A-PAD Partners with United Nations Global Compact for CATALYZE 2026
On the 25th of June 2026, the UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka hosted CATALYZE 2026 Environment: Growth Against the Grain, bringing together senior executives and business leaders from some of the country’s foremost private sector companies. The summit set out to examine how businesses can pursue sustainable growth while strengthening resilience against a backdrop of intensifying climate shocks and disruptive events. A-PAD SL was among the organisations invited to help shape this conversation, facilitating an interactive session titled Built for Disruption: Climate Adaptation and Disaster Resilience.
Team A-PAD built a simulation-based session that placed participants directly inside an unfolding disaster scenario. Over 40 participants representing organizations from diverse sectors attended the events. Following a brief introduction to the disaster context, participants were divided into groups and tasked with making real-time decisions as a team as the situation unfolded, testing not just their strategic thinking, but their ability to act decisively and collectively under pressure.
The facilitators also introduced additional, unplanned disruptions partway through the exercise. This pushed participants past static, one-dimensional planning, requiring them to shape responses that could genuinely hold up as conditions shifted without warning. The exercise reflected a core reality of disaster response: plans rarely survive first contact with a crisis, and true resilience comes from the capacity to adapt in real time.
The session ended on a practical note, with Team A-PAD walking participants through the fundamentals of Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) and showing how the lessons of the simulation could be translated into structured, actionable frameworks. Participants were also pointed toward resources to begin building their own BCPs, so they could carry the day’s insights back into their organisations.
A-PAD Sri Lanka’s participation in CATALYZE 2026 reflects its continued role in bridging humanitarian disaster response expertise with the private sector, helping businesses shift from reactive crisis management toward proactive resilience planning. A-PAD extends its appreciation to the UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka for the opportunity to be part of this important conversation.
