Representatives from across Asia gathered in Malaysia at the beginning of July for a Partners in Resilience and Response Regional Steering Group meeting following on from the regional Resilience Course.
As communities across Asia face conflict, climate-related disasters and public health challenges, churches are accompanying people with renewed commitment and care, helping communities strengthen resilience and mutual support. The regional gathering marked the launch of a Partners in Resilience and Response Regional Steering Group for Asia to share wisdom, deepen relationships, and envision how they can better equip communities before and after crises strike. Local church response is strengthened as leaders explore new ways to build preparedness and resilience across the continent.
In collaboration with the Episcopal Relief & Development, the Anglican Alliance convened the four-day workshop from July 7 to July 10 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and it was hosted by the Anglican Diocese of West Malaysia. All participants were graduates of PiRR’s Resilience Course and are current disaster resilience and response practitioners, representing the Dioceses of the Philippines, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. 
Over the last six years, the Partners in Resilience and Response programme has mobilised Anglican churches across the world to strengthen their capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters. Since the launch of the global Resilience course in 2021, continuation at the regional level have seen regional resilience courses equip churches for disaster preparedness across Latin America and the Caribbean (2024), the Pacific (2024), Africa (2025) and, most recently, Asia (2026). These courses have produced a valuable resource for the Anglican Communion – a pool of people who are equipped to accompany churches in their regions and who form a global community of practice. The programme has also mobilised regional churches through their Resilience Course graduates, to form regional steering groups (RSG) who coordinate disaster preparedness and response activities in their regions. The first regional steering group was launched in Africa in 2023, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024, and the Pacific in 2025. This meeting of Asian Resilience Course graduates in Kuala Lumpur, in July 2026, served as the launch of the Asia Region RSG.
The meeting oriented the participants to Partners in Resilience and Response Programme and develop a plan of action to strengthen disaster preparedness and response capacities of the churches in the region.
Participants focused on:
- Celebrating the Resilience Course graduates, strengthening relationships and deepening
interactions
- Orienting participants in the background, theological underpinning, components, and structure of the programme
- Appreciating regional disaster risk context and church capacities to prepare and respond
- Learning from the disaster management programme of the Diocese of West Malaysia
- Drawing a 2-year regional work plan for July 2026 to June 2028
“My abiding memory of the meeting was the space for worship, prayer and expression of solidarity it created. In each of the devotions throughout the week, the participants reflected on disaster situations, offered prayers and expressed solidarity with those impacted by emergencies in the region and across the world. It so much affirmed the basis scripture of the programme, “When one part of the body suffers all suffer.” There was a deep sense of solidarity among the participants from different countries and dioceses.” – Nicholas Pande, Anglican Alliance Global Resilience and Response Lead
Participants jointly reviewed outcomes of a self-assessment exercise for each of the dioceses ahead of the meeting to establish the levels of preparedness to disasters; the review session highlighted the areas of weakness and strength of different dioceses which provided participants with a clear way to think about their role as a group in strengthening capacities of the dioceses in the region.
The meeting provided many points of new insight into collaboration between different actors: first was the understanding of how disasters impact the communities in Asia region and how different governments have put in place different mechanisms to respond. Bangladesh, for example, is considered a global leader in the area of disaster preparedness and response due to the strength of its policy frameworks. Secondly, participants were inspired by the asset-based approach of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines in disaster preparedness and response, focusing on recovery phase and the synergy between the church and its agency.
Moving forward the work will continue across the regions, supported by the PiRR Secretariat. We look forward to continuing to journey alongside participants and to seeing the outcomes as we implement the working groups and support dioceses to respond to crises and disasters into the future.
The Partners in Resilience and Response initiative – a partnership between the Anglican Alliance and Episcopal Relief & Development – equips churches across the Anglican Communion to build resilience against, and strengthen their capacity to respond to, disasters. You can read more about the initiative here: Partners in Resilience and Response – Anglican Alliance
