Bonding, bridging and linking social capital combinations for food access; A gendered case study exploring temporal differences in southern Malawi
Bonding, bridging and linking social capital combinations for food access; A gendered case study exploring temporal differences in southern Malawi
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jrurstud.2023.103039
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发表时间：
2023-06-06
影响因子：
5.1
通讯作者：
Sheffield，Justin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Craig，Ailish;Hutton，Craig;Sheffield，Justin
在2018-2020年，82%的马拉维人被归类为中度或严重粮食不安全。几十年来，马拉维人一直利用他们的社会资本作为一种应对机制，在需要的时候获得食物。然而，在其他撒哈拉以南非洲国家，社会资本已开始下降，人们对社会资本在缓解饥饿方面的效用提出质疑。粮食安全状况和个人的社会资本存量也取决于性别。然而，在探讨如何利用社会资本获得食物时，考虑性别因素的研究有限。该研究旨在了解社会资本与粮食安全之间的联系，这在男子和妇女之间有何不同，以及社会资本用于获得粮食的情况是否随着时间的推移而发生变化。为了更好地了解如何利用社会资本来改善粮食安全，在马拉维南部地区的三个区进行了定性数据收集。快速农村评估方法，包括焦点小组讨论，季节日历和排名练习，被用来满足研究的目的。我们发现，社会资本可以用来缓解粮食不安全时期的饥饿。然而，由于缺乏资源、天气多变、主要社区团体解体以及活跃的非政府组织减少，社会资本发生了变化，不能像过去那样经常用来获取食物。这突出表明，在研究中必须分别考虑社会资本的结合、桥接和联系，因为它们是相互关联的。研究发现，男子和妇女拥有不同类型的社会资本，妇女在村庄储蓄和贷款团体中最为活跃，这是改善获得粮食机会的最重要群体。与此同时，男子可以利用村外的社会资本获得食物，而妇女由于行动受限而无法做到这一点。鉴于马拉维和全球粮食不安全状况的加剧，本研究发现的社会资本用于获得粮食的变化以及性别差异值得注意。
In 2018–2020, 82% of Malawian's were classed as moderately or severely food insecure. For decades, Malawian's have used their social capital as a coping mechanism to access food in times of need. Yet social capital has started to decline in other sub-Saharan African countries, questioning the usefulness of social capital to alleviate hunger. Food security status and a person's stock of social capital are also dependent on gender. Yet there is limited research that considers gender when exploring how social capital is used to access food. The study aimed to understand the link between social capital and food security, how this varies between men and women, and if social capital use to access food has changed over time. To improve the understanding of how social capital is used to improve food security, qualitative data collection was undertaken in three districts in the Southern Region of Malawi. Rapid rural appraisal methods, including focus group discussions, seasonal calendars and ranking exercises, were used to meet the aims of the study.We found that social capital can be used to alleviate hunger during periods of food insecurity. However, a lack of resources, weather variability, key community group disintegration and a reduction in active NGOs has resulted in changes in social capital and it could not be used as frequently as in the past to access food. This highlighted the importance of considering bonding, bridging and linking social capital separately in research as they are interlinked. The study found men and women have different types of social capital, with women being most active in village savings and loans groups, which were the most important group to improve access to food. Meanwhile, men can utilise their social capital from outside of the village to access food, something women could not do due to their restricted mobility. The changes to social capital use for food access that were uncovered in this study, as well as gender difference, are noteworthy given the increase in food insecurity in Malawi, and globally.