A multisectoral partnership supporting communities to strengthen their climate resilience.
The Program
2024-2027
Partners: Z Zurich Foundation, Concern Worldwide, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), London School of Economics (LSE) Grantham Institute, Mercy Corps, Plan International, Practical Action
Geographic scope: Albania, Bangladesh, Bolivia, El Salvador, Fiji, Germany, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Sudan, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Zimbabwe
Funder: Z Zurich Foundation
Overview
The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (Alliance) is a multi-sectoral partnership powered by the Z Zurich Foundation and focused on enhancing resilience to climate hazards in rural and urban communities. Our goal is that by 2035, we will positively impact 70 million people vulnerable to climate change. We aim to deliver impact at scale and unlock new pathways through which communities can thrive by implementing solutions, promoting good practice, influencing policy and facilitating systems change.
ISET has been working with the Z Zurich Foundation and a partner in the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (2018-2024) and Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (2024-present) for over a decade.
What we deliver
ISET-International plays multiple roles and delivers multiple services within the Alliance.
Core partner and part of the Alliance governance team
- Contribute to the self-management of the Alliance.
- Serve on the Alliance leadership team and take responsibility for multiple functional areas of work.
Monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and learning (MERL) lead
- Lead on monitoring and reporting, including reporting analysis and the production of useful knowledge products that build the evidence base on building resilience and achieving systems change.
- Use M&E to share learning and facilitate peer-to-peer learning with the Alliance.
- Support capacity development for Alliance country teams, particularly with respect to drawing out and packaging stories of impact and change.
Vietnam program
Our goal is to integrate resilience thinking and climate risk reduction into Vietnamese planning and development across scales. To achieve this we:
- Work in 15 communities in three provinces in Vietnam, ISET has applied the Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities framework and tool to understand climate risk and opportunities for building climate resilience. Based on findings, co-developed, with communities, interventions to build their resilience.
- Work with provincial government in our three target provinces to strengthen provincial DRM and address resilience gaps outside the control of our communities.
- Complement our community and provincial work with knowledge generation and active advocacy across scales.
Post Event Review Studies (PERC)
- Co-developed the PERC methodology with Zurich Insurance in 2014.
- Conducted over 12 PERCs and co-authored three PERC medleys.
- Serve as a co-lead of the PERC functional group within the Alliance.
- Support Alliance country-teams to conduct PERCs and use the results to complement and strengthen their other Alliance work.
Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities
- The Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities is the Alliance framework and tool for helping communities to assess and measure how resilient they are to climate hazards.
- ISET, in collaboration with IIASA, Zurich, and the IFRC, revised the FRMC in 2021 to incorporate extreme heat (from a sole focus on floods) and further adapt the tool for application in urban settings.
- In 2023, provided expert review for the addition of wildfire to the CRMC.
- In 2024, led the addition of storms (typhoons/hurricanes/cyclones) to the CRMC.
Urban and heat co-lead
- Beginning in 2024, the Alliance is focusing in specific thematic areas. ISET is a co-lead for the urban and heat theme.
Knowledge
- Support the gathering, synthesis, and sharing of the Alliance’s internal and external knowledge through research and the development of different knowledge products including blogs, policy briefs, reports, case studies, etc.