Household Responses to Poverty and Vulnerability Volume 4: Confronting Crisis in Chawama, Lusaka, Zambia

THIS STUDY OF household responses to poverty in a low-income community in Lusaka is part of a four-city study; details of the study in Guayaquil are given above, whilst the study in Manila was reviewed in the April 1998 issue of Environment&Urbanization.

The volume starts with an executive summary describing the methodological basis for the study and, in particular, the use of household and community assets to assess how low-income households have responded to changes in economic circumstances and trends. The summary is comparative and looks at how households in each of the four cities have responded in their use of five assets: labour, social and economic infrastructure (human capital), housing, household relations and social capital.

The study of Chawama is divided into nine chapters. The first sets the context for the analysis that follows, elaborating the concepts used, discussing the reasons for the focus on vulnerability and assets, and introducing Zambia and the community of Chawama. The second chapter describes the poor in Chawama during 1992, with subsequent chapters reporting on the survey results and exploring household strategies with respect to the five assets named above. The study offers a number of insights into the strategies used by the poor. For example, with the decrease in formal sector employment, increasing numbers of women are entering the labour market to provide families with a safety net. In addition to the analysis of assets, one chapter focuses on inter-household inequalities. The general conclusions arising from the aggregate research data are illustrated by boxes describing individual households.

Chapter 9 contains the conclusions, where a number of significant findings are summarized. Additional employment is used to reduce poverty but its use is differentiated by gender, education and age. With respect to social and economic infrastructure, the quality of services has declined with a shift to private provision, and both factors disadvantaged the poor. Housing is important in the reduction of vulnerability, with home-based enterprises having an important role in income generation, and household relationships are also important. However, household inequalities increased with women bearing an additional burden. In Chawama, social capital is generally weak, and it appears to play its most significant role in the informal exchange of essential services between women, such as credit and child care. The chapter ends with several priority recommendations for action. Tables at the end of the text report the detailed findings.