Another take on reframing resilience as agency: The agency toward resilience (ATR) model

Abstract Based on empirical work from Nepal, we introduce an actor-oriented, agency-based model of Agency Toward Resilience (ATR). Our approach recognizes individuals as active agents who have the ability and willingness to take actions for building resilience in the context of disaster risk. While the ability to act is influenced by structural conditions and the access to assets, the willingness to act is shaped by individual goals and tradeoffs rooted in personal values, beliefs, and worldviews. Relating this ability and willingness with intentional actions to persist, adapt, and transform, we hope to provide with the ATR model an ontological foundation for gaining a deeper understanding of disaster risk and all its dimensions (Priority 1 of the Sendai Framework) such as people’s agency toward resilience building.