Understanding disaster resilience in communities affected by recurrent drought in Lesotho and Swaziland—A qualitative study

Abstract

Background Lesotho and Swaziland experience intense, recurring drought resulting in disaster situations. Despite the recurrence of drought, both its influence on rural subsistence communities’ support systems and the actions that enable structures of resilience remain poorly understood. Each incidence of drought stimulates a disaster resilience discussion that stalls without achievement of positive results until the next disaster. This study has examined the influence of recurring drought on communities’ inherent resilience and proposes an evidence-based framework to enhance community resilience. Methods Data were collected from 16 focus group discussions (N = 197) in the Highveld, Midveld and Lowveld agro-ecological regions of Swaziland and Lesotho. Themes and subthemes have been identified, defined, categorised and narrated using structuration theory as a guide. Results Resilience activities were found to be characterised by knowledgeability and changes in behaviour in adapting and applying appropriate actions, all of which were enhanced by institutional support. The effectiveness of institutional support hinged on harnessing communities’ knowledge, social groups, value systems, connectedness, participation, decision-making and collectivism. Conclusion Large-scale interventions to build and strengthen resilience are urgently needed in order to maintain cohesiveness and development gains, especially because rural subsistence farmers make up the majority of these two countries’ populations. Policies that integrate resilience with national development planning must be urgently developed and executed.

Governments’ Policy Response to Drought in Eswatini and Lesotho: A Systematic Review of the Characteristics, Comprehensiveness, and Quality of Existing Policies to Improve Community Resilience to Drought Hazards

“…e internationalisation of climate-induced disasters has perpetuated dependence on foreign assistance and limited inherent solutions in favour of donor-driven approaches. is finding is consistent with previous studies that point to the ineffectiveness of aid dependence in building community resilience to the problem of recurring drought [25,28,40]. Furthermore, relying on external support for national policy formulation and implementation presents a risk to state sovereignty and could undermine domestic interests such as the primary responsibility to meet the needs of affected communities in favour of foreign interests [110].…”

“…At the community level, where the recurrent droughtinduced disasters' effects are most experienced, different coping and adaptation capacities exist. ese capacities vary between communities and manifest as common shared values, experiences, connectedness, collective responses, and the ability to learn and share knowledge to overcome adversity [40]. e level of community capacity depends on its ability to harness the prevailing resources and on policies that aid collective responses to reduce the effects of recurrent drought.…”

“…Politically, the two countries are monarchies. Eswatini remains an absolute monarchy, while Lesotho blends monarchism with a parliamentary constitution [40].…”

Spatial assessment of drought disasters, vulnerability, severity and water shortages: a potential drought disaster mitigation strategy

“…From Fig. 8, it was identified that Lesotho and some parts of South Africa were identified as the most affected areas of the Southern African region that witnessed drought events (Obioha 2018;Kamara et al 2019). Lesotho experiences severe, persistent drought leading to situations declared as disaster.…”

Youth Resilience to Drought: Learning from a Group of South African Adolescents

“…Put differently, few have investigated what enables youth resilience to drought-related risks. Given predictions that exposure to drought is unlikely to subside any time soon [1,3] and concomitant admonitions that 'building resilience to drought remains a critical concern' [9], the inattention to drought-related youth resilience is problematic.…”