. This is cannot work at all times so having in place the right recovery tools to ensure that the system is running smoothly even after the said stressful situation. In most cases systems adapt to the current situation in order to assume normal functioning. After the tsunami tragedy the countries that were affected including India had to develop networks on their road to recovery. The most common of the networks were social networks. Due to having previous disasters in the past though not in the same magnitude the communities affected leaned to build networks that can help them in the recovery process (Aldrich, 2012). Building resilience through community based recovery has proven to be most effective of recovery strategies. As in the case of hurricane Katrina Chamlee-Wright (2010) observed that people who were involved in the community based recovery showed more promise than those who were not. Whether this was because they derived strength from each other or they were just in for the using other reasons is yet to be determined.
Resilience can be further classified into other components such as:
Biological resilience
Biological resilience is the overall resilience of the functioning of the body. That is, the immune system and how it is prepared to protect the body from foreign entities.
Social resilience
Apart from the changes that occur inside an organism there are changes that occur outside in which the community is concerned. These changes require adaptability in order to be able to function well.
Conclusion
Resilience is a part of any system that wishes to survive and grow and without including the components of resilience it can be quite a task to come out of ay stressful situation. Any organization that wishes to be prepared for any eventuality should first check that the components of resilience have been given the consideration they deserve. Redundancy, diversification, network connectivity, feedback sensitivity and recovery are a must in any running system to ensure there is no interruption in productivity as seen from the examples stated above.

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