Local Coping Strategies Research Articles

Cities and floods: A pragmatic insight into the determinants of households' coping strategies to floods in informal Accra, Ghana.

Floods are common events that confront many cities in the developing world. Ghana, a developing country, is persistently challenged with flood events, especially in its major cities. In informal Accra, for instance, despite the severity of flood effects and its associated threats, poor informal residents continue to stay. As a result, these poor urban dwellers have developed local coping strategies made up of mitigation and reactive measures to manage and adapt to flood hazards through their preceding experiences. In this article, we have embraced the convergent parallel mixed method of case study design to echo and explore (1) the major effects of preceding floods on informal households, (2) the local informal coping strategies adopted by households to mitigate and respond to flooding and its effects in the future and (3) the determinants of the coping strategies of households that underpin their continual stay in spite of flood risks in Alajo, an urbanised suburb in Accra metropolis noted as one of the slum communities that easily flood in Ghana. Our analysis has used a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collected from both secondary and primary sources as well as a conceptualised model known as disaster resilience of place. The key findings (Alajo has low degree of adaptive resilience to major floods which might occur in the future because of the lack of social learning in the coping strategies developed through several years of lessons learnt from perennial floods) and proposals (local coordination in implementing the coping strategies to flooding, state support of the local strategies and adoption of rainwater harvesting) also make contributions to managing urban floods in informal settlements in the developing world.

Short-term dynamics in livelihood conditions and woody plant extraction as an environmental entitlement at Mt. Kasigau, Kenya

Climate change projections for marginal lands in East Africa emphasize seasonal variability and unpredictability in rainfall, and a challenging setting for local agriculture. This study focuses on short term dynamics in seasonal precipitation patterns, what people are doing to produce or purchase sufficient food, and how the extraction of woody-plant resources contributes as a locally available environmental entitlement at Mt. Kasigau in southeastern Kenya. In 2011, 2012, and 2013, household surveys (n = 41) described the challenges of food production and diverse income strategies to achieve food sufficiency. Monthly journal accounts (n = 16) provided a temporal and spatial analysis of extractive activities. Most households report insufficient food production and transient engagement with diverse income strategies. Households vary, especially shown among the journal accounts, in how woody plant products contribute to their livelihoods. Mapping journal records of woody plant use identifies broad utilization areas mostly at elevations near and below the homes, and when overlaid for village participants by seasons identifies areas under greater pressure. Study results show application to an adaptive planning approach that emphasizes greater support for local coping strategies, recognizes expertise, and encourages collaborative knowledge creation for sustainable livelihoods.

Challenges of Local Coping Capacities due to Climate Change in the Coastal Regions of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is prone to a multitude of natural hazards and vulnerable to the adverse impacts of future change in climatic conditions. One of the most vulnerable aspects in climate change is the fragile coastal ecosystem in Bangladesh. Here, different ecosystems are highly exposed to cyclone, sea level rise, coastal flooding, flash flood, intense riverine floods, droughts and other climatic extremes. Traditionally, in Bangladesh, climatic variations have provided opportunities (resources) and imposed costs (hazards), depending on how society adapted to the environment. In the drive for modernization, evolving technologies and economic and social structures alter existing systems and make many sectors and groups in the ecosystems (especially Coastal Areas) more vulnerable to significant variations in climate and sea level. In this regard, indigenous knowledge and local coping capacities have become a key to survival of the people of the coastal areas (like Sundarbans Area) of Bangladesh. But in recent years, climate change has had a serious impact on the livelihood enterprises and coping capacities. The present paper has been prepared based on secondary sources to examine the often intriguing coping strategies of the coastal areas due to the adverse impacts of climate change. This paper hopes to contribute to our broader understanding of the challenges of the local coping strategies that communities have developed in their quest to stabilize increasingly fragile livelihood systems.

Condemned to live with one’s feet in water?

Purpose– The number of poor and informal urban settlers in the world is rapidly growing, and they are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate. Therefore, understanding the nature and sustainability of locally adopted coping and adaptation strategies are key, yet still under-researched areas.Design/methodology/approach– Based on ethnographic research conducted in two poor, flood-prone municipalities in Pikine/Dakar, this paper identifies such coping and adaptation strategies and examines their prospects for maladaptation.Findings– The paper shows that poor urban dwellers are not mere passive spectators of climate change. With the very limited resources they have at their disposal, it is found that local actors respond to perennial flooding with very diverse strategies, which have varying degrees of success and sustainability. A key finding is that local coping and adaptation strategies are mainly maladaptive because they divert risks and impacts in time and space and have detrimental effects on the most vulnerable. Unless there is a broad assimilation of all groups in decision-making processes locally, individual and even collective coping and adaptation strategies may easily put the most vulnerable households at greater risk. The findings reveal that community-based adaptation is not a panaceaper se, as it may not, by itself, compensate for the lack of basic services and infrastructure that is forcing the urban poor to cope with disproportionate levels of risk.Originality/value– The paper, hence, contributes to address a central question in scholarly debates on climate adaptation, vulnerability and disaster risk management: Are local coping strategies a stepping stone towards adaptation or are they on the contrary likely to lead to maladaptation?

Joseph E. Suzanne, Fertile Bonds. Bedouin class, kinship and gender in the Bekaa Valley, University Press of Florida, 2013, 233 p.

The importance of kinship ties and their idiom in marginalized communities in the Middle East and elsewhere is a focal theme in anthropological literature. Reinventing bonds and their symbolical and material meaning in everyday life has been historically one of the main neglected issues in understanding poverty, local coping strategies, class formation and policy making. This is even more true of pastoral communities, which tend to be relegated in social studies to the “traditional” conservat...

Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods -adaptation and vulnerability in Rajasthan

<p>natural resources, is already experiencing the effects of climate change. The region’s climate is projected to become harsher, with increased average temperatures, intensity of rainfall events, and increased variability in space & time of monsoon rains being consistently projected for the region. Without action in the form of adaptation of social, human, economic, and natural resource management systems, these weather changes are predicted to result in decreasing surface and ground water availability, flash floods, degradation of soil resources, decrease in crop yields, greater vulnerability to crop pest outbreaks, and declines in forest and pastureland ecosystem goods and services, thus rendering agricultural and herding communities extremely vulnerable to weather related losses of life, livelihood, and food security.</p> <p>In Rajasthan, government is focussing for sustainable development and climate change adaptation by finding and administering alternative methods to deal with issues of poverty and environmental degradation in context of linkage between livelihood and the immediate environment of the people. The livelihoods of the rural poor are directly dependent on environmental resources like land, water, forests — and are vulnerable to weather and climate variability. Climate change affects every aspect of society, environment and economy requiring adjustments in behaviour, livelihoods, infrastructure, laws, policies and institutions in response to experienced based expected climatic events. However, it was found that local coping strategies and traditional knowledge need to be used in synergy with government and local interventions. Solutions must be integrated to address the interrelationships between water, agriculture, forests and pastures, livestock. Finally, there is great potential for existing policies and schemes to be employed synergistically towards building true adaptive capacity for the rural communities. However, adapting to climate change will entail adjustments and implementation at every level – from community to national and international.</p>

Exploring forest-related coping strategies for alleviating the HIV/AIDS burden on rural Malawian households

SUMMARY Rural households are being forced to cope and adapt to changing availability of important forest resources while also dealing with the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this study was to explore the range of local forest-related coping strategies being used, and innovations that local people would like to try, to alleviate the HIV/AIDS burden on rural households in Malawi. The data were collected from sixty semi-structured interviews with local respondents. The results confirm the use of a range of labour-related coping strategies associated with one of four important forest resources (firewood, water, medicinal plants, thatch grass), along with other broad economic, social, and nutritional coping strategies. Interventions that policy makers and development practitioners could provide in order to foster the most commonly used coping strategies include: provisioning households with required forest resources; investing in agroforestry projects and the domestication of important medicin...

Closing the treatment gap for depression co-morbid with HIV in South Africa: Voices of afflicted women

This Background: In South Africa the rising comorbidity of mental disorders with other non-communicable and communicable diseases, particularly in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), has helped raise the public health priority of mental ill-health. Depression, in particular, compromises anti-retroviral treatment (ART) adherence and virological suppression, thus threatening the effectiveness of South Africa’s ART programme. Given that evidence-based treatment for depression comprises medication and/ or Western-derived psychotherapies, responding to the current interest in expanding mental health services for PLWHA demands an understanding of how best to provide culturally competent care within existing resource constraints. Aim: To explore the context and local understandings of depression in women living with HIV to inform the development of contextually appropriate mental health services that could be delivered within existing resource constraints inSouth Africa. Method: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were held with 35 women living with HIV in South Africa who met the diagnostic criteria for a major depressive disorder. Results: Being HIV-positive per se was not reported to be a major cause of depression. Instead, a number of social factors were reported. These included stigma and discrimination, poverty, and stressful life events. Symptoms of depression, especially social withdrawal, negative ruminating thoughts and excessive worry suggestive of comorbid anxiety, functioned to exacerbate and trap women in a negative depressive cycle. Social support emerged as a dominant coping strategy. Group-based interventions, which afford greater opportunities for improved social support, were mooted as the most appropriate intervention by the majority of participants. Individual counselling provided through a home visitation programme was suggested for those who were too ill or too poor to attend clinics. Task sharing was also endorsed. Conclusion: The need for multi-sector engagement in mental health promotion to address factors that trigger, maintain and exacerbate depression at a community level in PL-WHA is highlighted. The triggers, symptoms and local coping strategies employed by afflicted women in this study suggest a resonance with Western derived evidence-based psychological therapies. In relation to delivery channels, there was support for the provision of group interventions or home-based individual counselling using a task sharing model.

Coping with climate-induced water stresses through time and space in the mountains of Southwest China

Southwest China’s Yunnan province has been affected throughout history by climate-induced water stresses, with the 2009 drought as a recent example. To deal with such stresses, mountain farmers have developed many local coping strategies. This paper provides case studies of these coping mechanisms in three mountain communities in Baoshan Municipality, Yunnan province. To minimize water-related environmental and economic vulnerabilities, our results show that upland farmers employ strategies both individually and collectively, which vary according to agroecological zone, economics, and historical period. Climate change is also emerging as an ongoing environmental challenge. We explore China’s options for introducing and implementing adaptation policies that link with farmer strategies to respond more effectively to water stresses induced by climate change and other forces.

Climate Change and Variability, Its Impact on Rural Livelihoods, Local Coping and Adaptation Strategies in Woreilu <i>Woreda</i>, North Eastern Ethiopia

The study examines local climate change and variability situations, trends and impacts on the local adaptation and coping strategies in Woreilu Woreda.1 It uses historically recorded temperature and rainfall, and household socio-economic data gathered from four kebeles2, 8 villages and 154 rural households, which were analyzed using statistical tools and qualitative data analyzing techniques. The study revealed that the annual rainfall amount showed decreasing trend and increasing variability while temperature has, in general, increased. Drought has become more frequent and intense. As the local adaptation strategies become outdated, the people confronted with a situation that they are not sufficiently equipped to handle impacts of climate variability and change. Thus, the study suggests a relentless need to address these challenges both from short and longtermpolicy perspectives.

The effect of food insecurity on mental health: Panel evidence from rural Zambia

A growing number of studies show support for a positive association between food insecurity and poor mental health in developing countries. Few of these studies, however, explore the relationship statistically employing longitudinal data. This study combines ethnography with randomly sampled household-level panel data (two waves) collected in 2009 to examine the association between food insecurity and mental health in rural Zambia. Mental health was measured using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire and food insecurity was assessed utilizing a modified 7-item scale based on local coping strategies used during food shortages. A multilevel linear regression model was employed with repeated measures nested within individuals (N = 280 observations) living in 81 households nested within 16 villages. Regression results confirm the postulated positive association between poor mental health and food insecurity. Food insecurity during the dry season, the time of year in rural Zambia when many households are typically food secure, had a subsequent greater effect on mental health than food insecurity during the rainy season. The difference in the effect was statistically significant at the five-percent level. In a country where mental health care resources are severely lacking, policy and applied efforts aimed at improving access to key agricultural resources, thereby increasing agricultural output, could potentially produce beneficial mental health outcomes.

Complementing institutional with localised strategies for climate change adaptation: a South–North comparison

Climate change and disasters pose a serious risk to sustainable development. In the South, local coping strategies are an important element of adaptation to climate and disaster risk. Such strategies have emerged because of the limited assistance provided by urban actors and associated social security and governance systems. In the North, in contrast, local coping strategies are comparatively poorly developed. However, the extent of the changing climatic conditions is also reducing the capacity of Northern institutions to deal with climatic extremes and variability, which emphasises the need for more local-level engagement in the North. This paper analyses the differences in local and institutional responses to climate change and disasters in a Southern and a Northern city (San Salvador, El Salvador, and Manchester, United Kingdom, respectively), and highlights how the lessons learned might be translated into an improved distributed governance system; that is, an 'integrated engagement model', where local and institutionalised responses support rather than hinder each other, as is currently the case.

Coping strategies and risk manageability: using participatory geographical information systems to represent local knowledge

The accumulated knowledge and perceptions of communities 'at risk' are key elements in managing disaster risk at the local level. This paper demonstrates that local knowledge of flood hazards can be structured systematically into geographic information system (GIS) outputs. When combined with forecasting models and risk scenarios, they strengthen the legitimacy of local knowledge of at-risk populations. This is essential for effective disaster risk reduction practices by external actors, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and municipal authorities. The research focused on understanding coping strategies and 'manageability' of flood hazards as defined by communities. 'Manageability' is how people experience flooding in relation to their household capacity and the coping mechanisms available. The research in the Philippines highlights the significance of localised factors, including socioeconomic resources, livelihoods, seasonality and periodicity, for understanding manageability. The manageability concept improves practice at the municipal level by legitimising local coping strategies, providing better indicators, and developing understanding of flooding as a recurrent threat.

Aide humanitaire ou aide au développement ? La « famine » de 2005 au Niger

In Africa, “getting a share of development aid” is at the heart of a large number of strategies, and humanitarian aid is included in that. However, none are able to offer a durable solution to the chronic problems facing the country. This case study, conducted in Niger following 2005 “famine”, which resulted in a large international response, shows a very different reality from the one usually presented by the media. Local coping strategies have been most important. External assistance has provoked misunderstanding and friction.

Disease resilience in rural Bangladesh: the adoption and practice of curative self-care

The importance of resilience and people-centred risk reduction of disease have led to growing interest in local coping strategies in disease management. These ideas resonate strongly with the concept of self-care which has been identified as a primary public health resource and a predominant response to ill health in disease endemic environments such as Bangladesh. A series of qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to examine the adoption of self-care in rural Bangladesh to understand how human coping and resilience is achieved. Findings identify how self-care is implemented as part of resilience to disease through the utilisation of finite natural resources and seeking cost-effective healthcare solutions. It is advocated that self-care acts as an effective disease management strategy enabling households to cope with endemic disease. Although it does not represent a panacea for health equity, self-care could provide a mechanism for achieving better equity and social justice in health.

The concept of ‘mental trauma’ and its transcultural application

Impaired ‘traumatic’ memory of disaster-affected populations has come to the forefront of humanitarian work. In this article, the application of the notion of ‘mental trauma’ by psychosocial intervention programmes, relating to the tsunami disaster, will be critically examined. It will be shown in which type of theoretical structure the guidelines’ notion of ‘mental trauma’ is rooted, presenting ‘traumatic’ experience as a division of the self, which is defined through agency and coherence. It will be argued that this entails a certain subjectivity of representation, which may not have transcultural validity. It is concluded that rehabilitation and development programmes after disasters have to integrate and address multiple levels, including community-level interventions, drawing on local coping strategies and resources.

Community‐based disaster preparedness and climate adaptation: local capacity‐building in the Philippines

Community-based disaster preparedness (CBDP) approaches are increasingly important elements of vulnerability reduction and disaster management strategies. They are associated with a policy trend that values the knowledge and capacities of local people and builds on local resources, including social capital. CBDP may be instrumental not only in formulating local coping and adaptation strategies, but also in situating them within wider development planning and debates. In theory, local people can be mobilised to resist unsustainable (vulnerability increasing) forms of development or livelihood practices and to raise local concerns more effectively with political representatives. This paper focuses on the potential of CBDP initiatives to alleviate vulnerability in the context of climate change, and their limitations. It presents evidence from the Philippines that, in the limited forms in which they are currently employed, CBDP initiatives have the potential both to empower and disempower, and warns against treating CBDP as a panacea to disaster management problems.

Dilemmas and challenges for the shelter sector: lessons learned from the Sphere revision process.

Key dilemmas and challenges for those involved in the shelter sector are described, based on issues that emerged from the extensive global consultative process undertaken to inform the revision of the Sphere handbook. The range of perspectives on the major themes is presented, with suggestions as to how these issues could be progressed. Themes include the poor definition of the sector and the lack of a consistent approach among the leading shelter actors; the absence of a common terminology; the conflict between "temporary" versus "durable" solutions; the disconnect between technical advisers and the field; the need for greater recognition of local coping strategies and the local context; the involvement of recipients and host governments in policy development; the need for better "how-to" guidance; and the limited incorporation of the emerging themes of livelihoods etc. to date.

Therapeutic governance: psycho-social intervention and trauma risk management,.

This paper critically analyses the significance of psycho-social intervention as a new form of international therapeutic governance based on social risk management. First, the paper examines the international psycho-social model and its origins in an Anglo-American therapeutic ethos. Second, the paper argues that psycho-social approaches jeopardise local coping strategies. Third, the paper highlights the potential political, social and psychological consequences of the pathologisation of war-affected societies. Finally the paper concludes that therapeutic governance represents the reduction of politics to administration.

Co‐operation in the Countryside: small primary school clusters

Summary This paper examines the role and significance of co‐operation (clustering) between small primary schools in rural areas across England and Wales. By increasing the range of resources available and enlarging staff and pupil peer groups, clustering can counter many of the challenges that confront curriculum delivery in small schools. However, effective inter‐school liaison can be impeded by fears surrounding the loss of individual school autonomy and logistical barriers caused by the nature of rural localities. Just as significantly, reductions in local authority support for cluster schemes combined with increased incentives to compete for pupils may be curtailing useful co‐operation. Findings from a sample of small‐school headteachers suggest, however, that despite recognition of these detrimental pressures, clustering is likely to remain central to a wider set of local coping strategies which are making a significant contribution to the viability of rural education provision.