Reflecting on the voices of people living in difficult and unjust circumstances, government stakeholders and development practitioners from around the globe, the authors propose that conducting a truly participatory, multi-stakeholder and cross-scalar contextual analysis that considers a wide range of hazards, as well as people’s capacities and aspirations, should become standard development practice. It is this type of participatory process that can facilitate an equitable, gender-sensitive, sustainable and appropriate design of pathways towards risk reduction and resilience. The Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (VRA) methodology aims to constitute such a continually evolving process. This document presents the VRA principles, a how-to guide, and discusses the strengths and lessons learned from implementation.