and hospitals that create employment opportunities and provide opportunities to increase household resources and capabilities (de Satge` et al., 2002: 14).
Household relations refer to the joint ability of people living together to pool resources to access food, cash and assistance and to share responsibilities. Social capital is defined as in the DfID (1999) framework, and refers to the broader community‟s ability to help each other either individually or through community organisations.
Table 2.3 Assets in the asset vulnerability framework (Moser, 1998: 4)
Asset Definition
Labour The ability to work to earn cash for food and livelihood necessities;
Human Capital Health status, which determines ability to work, including skills and education that determine returns to labour;
Productive Assets Assets that urban households own such as housing that can be rented out for additional income;
Household Relations People related to each other or living together can pool income, share expenses and food;
Social Capital Mutual sharing within communities and between households/individuals based on trust and social relationships.
Moser‟s (1998) four country case study showed that in times of financial difficulty, labour of women and children were the most important asset for the urban poor. Children were removed from school to participate in informal income generation strategies to increase household cash resources and supplement the income earned by women. As poverty increased, more women became engaged in low paying informal sector activities such as petty trading and paid domestic work.
Human capital development was correlated to social (education) and economic (transport, water and electricity) infrastructure development. Better education and health services enabled the urban poor to earn higher incomes and reduce vulnerability to poverty (Moser, 1998). These findings indicate that livelihood assets are linked, and a gain in one asset will most likely positively influence other assets. The ability to use housing as an asset to reduce vulnerability is dependent on whether the family is renting or owns the property as well as the conditions in the regulatory environment (Moser, 1998). Tenure security stimulated the development of home based enterprises that in turn supplemented
Household relations are deemed an asset because of the safety net function that family members serve in reducing vulnerability, caused by multiple factors such as divorce;
death or homelessness; by absorbing new members (Moser, 1998). Social capital refers to community and kinship networks as assets that reduce household vulnerability in times of need. The ability of a community or households to assist each other depends on their stocks of other capital such as food and cash and prevailing economic conditions (Moser, 1998). Moser (1998) reported that in the four-country case study, households that had adequate resources regularly shared cash and non-monetary exchanges.
Traditional arrangements such as borrowing cash to purchase food and pay accounts were ongoing in surveyed households. Households that coped with vulnerability, participated in mutual exchanges and supported neighbours, but when their assets were drained, mutual support typically ceased. Economic crisis and violence depleted household assets. Economic crisis reduced income (financial capital) and the ability to repay debts whereas violence, resulting from unemployment and hooliganism, reduced participation in community based organisations and increased isolation of individuals and households.
Moser‟s (1998) Asset Vulnerability Framework has important implications for livelihood approaches, especially in terms of how vulnerability is created and what development interventions can do to prevent asset depletion. Table 2.4 summarises the elements contributing to asset vulnerability in the four-country case study.
Factors arising in the external environment and within households reduce the ability of households to effectively use and mobilise assets. Assets become vulnerable to depletion as they are pounded by negative events such as declining economic conditions;
inadequate investment in infrastructure; and deteriorating social relations within the household such as divorce; and increasing violence in communities.
Table 2.4 Elements contributing to asset vulnerability in Moser’s (1998) four- country case study
Vulnerability Outcome
Labour Loss of income.
Human capital Inability to maintain investment levels in education and preventative health care;
Inability to provide safe, clean water.
Housing and infrastructure Inability to use housing as a productive asset;
Lack of secure tenure;
Lack of water and sanitation.
Household relations Increased domestic violence;
Lack of adequate childcare;
Lack of caregivers for the elderly;
Split households.
Social capital Decline in attendance of CBOs, particularly by women, or in activity of CBOs;
Increase in youth gangs;
Increase in crime and homicide;
Lack of physical mobility, especially at night for women.
To prevent asset depletion and reduce vulnerability, households mobilise and coordinate the use of a range of assets simultaneously, not depending on one asset at any particular time. Households adapt to changing circumstances through pooling income, engaging in consumption-smoothing activities (discussed under coping strategies section) and participating in income-generating strategies (Moser, 1998). This trend of mobilising a range of assets simultaneously is apparent in table 2.5 that presents household strategies for managing vulnerability.
Drawing on latent labour sources, using the capabilities of women and children to work at home and in economic activities; leasing out assets for additional income; using private services and placing increasing pressure on family and the greater community were used in conjunction with consumption alteration strategies to maximise resistance to adversity.
Table 2.5 Household strategies for mobilising assets in response to changes in economic circumstances (Moser, 1998)
Type of Assets Household Response
Labour Increase the number of women working;
Increase reliance on child labour: boys are more likely to work in home based enterprises while girls assist with child care;
Allocate a disproportionate share of women‟s time to meet increasing responsibilities; although women work in the formal/ informal sector their household responsibilities do not decrease.
Housing Diversify income through home based enterprises. Houses and land used as income generating assets;
Children build homes on parents existing plots to reduce vulnerability.
Social and economic infrastructure
Substitute public for private goods and services: private doctors were preferred to public hospitals, purchasing water from vendors to cope with poor public infrastructure.
Household relations
Increase reliance on extended family support networks;
Increase labour migration and remittances.
Social capital Borrowing money from friends and neighbours for food, establishing credit arrangements with private doctors, borrowing cash from money-merchants for medical costs;
Borrowing from friends and neighbours for daily consumption needs;
Increase informal support networks among households;
Increase community level activity.
Possession of „adequate amounts‟ of assets does not mean reduced vulnerability to poverty and lower use of consumption reduction and income generation strategies. To effectively use a range of assets, households require capabilities (education and skills) and capacity to convert assets into livelihood resources such as food and income (Moser, 1998). For households and individuals to protect themselves against risk and secure their livelihoods, they require the “right mix” of assets (Moser, 1998:16; Chambers &
Conway, 1992). The “right mix”(Moser, 1998: 16) of assets refers to an ideal situation where households have family members in gainful employment; where the house is an income generating asset; where all household members have access to clean water and sanitation; and schools and hospitals to rapidly treat illnesses; where extended family is present to provide support in times of stress or shocks and where neighbours and friends are readily available to assist financially or in kind to assist the household recover from stresses or shocks.