Vulnerability is not an empty term for the people of NWFP. The province has a recent history of vulnerability to natural disasters. Winter rains, snow, and floods in summer brought destruction of settlements, crops, and livelihood. According to the provincial relief department, at least 390 people were killed in avalanches, landslides, and flooding, while scores more were injured after heavy rains and snow in January and February 2005.
In addition, over 26,000 houses have reportedly collapsed and more than 76,000 were partially damaged in the province's 24 districts. The heavy snowfalls during winter combined with unprecedented high temperatures in June have caused high floods in the Kabul, Swat, and Chitral rivers. According to a United Nations report, they have affected at least 114 villages with over 1,100 houses destroyed and more than 1,800 damaged.
Vulnerability is not only related to natural disasters. Crises may also be health-related, social, economic, and political. They all cause disruptions in the society. NWFP has had its share of crises, from the absorption of millions of Afghan refugees, earthquakes to very poor health indicators in national comparison.
Often disasters are addressed as some kind of disturbance in the "normal" path of development. They are viewed as isolated events that require emergency responses. The chief minister distributes food, blankets, and medicines to flood victims. He gets friendly media coverage in reward. Once he returns to the provincial capital, the calamity is forgotten.
Alternatively, crises can be seen as unresolved problems of development. Social and power structures in a society determine why certain groups, regions, or sectors are more vulnerable than others. Once links between disasters and conditions in a society during normal times are understood, prevention and mitigation can be better targeted. Therefore, the factors that make rural communities in NWFP vulnerable or strengthen their resilience are discussed. The article is based on an analysis jointly conducted by SDPI and the Development Study Group (DSG) at the Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
The data set used was compiled from the Sustainable Livelihoods Survey 2004, carried out in three villages in the Mansehra and Mardan districts. One village each, located in a highland area, at the foothills, and in the plains, were represented. In each village, 80 individuals were selected randomly and interviewed through a structured questionnaire.
The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) served as a framework for investigation. It depicts people operating in an environment of vulnerability, within which they have access to certain resources.
They include physical assets, such as house and machinery, financial and natural assets, alongside human capital, like the individual's health, education and skills, and social capital, that is the social networks people are embedded in. To be able to cope with stresses and shocks is of crucial importance for a sustainable livelihood. In the SLA, it is assumed that it is their asset status that determines how vulnerable households or individuals are to crises.
Factors influencing households' vulnerability to different types of crises in rural NWFP were investigated. Human capital-related crises mainly mean the occurrence of severe illnesses and accidents.
Social capital-related crises include divorces, legal cases, and wedding costs. Poor production, food shortage, land loss, and legal cases are subsumed under natural capital-related crises, whereas physical capital-related crises include house and car damage experienced by the household. Finally, financial capital-related crises are job losses, remittance irregularities, market fluctuations, loss of livestock, or high loan debts.
Crises are prevalent in the highland village, where more than three fourths of all households suffered at least one crisis during the six months prior to the survey. In the plains, only every second household suffered one or more crises during the same time period. Human capital-related crises were common in the three villages.
Mostly, severe illnesses or an accident of one or several household members cause such crises. Other often--occurring crises are related to financial and natural assets. In the highland village, more than half of all households experienced financial troubles. Most of them are caused by market fluctuations or inflation. This type of financial crisis is of special importance in the village in the plains, which is best integrated in local and regional markets. One fifth of all highland and foothills households were struck by natural asset-related crises.
It was tried to link the households' experience of a crisis with their livelihood assets, such as land, livestock, literacy, the social networks they are involved in, as well as with other factors such as poverty and the diversification of income sources. Based on the SLA, one can assume that such livelihood assets act as buffers preventing a calamity from translating into a catastrophe or the people affected.
For all major types of crises, the household's poverty was strongly linked to its vulnerability. It does not come as a surprise. Vulnerability is not identical with poverty, but the poor tend to be the most vulnerable. Poor people often live and work in environments that expose them to greater risk of illness, and at the same time they have less access to health care. Poorer households in the highland village have not the means to build houses that protect them properly against the harsh winter.
Market-related risks are commonly greater for the poor. It is well known that rising prices usually hit household harder than those well off. Finally, poor people have less financial and other buffers that help them cope when a natural calamity destroys their houses, crops, and other belongings.
A second finding is more puzzling. A strong association between the experience of crisis and the households' social capital was found. Social capital here means the household's involvement in local institutions, from village jirgas to women's organisations. What does that mean? That those actively involved in local networks are more at risk to accidents, loan defaults, and crop losses? This is unlikely.
One way of reading the results is to see involvement in social networks as a coping mechanism rather than a risk factor. Participation in a village jirga is strongly linked to the occurrence of crises. Possibly, these networks can be used to gain access to loans to buy medicine, new livestock, or to rebuild one's house. Taking loans is mentioned as the single-most important coping mechanism in crises.
A closer look at social capital in rural communities of NWFP reveals interesting differences between various local institutions. Whereas the participation in jirgas and credit co-operative linked to vulnerability, those partaking in community-based organisations (CBOs) and political bodies experience fewer crises.
These networks may thus effectively buffer the experience of crises. For example, many CBOs are involved in preventive health care. Illnesses and accidents as the most frequent type of crises in rural NWFP may thus be averted. Based on the results, what can be done to strengthen rural communities in NWFP? A straightforward conclusion is that poverty reduction means lessening of vulnerability. Despite being a straightforward message, it apparently has not reached policy makers, yet. Poverty is rather on the rise than decreasing.
A second lesson is that CBO membership strengthens resilience. If people organise around their interests and try to improve their livelihood together - whether it is in the area of health, education, or income generation - a shock, such as an illness, a flood, a drop in prices for the household's produce, is less likely to translate into a crisis. This is contrary to the common perception that the mushrooming of CBOs in recent years has contributed little to the improvement of rural livelihood.
The third issue is access to loans. They appear to be crucial for coping with a crisis. But most villagers can hardly access larger sums of money as they are effectively cut off from the formal financial institutions.
There is a distinct gender dimension hidden in the results. Poverty in terms of access to food, finance, and other resources hits women harder than men. Cultural norms prescribe women to have food last and least. Due to restrictions on their mobility, they can hardly earn cash income.
Education for girls is considered a useless investment, leaving a huge gender gap in literacy in NWFP. Only one sixth of the female population of rural NWFP is literate compared to 40 percent of all men.
Similarly, participation in most types of institutions is considered a male issue. It means women are effectively cut off from buffers against and tools to cope with crises.
Therefore, women's access to livelihood assets, to education, employment, loans, and in particular to CBOs where they can organise around their specific needs and interests, is a top priority when resilience of the rural population of NWFP shall be strengthened.-Courtesy SDPI Bulletin