TY - JOUR
T1 - Using community led development approaches to address vulnerability after disaster
T2 - Caught in a sad romance
AU - McCarthy, John F.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - A reading of the social capital literature suggests that the networks and the social relationships which enable collective action can be used to address critical livelihood needs, even in disaster contexts. Yet even when such community-led approaches are combined with substantial resources, too often these interventions (re)produce vulnerabilities without recovering prior levels of development. Examining the outcomes of community-led approaches in post-tsunami Aceh after the gaze of the aid industry has moved elsewhere, this paper finds that in a few cases, interventions worked with social networks to revive livelihoods successfully, albeit in complex, contingent ways. Yet, given the nature of post-disaster contexts and the exigencies driving NGO and donors actions, the research concludes that the capacity for community based approaches to address the underlying drivers of vulnerability remains limited. The paper calls for a rewriting of intervention narratives and a reworking of intervention practices, to address the deeper determinants of disadvantage and vulnerability.
AB - A reading of the social capital literature suggests that the networks and the social relationships which enable collective action can be used to address critical livelihood needs, even in disaster contexts. Yet even when such community-led approaches are combined with substantial resources, too often these interventions (re)produce vulnerabilities without recovering prior levels of development. Examining the outcomes of community-led approaches in post-tsunami Aceh after the gaze of the aid industry has moved elsewhere, this paper finds that in a few cases, interventions worked with social networks to revive livelihoods successfully, albeit in complex, contingent ways. Yet, given the nature of post-disaster contexts and the exigencies driving NGO and donors actions, the research concludes that the capacity for community based approaches to address the underlying drivers of vulnerability remains limited. The paper calls for a rewriting of intervention narratives and a reworking of intervention practices, to address the deeper determinants of disadvantage and vulnerability.
KW - Aceh
KW - Adaptation
KW - Disaster
KW - Indonesia
KW - Social capital
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905169580&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.05.004
DO - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.05.004
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-3780
VL - 27
SP - 144
EP - 155
JO - Global Environmental Change
JF - Global Environmental Change
IS - 1
ER -