War, Livelihoods and Vulnerability in Sri Lanka

2003

In the light of a growing number of unstabilized regions of warfare or post-war conditions, this paper investigates how civilians survive in the context of a civil war. It analyzes livelihood strategies of farmers in the war-torn areas of Sri Lanka. The analytical framework is based on a revised form of DFID's sustainable rural livelihoods approach placing particular attention on the institutional reproduction of household capital assets in the war economy. The paper delineates a three pillar model of household livelihood strategies focusing on how households (i) cope with the increased level of risk and uncertainty, (ii) adjust their economic and social household assets for economic survival, and how they (iii) use their social and political assets as livelihood strategies. Empirically, the paper analyses four local case studies from the east of Sri Lanka. A key conclusion from the empirical studies was that even though the four case studies were located geographically very clo...

Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the …, 2003

Rural societies in war-affected areas can be described as 'distressed livelihoods': they experience a dramatic increase in risk and uncertainty. How does this affect land use and agricultural coping strategies of small-scale farm households? This was the key research question of a multidisciplinary , comparative village study carried out in the war-torn areas of Sri Lanka. The study employed the analytical framework of rural livelihoods promoted by DFID. In addition, theoretical models of risk management were instrumental in illustrating behavioural patterns of households in the war zones. The study shows that changed patterns of mobility are a key response of people to adjust to the risk-prone environment. These strategies place heavy demands on the extended family network. Furthermore, access to and priority claims for resources are critical in determining differences in livelihood strategies in different communities. Limited accessibility to natural resources due to war restricts the freedom of livelihood options. Many adapting strategies of farm households thus reflect the declining entitlements to resources due to war and violence. Households gradually deplete their capital stock after each political crisis. Investment in sustainable land management is not rational for farm households that are uncertain about future developments affecting the fundamentals of their lives. Households therefore employ risk minimisation strategies to downsize possible losses and focus on cash earning (especially from overseas employment) and/or state welfare for survival.

2010

Populations affected by violent conflicts often withstand threats to their security as well as threats to their livelihoods. Their response to the former threat nontrivially affects their response to the latter, vice versa. This paper identifies and assesses the effectiveness of certain such responses used in a protracted conflict setting by households in Medawachchiya DSD of the Anuradhapura district in Sri Lanka. The field work for this study involved a sample of 82 households and was conducted during January-April 2008. 1 We find evidence that protection and livelihood strategies of households affected by protracted conflict are often interlaced. We also find that Sinhalese and Muslim households had largely responded to the protracted conflict in ways that are unique to their ethnic group. This is evidently because certain vulnerabilities which impinge upon protection as well as certain opportunities that support livelihoods are ethnically biases. The differences in responses meant that the final outcome of these responses, mainly the income, also tended to differ across ethnicities.

2005

Regional Environmental Change, 2014

A quantitative survey of 1,377 households in three war-affected coastal districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee in the north and east of Sri Lanka shows that inflation or price hikes, specially fuel, and natural disasters such as floods and droughts are highlighted as the shocks with the biggest impacts on fisher and non-fisher households. We hypothesise that the pattern/severity of households' coping strategies to face these shocks depends on a set of household characteristics: livelihood diversity, asset ownership, level of education and the ability to borrow. Livelihood diversity, asset ownership and borrowings correlate significantly with the severity of coping strategies adopted by households for both fisher and non-fisher households. Education and livelihood diversification does not show a significant correlation for fisher households although it significantly affects livelihood diversification of both types of households.

Conference Paper presented at 'Staying Poor: …, 2003

This paper investigates the nexus among poverty, ethnicity and conflict in Sri Lanka. The ethnicised conflict in Sri Lanka is embedded in and is an expression of existing social, political, economic and cultural structures. The civil war is thus not a temporary crisis, but a long-enduring feature. Rural societies in the war -affected areas are characterised by 'distressed livelihoods' or 'livelihoods at risk': They face multiple vulnerabilities caused by unfavourable state policies, environmental hazards, market-related risks and conflictrelated uncertainties which enhance the threshold of vulnerability. Households thus have to adapt to gradual deteriorating economic trends and to cope with sudden political shocks in the form of violence. In many instances, transitory poverty caused by disruptions of the war (displacement) has declined into chronic poverty.

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 2010

Background: Current conceptual frameworks on the interrelationship between armed conflict and poverty are based primarily on aggregated macro-level data and/or qualitative evidence and usually focus on adherents of warring factions. In contrast, there is a paucity of quantitative studies about the socioeconomic consequences of armed conflict at the micro-level, i.e., noncommitted local households and civilians. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data pertaining to risk factors for malaria and neglected tropical diseases. Standardized questionnaires were administered to 182 households in a rural part of western Côte d'Ivoire in August 2002 and again in early 2004. Between the two surveys, the area was subject to intensive fighting in the Ivorian civil war. Principal component analysis was applied at the two time points for constructing an asset-based wealth-index and categorizing the households in wealth quintiles. Based on quintile changes, the households were labeled as 'worse-off', 'even' or 'better-off'. Statistical analysis tested for significant associations between the socioeconomic fates of households and head of household characteristics, household composition, village characteristics and self-reported events associated with the armed conflict. Most-poor/least-poor ratios and concentration indices were calculated to assess equity changes in households' asset possession.

2010

The high level of poverty in the North and East of Sri Lanka has been linked to the nearly 3 decades of civil conflict. In this paper we examine the gendered aspects of impoverishment in Batticaloa district from the Eastern Province in Sri Lanka. We did extensive fieldwork in five Grama Sevaka (GS) divisions in Batticaloa district which yielded information on 153 Tamil households. There were 654 individuals in our sample consisting of 207 income earners (39 females and 168 males). The field visits were done in April, 2008, a few months after GoSL declared the Eastern Province under its control. The results show statistically significant differences in female and male income levels (female Rs. 8,190 males Rs.14,024). A closer examination reveals that this horizontal inequality is strongly related to education. We also examine the gendered nature of household level livelihoods by comparing the 22 female-headed and 131 male-headed households. These results indicate that the end of war ...

2012