From COVID-19 to the war in Ukraine: “Real resilience starts at home”
From the Utrecht tram attack and the global COVID-19 pandemic to the war in Ukraine and the Netherlands' approach to tackling femicide, Willemijn Vlieg has been closely involved in all of these issues through her work. For the past ten years, she has worked on national crises as a policy officer, strategic adviser and project manager, with the mission of making society more resilient.
In every crisis, the pressure is intense and decisions have to be made quickly. To help society remain resilient in the face of increasingly complex crises, specialists develop crisis response plans, emergency scenarios and public policy. But according to Willemijn, real resilience begins much closer to home: “Real resilience starts at home and in your local community.”
When the pandemic struck
Willemijn's interest in crises began during her Master's in Global Health at Maastricht University. This was reflected in her decision to take the course ‘Health in Times of Crises’. Infectious diseases and pandemics particularly captured her interest. According to Willemijn, it was never a question of if a pandemic would occur, but when. “I had just one goal after graduating: to become a Civil Service Trainee.”
She achieved that goal. After completing her degree, Willemijn joined the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport as a Civil Service Trainee, where she went on to become a policy officer specialising in infectious diseases. “At the time, there wasn't the same sense of urgency around pandemics. Everything was still fairly abstract, policy-driven and slow-moving.” When she realised that the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV) would likely play a key role in any future pandemic, she moved to the organisation as a strategic adviser on political and administrative decision-making.
Then COVID-19 struck.
Willemijn was appointed Senior Adviser for COVID-19 and worked on crisis measures, cross-government coordination, and political and administrative advice to support crisis decision-making for the NCTV and the Minister of Justice and Security. “That was where my background and my work came together perfectly,” Willemijn reflects. “It was the first time I'd worked as part of a crisis team. It was an incredibly interesting period.”
In the aftermath of the pandemic came the war in Ukraine. The focus shifted from responding to crises towards a broader question: how can we make the Netherlands more resilient?
"The best way to tackle a crisis is with a phone full of phone numbers."
A phone full of phone numbers
“We need to become more resilient – make it happen.” That was the brief Willemijn was given, and it proved to be no easy task. How do you get everyone on board with building a more resilient society? “It was a highly cross-government process to get what was essentially a giant oil tanker moving,” she recalls. “You really have to get people into action and committed to the task.”
According to Willemijn, the question of how we become more resilient is closely linked to the way crises have evolved. Crises have fundamentally changed: where there was once a clearly defined crisis with a beginning and an end, today's challenges are far more interconnected. Climate change, geopolitical tensions, cyber threats and social unrest all reinforce one another.
That is precisely why integrated collaboration is more important than ever, Willemijn emphasises. “The key to good collaboration is making the most of each other's expertise and not being afraid to build connections.” She recalls a saying she was told when she joined the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV): “The best way to tackle a crisis is with a phone full of phone numbers.” In her view, a strong professional network is the foundation for finding the right people quickly and being able to rely on one another.
For Willemijn, however, it's not just about technical expertise. “You need to be able to carry out thorough analyses and understand the subject matter, but the biggest challenge is often creating a smart process.” By involving the right people at the right time, organisations can build support for decisions and arrive at better solutions together. It was precisely this way of working – approaching complex issues from multiple perspectives – that she first developed during her Master's in Global Health.
A society ready to respond
But building a resilient society requires more than integrated collaboration between different government organisations. “The government has a responsibility to make processes and systems more resilient and to work closely with the Ministry of Defence,” Willemijn explains. “But there's another crucial element: how we, as individuals, can become more resilient ourselves.”
She also stresses the importance of looking out for one another: knowing your neighbours and helping each other when it matters most. “When it comes to building resilience together, much of the key lies with people themselves.”
“When it comes to building resilience together, much of the key lies with people themselves.”
Driven by injustice
The human side of resilience is also at the heart of Willemijn's current role. As Project Lead for the Response to Domestic Abuse and Femicide at the Municipality of Arnhem, she works to strengthen the local approach to domestic abuse. She experiences the issue of femicide differently from many of the other challenges she has worked on. “With all the other issues, there was a very clear sense of immediate urgency and a defined response,” she says. “With femicide, there isn't an easy solution. The problem is still there.” It is precisely because the impact of domestic abuse is so profound and no clear solution yet exists that she sees it as a persistent injustice demanding continued attention and action. For Willemijn, safety is therefore a fundamental issue: “Everyone should be able to feel safe and, because of that, be free – especially in their own home.”
Her commitment to complex social issues where something is still missing is no coincidence. It has been a driving force throughout her career: searching for solutions to problems that do not yet have clear answers. “That's when I really come alive,” she says. “When I realise there's a gap that needs to be addressed.”
Where many organisations and systems operate in isolation, Willemijn looks for ways to make processes simpler and more accessible. “How can we come up with simpler solutions that make it easier for people like you and me to navigate these systems?” This question is especially important to her when it comes to vulnerable groups, for whom complex systems often create even greater barriers.
Resilience begins with connection
After years of working on crisis management and complex social issues, Willemijn keeps arriving at the same conclusion: a resilient society starts with people themselves and with strong human connections.
For anyone who wants to contribute to a more resilient society, Willemijn's advice is surprisingly simple: “A resilient society is not built through major policy decisions alone, but through people who listen, support one another and build connections.” According to Willemijn, resilience does not begin when a crisis strikes, but in the relationships you build long before it does. Ultimately, a resilient society depends not only on well-organised systems, but above all on the connections between people.