Shooting from the lip

the most good for the most people as quickly as possible”. The theory behind civil defence is so simple, so profound: “According to human capital theory in economics, a country’s population is more valuable than all the land, factories and other assets that it possesses,” Wiki explains.

“It is important for people to feel as though they are in control of their own destiny, and preparing for uncertainty via civil defence may help to achieve this.”

Human self-motivation, self-determination – powering a demand-driven, mass civilian resource, enabled by the government.

But even with common purpose, our “whole of society” often ends up wholly, hopelessly confused.

Why? In February, this column spoke of how researcher Kate Philip identified “community management skills” as a missing ingredient, necessary to sustain mobilisation, organisation and communication.

We identified one way of co-ordinating our efforts on the ground: The “precinct management model”, like our city improvement districts, which “hold it all together”, using a specific tool.

This Monday, we face multiple desperate challenges: Enabling kids to reach school safely in Lavender Hill. How to prevent another student murder in Stellenbosch. Persuading households to reduce water consumption.

These challenges are not new. But today we have smart tech.

To co-ordinate the deployment of multiple safety agencies in Lavender Hill. To link up Licence Plate Recognition cameras in Stellenbosch.

And how about a water-saving app for our homes? Family members hit a button to record their individual use, combining towards a “running family total”, to keep the family well below target? As the saying goes: “If you can measure it, you can manage it.”

Not just as business or government, but as ordinary citizens.

Smart tech doesn’t replace human energy. It unites it.

Tech enables us to mobilise, organise, communicate.

And, ultimately, to build our collective resilience.