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Community solidarity, adaptive capacity and collaboration: a realist review of how the third sector adapts and responds to crisis

Claire Bynner et al.

Voluntary Sector Review2026https://doi.org/10.1332/20408056y2026d000000066article
AJG 1
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of the third sector and mutual aid in supporting vulnerable populations through crisis response. This study asks how community resilience (mobilising resources to cope with crises) is enabled by third sector and mutual aid responses in the United Kingdom. We conducted a realist review of UK peer-reviewed and grey literature using stakeholder-agreed search terms. Of 366 records identified, 55 contained sufficient explanatory detail to develop and test programme theories. Iterative analysis refined initial propositions into three overarching theories, represented through three Context–Mechanism–Outcome configurations. Findings emphasise the importance of community solidarity through shared adversity, adaptive capacity drawing on specialist knowledge, cross-sector collaboration and trust-based networks that enable rapid scaling. Collaborative roles were often temporary; without formal recognition and longer-term governance infrastructure, crisis response may remain fragile and fragmented. These theoretical models provide transferable explanations to inform crisis preparedness, adaptation planning, and resourcing of community-based responses.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1332/20408056y2026d000000066

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{claire2026,
  title        = {{Community solidarity, adaptive capacity and collaboration: a realist review of how the third sector adapts and responds to crisis}},
  author       = {Claire Bynner et al.},
  journal      = {Voluntary Sector Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1332/20408056y2026d000000066},
}

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Community solidarity, adaptive capacity and collaboration: a realist review of how the third sector adapts and responds to crisis

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.