To read this content please select one of the options below:

Social capital and livelihood recovery: post‐tsunami Sri Lanka as a case

Yuriko Minamoto (School of Governance Studies, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan)

Disaster Prevention and Management

ISSN: 0965-3562

Article publication date: 9 November 2010

1705

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on the relationship between the people's perception of livelihood recovery and micro‐social capital to seek more effective disaster support at the community level.

Design/methodology/approach

The household survey was conducted for a randomly selected total of 190 households in two divisions of the Ampara District of the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. The quantitative analysis design captured the extent to which both cognitive and structural social capital factors prescribe people's overall perceptions of livelihood recovery.

Findings

The factors which best prescribe people's perceptions of livelihood recovery are formal network in the community, and leadership and trustship of community‐based organizations. The negative coefficient for newly established community‐based non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) after the tsunami assumed a serious aspect of “élite capture”, which implies a dark side of collective action with semi‐forced participation. Participatory design process in the organizations was another negative factor for livelihood recovery.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should consider influencing factors related to religious organizations and conflict issues in the area.

Practical implications

Disaster support for livelihood recovery at the community level needs serious consideration about social factors and power structure of the community, and careful design of a participatory approach to reduce the risk of “élite capture”.

Originality/value

The research facilitated a quantitative analysis on social capital and livelihood recovery, which may be quite rare, and highlights the issue of effectiveness of disaster support at the community level.

Keywords

Citation

Minamoto, Y. (2010), "Social capital and livelihood recovery: post‐tsunami Sri Lanka as a case", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 548-564. https://doi.org/10.1108/09653561011091887

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles