Rural households remain under pressure. Sudden shocks, whether job loss or death of a breadwinner, can destabilise households; similarly, protracted stresses such as drought or chronic illness can undermine coping capacity and livelihoods. Key to understanding how to improve health and social development is to examine the strategies employed by households to gain livelihoods and cope with shocks and stresses. The sustainable livelihoods framework has been used in this theme with four productive research clusters:
The Natural Environment and Resilience Collaboration with APES, Wits and Colorado University, USA Previous work shows that food security is threatened by adult mortality. We examine how natural resources are used to offset adversity. Climate change can also influence environment, so temperature, humidity and rainfall monitoring have been implemented. In 2009, an NRF grant was awarded to establish a cohort of 600 households within the HDSS to examine household livelihood strategies and outcomes.
Household structure and vulnerability/resilience Collaboration with Missouri, Colorado and Brown University, USA The life-cycle of households are changing due to changing migration patterns and increasing mortality of prime age adults. This cluster uses qualitative studies triangulated with surveillance-based analyses to investigate changing household structure and composition. Changing social roles of fathers, mothers and older adults are examined as well as the importance of meaningful links to networks beyond the household. With an NIH R21, we examine the measurement of social connections (type, number and qualities of people?s relationships) through analyses of ethnographic and HDSS data.
Migration, Livelihoods and Health Collaboration with Brown University, Wits Demography and Population studies and INDEPTH Migration brings risks and gains to health and wellbeing, affecting both the migrant and those who remain. The HDSS has highlighted high levels of temporary migration which are increasing for younger women. Outcomes for children?s health and household poverty have been explored, as has integration of former refugees. Similar questions are being addressed through an Agincourt-led comparative INDEPTH study involving 7 African and Asian HDSS sites. Collinson was lead editor of a peer-reviewed volume published in 2009. A second phase of INDEPTH multi-country work is planned.
Determinants of socio-economic dynamics Collaboration with Washington University, USA; School of Accountancy, Wits; and Loughborough University, UK The HDSS meticulously tracks socio-economic status of households and uses this data to examine the dynamics of household poverty. A grant proposal has been submitted to the ESRC to compare rural Agincourt with urban Soweto findings.
