Bonding, bridging and linking social capital combinations for food access; A gendered case study exploring temporal differences in southern Malawi

Abstract

In 2018–2020, 82% of Malawian's were classed as moderately or severely food insecure. For decades, Malawian's have used their social capital as a coping mechanism to access food in times of need. Yet social capital has started to decline in other sub-Saharan African countries, questioning the usefulness of social capital to alleviate hunger. Food security status and a person's stock of social capital are also dependent on gender. Yet there is limited research that considers gender when exploring how social capital is used to access food. The study aimed to understand the link between social capital and food security, how this varies between men and women, and if social capital use to access food has changed over time. To improve the understanding of how social capital is used to improve food security, qualitative data collection was undertaken in three districts in the Southern Region of Malawi. Rapid rural appraisal methods, including focus group discussions, seasonal calendars and ranking exercises, were used to meet the aims of the study.We found that social capital can be used to alleviate hunger during periods of food insecurity. However, a lack of resources, weather variability, key community group disintegration and a reduction in active NGOs has resulted in changes in social capital and it could not be used as frequently as in the past to access food. This highlighted the importance of considering bonding, bridging and linking social capital separately in research as they are interlinked. The study found men and women have different types of social capital, with women being most active in village savings and loans groups, which were the most important group to improve access to food. Meanwhile, men can utilise their social capital from outside of the village to access food, something women could not do due to their restricted mobility. The changes to social capital use for food access that were uncovered in this study, as well as gender difference, are noteworthy given the increase in food insecurity in Malawi, and globally.