Mercy Corps: Resilience to Disasters Hinges on Women

New research sheds light on how people can best cope with crises

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- People in the poorest parts of the world may be better able to bounce back from disasters if women play a key role in making household decisions, according to new research from the global humanitarian agency Mercy Corps. The research, based on findings from crisis-prone southern Somalia, explores a range of factors that increase resilience to shocks and stresses such as severe storms, drought and conflict. 

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"We were surprised to discover the extent to which women playing a lead role in household decision making significantly increased the ability of families to cope with the crisis," says Jon Kurtz, director for research and learning at Mercy Corps.  "These households tended to make better decisions about allocating resources and were more likely to reach out to others to find essential services that helped them manage." 

The Mercy Corps research underscores other critical factors that bolster resilience of families. People who had deep social networks – especially across the lines of community and clan – were much better positioned to draw on others for support. In addition, households with more and diverse income sources and access to markets were less likely to go hungry.

"As the international community faces an enormous rebuilding effort in the Philippines, we again see the importance of helping people better cope with shocks and stresses," says Kurtz. "While we welcome donor governments' growing enthusiasm for resilience strategies, little rigorous research has been conducted to determine what makes people more resilient to recurrent crises. Our work with TANGO is an initial attempt to discover these factors."

The research was carried out in September 2012, one year after southern Somalia experienced devastating drought and famine. Mercy Corps, working with research partner TANGO, interviewed local government and community leaders and conducted 1,185 household surveys to assess key conditions, coping strategies and levels of food insecurity during and following the famine. Download the full report.

About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a leading global humanitarian agency saving and improving lives in the world's toughest places. With a network of experienced professionals in more than 40 countries, we partner with local communities to put bold ideas into action to help people recover, overcome hardship and build better lives. www.mercycorps.org.

SOURCE Mercy Corps

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