Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

No-one has been un-touched by Covid-19. It has brought vulnerability and the perception of risk to each of our doorsteps and is making an entire nation think about how we behave against the COVID-19 risk. The public have been taught about risk over the weeks by constant use of risk principles such as transmission rate, R, personal protection, their own personal vulnerability. This emphasises the need to lower risk through shielding, social distancing, hand washing, and self-isolation.

One major response to this risk is the public's willingness to volunteer - both through officially directed activities and through mutual aid activities. The public know their effort is essential to reduce the risk of those who are intensely vulnerable - however, they may not realise that their action is creating resilience in our society. Now, we all know that small groups of people can change the world and can build resilience when we need it.

Consider:

• That there is currently an opportunity to talk more about this wide-scale risk - before people become more disillusioned and fatigued with COVID-19
• How to enhance the public's understanding of risk by simple messages which are easily understood and not nuanced
• How to educate the public on risk and resilience
• How mass volunteering builds resilience
• How this new expression of volunteering social capital has created opportunities to:
  • strengthen resilient and society
  • change the relationship between crisis responders and volunteers
• How to convert the experiences of children and young person into a legacy about prevention, preparedness and social responsibility learning

It is possible that the general public's understanding of risk and resilience is greater than ever before - let's capitalise on that

TMB Issue 10 brings together the reflections of our learning from the first 10 weeks of gathering lessons on recovery and renewal from COVID-19. Follow the source link below to read all of the reflections from our team (p.9-15)