Today, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate the incredible strength, leadership, and resilience of women worldwide, especially those driving change in resilience-building efforts and fostering adaptable communities in the face of uncertainty.
Resilience is about more than just responding to crises, it’s about anticipating them, mitigating their impact, and ensuring that individuals, organisations, and communities have the tools to recover, rebuild, and thrive ensuring we create sustainable systems. Women have always been at the forefront of this work, leading responses to crises, advocating for policy change, and innovating solutions that make our communities safer and more adaptable.
At RAB, we are proud to have incredible women working in resilience. Their expertise and dedication are shaping a more resilient future, ensuring that individuals, businesses, and communities can better withstand and recover from challenges. Today Saajeda Bandali, one of our Resilience Consultants, shares insights into her role.
My Journey in Resilience
Reflecting on my journey, I’ve had the privilege of working on projects focused on flood risk management, incident preparedness and response disaster communication, crisis management, community resilience, and business continuity.
In recent months, my work has centred on helping businesses and organisations enhance their resilience to navigate crises while continuing to deliver critical services and quickly return to normal operations. One notable project involved supporting the University of Salford to strengthen its Business Continuity Management System, streamlining departmental plans, creating new procedures, and designing exercises to test and refine the university’s crisis response to ensure their teams were fully prepared to respond effectively in the event of a crisis.
Additionally, I’ve worked on developing flood response plans for vulnerable businesses and individuals, ensuring they are prepared for and can mitigate the impact of flooding. Throughout my career, I have contributed to designing and delivering numerous exercises, workshops, and training sessions to enhance organisational response capabilities. These have played a crucial role in strengthening the response capabilities of organisations, such
as the Environment Agency.
Finally, I have been involved in developing a wide range of plans and procedures such as major incident response plans. I have also driven the continuous improvement of these critical documents to ensure they meet organisational needs and align with industry best practices.
Beyond my professional role, I volunteered with the Birmingham Resilience Team for several years, strengthening community preparedness and resilience. I’ve provided guidance on creating personal emergency plans, increasing awareness of local risks, and helping individuals and communities take proactive measures to enhance resilience. Additionally, I am committed to enhancing community preparedness and resilience by actively communicating warnings, raising awareness of potential risks and disasters, and empowering individuals and communities to take proactive measures to minimise their impact through my blog and social media.
Strengthening Global Resilience Together
To truly strengthen global resilience, we need more women’s voices at the table, inclusive policies, and increased investments in sustainable solutions. Let’s use today not only to recognise the contributions of women but also to commit to creating a more sustainable, resilient future.
Resilience is a collective effort, and I am honoured to work alongside brilliant minds, especially the women leading the way in this field. Together, our contributions are shaping a safer, more sustainable world.
RAB deliver a wide range of Resilience services for both public and private sector organisations. More information is available here on our website, or you can get in touch for an informal discussion on your specific project by email to enquiries@rabconsultants.co.uk or call our head office in Lichfield on 0330 223 6475.