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Strengthening Our Society’s Collective Resilience

A family laughs, stands close together, and forms a heart with their hands — a symbol of love, connection, and resilience. Together we are strong – resilience begins with connection, trust, and a heart at the center.


Whether facing a blackout, natural disaster, future pandemic, or other serious emergencies — we must and should grow more resilient together. Resilience isn’t just a matter for governments or expert panels; it’s a living, shared responsibility that begins with each of us. Prevention cannot remain an abstract concept — it must become a lived practice. In our communities. In our thinking. In our daily choices.

Yes, there are already countless informational brochures, checklists, awareness campaigns, and websites explaining what to do, why preparedness matters, and how to go about it. And yet, this vital topic is still far too often treated as a side note — essential, yet routinely overlooked. For many, it simply slips through the cracks of everyday life, as other priorities — deadlines, distractions, convenience — take precedence. But resilience is not something to postpone for later. It’s not a luxury. It’s a foundation for survival and connection.

But what exactly does “resilience” mean? 

According to the UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction), resilience is “the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.” "(Source: https://www.undrr.org/terminology/resilience - Source retrieval: 15.01.2025)

So, resilience is not just about strength — it is about the capacity to adapt and renew. It is about learning, evolving, preserving core functions and systems, and recovering with dignity and determination. It happens on personal, institutional, and societal levels. It is a practice of anticipation, regeneration, and collective care.

The Federal Government's Resilience Strategy (2022–2030)

Perhaps you have already heard about our federal government's resilience strategy?

It was published in 2022 with the aim of making Germany more crisis-proof in the long term – in line with the international Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030).

Core elements of Germany's resilience strategy

Perhaps you’ve already heard of Germany’s official Resilience Strategy, published by the federal government in 2022. Its mission? To make the country systematically more crisis-ready — sustainably, comprehensively, and in alignment with the international Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030).

The strategy takes a holistic approach: investing in preparedness so that disasters and crises can not only be managed better, but also overcome more sustainably. The implementation plan comprises a total of over 420 specific measures. These include protecting critical infrastructure, strengthening cybersecurity, and expanding civil protection and civil defense. Of particular importance is that the strategy follows the “all-hazards approach,” which means that all conceivable threats are taken into account, whether they are natural or man-made.

The German Resilience Strategy (2022–2030) is a direct contribution to the implementation of the international Sendai Framework and provides a guiding basis for our joint action. It shows that resilience is not a luxury, but a necessity and a reflection of our willingness to take responsibility for one another.

For those wishing to explore further, the following documents were last validated on January 15, 2025:


Resilience is not a static state – it is a process.

It does not begin with the crisis, but rather with the thinking that precedes it. In how we deal with uncertainty. In the power to ask: What sustains us when everything is shaking?

It is both an invitation and a responsibility — for greater cooperation, for forward-looking action, for a more resilient, compassionate society.


This contribution was written by Birgit Bortoluzzi, the creative founder of the “University of Hope” – an independent knowledge platform with a mission: to make resilience, education, and compassion visible and audible in a complex world.