Resilience and social cohesion through the lens of residents in a Kenyan informal settlement

Abstract

Over recent years, resilient attitudes and behaviour are widely seen within the Global North to be potential solutions to community developmental challenges. Although greater international emphasis is being placed on ‘bottom up’ approaches, learning from existing levels of resilience among communities such as residents in informal settlements has aroused limited attention. Instead analysis of informal settlements tends to concentrate on the multitude of environmental, economic and social problems that many communities share and internationally derived normative solutions. To help address this relative neglect, research was designed that sought more information about local experiences, people and processes that have been instrumental in building levels of resilience that help overcome challenges and improve well-being. Using the photovoice methodological technique, a project was developed to capture experiences of participants in Kibera, Nairobi. Participants were young people and either role models or had the potential to be. In so doing the project was participant driven, learning from residents about who and what have been influential in the development and maintenance of resilience. The results highlighted the particular significance of social cohesion and, in particular, relationships and attachment to place.

Assessing Institutional Stakeholders’ Perception and Limitations on Coping Strategies in Flooding Risk Management in West Africa

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Identification of Adaptive Capacity Assessments to Improve Collective Adaptation of Farmers to Climate Change

“…Meanwhile, data collected from observations and structured interviews were analyzed based on the participation component in the farmers' adaptive capacity index. Farmer participation was the initial analysis used to understand the relationship between the adaptive capacity and social cohesion of farmers faced with social, economic, ecological and political constraints (Vertigans & Gibson, 2020).…”

Jaringan Bonding Kapital Sosial Petani Melestarikan Mekanisme Adaptasi Kolektif Petani

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