🌱 Resilience is one of those words we hear all the time in development — usually surrounded by strategies, indicators, and best practices.

But as Trevor Madeya of GIZ Malawi points out in this short standout video, resilience cannot be engineered like a formula.

It only works when it becomes a movement — something people adopt, share, and adapt in their own lives.

In his reflection, Trevor explains how climate shocks and hunger reveal that the technical side of resilience — the “science” — often fails to spread because it lacks ownership.

Through the story of Linda, a mother facing starvation, he illustrates how even well-designed interventions can falter when communities are not part of shaping them.

His point is simple yet profound: behavior change communication is not add-ons; they are the bridge between science and sustainability.

Trevor also touches on the importance of collaboration and governance — from local extension workers to ministries and sector networks like SNRD Africa — showing how shared learning helps overcome institutional silos.

Finally, he ends with a call for humility: advisers and experts must listen more, co-create more, and resist the top-down reflex that so often isolates “knowledge” from the people it is meant to empower.

“Resilience now becomes a science — but it also has to be a movement.”

– Trevor Madeya, GIZ Malawi

🎥 Watch the full video 👉