BLOG POST 12: OTHER KEY OBSERVATIONS

BLOG POST 12: OTHER KEY OBSERVATIONS

  The role of elders in resilience building

In terms of social structure, organization and norms that guide day-to-day life, the study areas present traditional tendencies. Among these is the role and influence of elders in the social, cultural and political life of local communities. Elders, especially when organized as “council of elders” tend to exert a significant influence on local decision-making the processes. Through a web of interactions with formal organizations, institutions, and projects, elders tend to influence local governance, which is directly relevant to the governance dimension of resilience, and community system resilience in general. Elders have a wealth of knowledge concerning shocks and stresses.

The role of cereals and livestock traders in resilience building

Traders play an important role in the social, economic and political life of local communities, within both rural and urban settings. This is by providing a wide range of goods and services to individuals, households, groups, organizations, and institutions. These include selling of food and non-food items during “normal” times and during times of shocks and stresses such as drought, conflict, and other hazards. Traders lend money and non-monetary credit to members of local communities in times of need, often at an agreed amount that caters to their profit interest. On the demand side, traders purchase goods and services from community members and groups at negotiated prices. Common purchases include cereals, livestock, labor, physical assets, and a wide variety of other non-food items. Traders interact with community members at both social and market spaces when attending social, cultural, and religious events, and at the market when buying, selling, and lending goods and services. At the market, the forces of demand and supply influence the price of goods and services, but traders sometimes use their own criteria to determine the prices for goods and services.  The market activities of traders as well as market prices for major goods or services produced or consumed by local households, directly or indirectly affect the social and economic life of local communities. This includes effects on households' level of income, the proportion of household incomes spent on different goods and services, households’ ability to build assets, availability, and access to food, access to credit, and the level of household savings

The role of community groups and leaders in resilience building

A wide variety of community groups and institutions exist in the study areas. These range from formal types such as registered women and youth groups to informal types such as the family and kinship groups. The leaders of community groups and institutions have considerable decision-making power at the community level and therefore influence, directly or indirectly, household and community resilience adaptive practices in the study areas. Furthermore, some of the community groups and institutions carry out interventions that are relevant to the prevention of shocks or stresses or enhancing local resilience capacities. Through their leaders, these groups and institutions often act as the voice of local households and communities. They may lobby other actors for action against inter-ethnic conflict, poor governance, corruption, poor service provision, marginalization, exclusion from decision-making processes, and unfair distribution of resources.

 

The role of children (boys and girls) in resilience building and DRR

Boys and girls (children) make up the largest part of the local households. In a typical household of 6 - 10 members, at least half of the members are boys and girls. Households spend a significant portion of their incomes towards the upkeep and meeting basic needs of boys and girls. This includes the provision of food, water, shelter, clothing, education and medical care. On the other hand, boys and girls contribute significantly to household incomes, wealth creation, asset building, and household savings. This is often in the form of free labor in the farms, looking after livestock, and performing household chores. As members of households, and through social structures and services such as school and health facilities, boys and girls engage in activities that are relevant to the prevention, adaptation, and response to shocks and stresses. These include tree planting through which boys and girls may gain positive attitudes and skills for environmental conservation.