Short Abstract:

This panel examines crisis management as a transformative opportunity for (re)shaping development pathways. By exploring adaptive governance and community empowerment strategies, we aim to uncover how effective crisis responses can redefine traditional development paradigms.

Long Abstract:

Crises, while disruptive and often devastating, can also serve as critical junctures that challenge existing systems and stimulate innovative approaches to development. Through diverse contexts and case studies, this panel explores how adaptive governance, characterised by proactive, inclusive, and responsive decision-making processes, can effectively navigate the complexities of crises to ensure an equitable and sustainable future.

The panel advances on the limitations of traditional development models, primarily dominated by top-down approaches, and proposes alternative frameworks grounded in equitable and context-sensitive strategies. We prioritise papers highlighting the roles of crisis management in promoting UN SDGs 11, 16, and 17, ensuring that responses are not only reactive but also forward-looking to addressing the root causes of vulnerability and fostering long-term change. By examining the significance of adaptive governance, empowerment, and crisis response intersections, this panel aims to contribute to international debate and offer suggestions on how effective crisis management, through a stakeholder theoretical lens, can be employed to reimagine development pathways.

Therefore, we invite presentations from academics and non-teaching professionals to contribute papers that advance understanding of community empowerment and adaptive governance as veritable tools that leverage grassroots knowledge and resources to drive recovery and development. Following the conference, we aim to foster a collaborative exchange to propose actionable solutions for each unique context, advancing development in ways responsive to immediate challenges and long-term needs.

Propose paper