New research from Public Health Wales, the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol suggests that harnessing the upsurge in community-led action during the pandemic response, could be key to building more resilient communities throughout Wales, who are better able to respond to the ongoing impact of recovery and adapt to future crisis.

During the pandemic, people played a vital role in both helping the most vulnerable and helping official agencies by becoming an integral part of the wider more formal response to the pandemic; with communities themselves often being the most knowledgeable about their community’s own needs and how to meet them, and with established connections and trust.

While such emergency situations can often exacerbate weaknesses in infrastructure and systems, and exacerbate existing disparities in our communities; they are also powerful catalysts for change and create opportunities to transform in recovery, and improve the capacity to prevent and withstand similar challenges in the future.

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