Abstract
Ph.D. (Economics)
When faced with idiosyncratic risks and socio-economic shocks that drastically affect incomes and contribute to steep descent into poverty among vulnerable households, a range of responses is possible. On the one hand, statutory large-scale anti-poverty transfers are designed to facilitate exit from poverty. On the other hand, non-state agents design their own strategies in direct response to idiosyncratic shocks and stressors. In much of the social protection literature, transfers from the state to vulnerable households dominate the discussion. In contrast, an assessment of non-state strategies of poor households in mitigating risks and coping with shocks has received limited attention in the social protection literature in developing countries. This provides the focus of the study. The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness and determinants of risk mitigation strategies employed by poor households in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Four strategies that are widely deployed by poor households are selected and discussed. The first strategy discussed is that of migration, which is a strategy used by households to cope with income shortages. The second strategy is that of risk sharing, where households form groups to mitigate the adverse effects of funeral expenses on food consumption and household property. The last two strategies are that of reciprocal giving within household networks of mutual assistance and emergency relief from donors, NGOs and/or faith-based organisations targeted to poor households.
This thesis is grounded in the fieldwork conducted in three selected suburbs in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in the second quarter of 2014. A household survey was designed for the purpose of the study. A two-stage cross-sectional survey was used. In the first stage, three suburbs were randomly selected. In the second stage, a systematic random sample of 300 households was selected from the population of households in the selected suburbs. This allows for a degree of generalisability of the findings to the rest of the poor suburbs in Bulawayo. Economic models were developed to provide a framework for the assessment of some risk management and coping strategies employed. The findings are outlined below.
On average, each household has one migrant. Of all migrants, females, especially with children at the household of origin, contribute more to improving the welfare of members left behind. Migration may, however, not be an effective strategy if migrants are young, not educated and do not have a child at the household of origin. About two thirds of the households belong to a risk sharing group. The informal funeral insurance from these groups is partially effective in insuring food consumption and household property against funeral expenses hence households supplement this insurance by drawing from other sources of household finance. Again, about two thirds of households are networked with relatives and neighbours/ friends. The nature of the assistance received within these networks depends on the age and gender of the household head. Very few households (about 10 per cent) received emergency relief in the past five years. Receipt of this relief appears to be based on the targeting criteria set by the distributing agents such as international donors, NGOs and emergency relief agencies. However, the networks of households within burial societies seem to also influence the receipt of emergency relief...