Surviving Environmental Problems through Using Social Networks: The Case of Poor Communities in Kenya
Widespread environmental degradation disproportionately affects the world’s poor. In Kenya, many communities are struggling to contain widespread environmental problems. As these conditions are combined with a 47% national poverty rate, low social spending to promote community resiliency, and little international will to intervene, many Kenyans are also highly susceptible to dangerous secondary effects due to lack of resources to adapt.
These Kenyan communities must cooperate to survive. Mutual aid during times of hardship is not a unique survival strategy but these processes are still debated through social networking theory, social capital and People as Infrastructure theory. These processes also have not been examined qualitatively and have not been applied widely in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Kenyan case is significant because it will add clarity to the social networking literature as well as document the experiences of poor people affected by environmental problems, an underdeveloped area in social work. The research questions are: How are poor Kenyans affected by the environment? How are social networks used in these affected communities?
Methods
This qualitative study explores environmental problems in 19 poor communities in Kenya. Data collection occurred over six months and through two trips. Data includes field notes and 53 interviews, well above the standard sample size for qualitative studies.
This study was guided by an Advisory Board of poor Kenyans who were affected by environmental problems. As such, this study encourages a local view point, promotes the trustworthiness of the data through member-checking, and supports the human right of participation in the research project itself.
Data analysis was conducted in NVivo 10 through a phenomenological approach in order to capture the essence of experiencing the shared phenomenon and to give voice to the people who have had lived through these problems. Themes are highly contextualized, supplemented with secondary sources, and privilege the voices of the participants.
Results
Identified environmental problems include flashfloods, droughts, lack of waste management, and deforestation. Identified dangerous secondary effects include the spread of disease, lack of food and water, death, and loss of economic activities which lead to deepening poverty, migration, and conflict.
Formal assistance was problematic. Government programs struggled with corruption of allocated resources, leaving little for affected communities. Foreign aid programs were unsuccessful due to lack of buy-in. Participants were disappointed in NGOs due to their lack of assistance beyond documentation of problems.
Affected communities survived through support from their social networks which provided informal microloans, split recovery costs, and offered monetary aid. Social networks could not provide assistance when the networks were too insular, too small, too scattered, or if everyone was affected by the environmental problem.
Conclusion
Social work must begin to integrate problems in the physical environment into research, teaching, and practice to adequately reach all in need of aid. Despite recent arguments for action, a profession-wide response on this issue has been inadequate. Nevertheless, social workers are well equipped to address these connecting issues through participating in disaster management, advocating for reparative environmental policies, and developing programs that promote community resiliency.