Revealing resilience: individual resilience measurement

Posted on 3 Oct 2025

People experience climate resilience differently, but we rarely measure it at the individual level. We want to change that.

This project advocates for greater use of individual-level tools for measuring gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI)-resilience, poverty and inequality, to strengthen development and climate adaptation responses.

Climate change impacts each individual differently. Understanding lived experiences of different groups is fundamental to strengthening climate adaptation responses. This initiative involves:

expanding use of measurement approaches and strengthening capacity with partner organisations undertaking climate-integrated WASH and other sectoral work in Asia and the Pacific
increasing visibility and awareness of inclusive and intersectional data innovations, to influence regional and global development and climate adaptation measurement frameworks and approaches.

link Access the tools

The challenge

Resilience is multidimensional and experienced by individuals, with differentiated impacts of climate change shaped by factors including gender, age and disability and the intersections of these. Yet development programming, and measurement of poverty and inequality, typically focus at household or community level.

Understanding individual differences in climate impacts and experiences is particularly important for programs in areas such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), food and energy, where a focus on technical aspects of climate resilience can obscure gendered, individual implications.

Equally, global data systems tracking development goals are often structured to use household-level rather than individual-level data, making it more difficult to see how individual characteristics shape circumstances and masking the experiences of some of the most vulnerable people.

The approach

This Australian Government-funded initiative supports our partners to apply individual-level measurement tools in their programs, drawing out learning and benefits of those insights to support evidence-informed and responsive climate action. The International Women's Development Agency (IWDA) and the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) will also share key insights at a wide range of regional and global fora across gender, climate, statistics and post-2030 agenda discussions, about the importance and value of individual-level measurement and the available tools.

Applying the WASH-GEM tool in southern Nepal (2019). Photo credit: Jess MacArthur

link Access the tools

link Project summary

Funder:

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Partner:

International Women's Development Agency

The initiative is led by the University of Technology Sydney's Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) with the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) and runs from September 2025 to June 2026.