newsletter Vol3 no2 November 2005

-Coping in Crisis: Flooding in Bangladesh

-Exploring wellbeing in Thailand: initial findings from Quality of Life (QoL) and Resources and Needs Questionnaire (RANQ)

- Jonathan Dimbleby Discussion
Eradicating Poverty: making aid more effective

-WeD News: Conferences, Workshops, Publications

-Key Dates

-WeD Country Websites

Coping in Crisis: Flooding in Bangladesh
Joe Devine

Rivers in Bangladesh shape the physiography of the country as well as the life of its people. Because Bangladesh is situated on the delta of two of the biggest rivers in the world and the vast proportion of its landmass is less than 10 metres above sea level, floods frequently occur. Normally the monsoon rains herald the start of the 'flood season'. When this coincides, as it did in July 2004, with accelerated snow and ice melts from the Himalayas, the ecological effects can be devastating.

The 2004 floods inundated 40% of the total area of Bangladesh, affected one quarter of the entire population and were directly responsible for the death of approximately 800 people. The floods inundated two of the rural sites where WeD was carrying out research, and as a result research activities were suspended for almost two months. However in one rural site, researchers managed to administer RANQ (Resources and Needs Questionnaire) to 26 households before the floods. This offered a unique opportunity to return after the flood and follow up on the same households. To do this, two different methods were used.

First, RANQ was re-administered to the same households after the floods had receded. This helps us capture the immediate impact of a crisis like floods on a household's structure; its access to and use of material, social and cultural resources; and people's overall assessment of their own life satisfaction. Second, we developed a form of diary that asks questions about household expenditure, income sources and the use of loans. Within the WeD methodological framework, the diary is an example of process-driven research that seeks to understand the complex adjustments households make and the resources they deploy to achieve wellbeing outcomes. The diary is self-administered and will be kept for one year. Researchers visit the 40 households who agreed to complete the diary regularly in order to discuss diary entries.

At the height of the flood, most of the houses in the affected site were completely submerged forcing villagers to move. Some were fortunate to find shelter with relatives in other villages. Many however simply built makeshift tents on the main road and waited till the floodwater disappeared. The most immediate impact of the flood for the majority of the villagers were major crop losses (not only standing rice but also that to be transplanted), asset loss (many household items were destroyed) and unemployment (which particularly affected wage labourers).

The decrease in incomes coupled with very restricted alternative employment opportunities led the WeD team to use the diary to focus on issues of income, expenditure and loans. Although data is still being collected, two initial findings have emerged strongly. First, all households have turned to relatives, friends and different social networks as part of their coping strategies. For poorer households, friends and relatives within the village were of greatest importance. But richer households have engaged more with contacts outside the village such as political leaders and businessmen. Poorer households therefore face a double burden. On the one hand their options to secure income are more restricted but more necessary. On the other hand, their existing networks of support are less able to provide access to key resources.

The most important coping strategy for the majority of households has been borrowing money. For poorer households, this helps meet everyday consumption needs. For richer households, loans have been used to support business initiatives. However with evidence that interest rates on loans increased substantially, the reliance on borrowing as a coping strategy will have significant implications for people's wellbeing over the medium and longer terms. The diaries will help us understand how this dynamic unfolds and how it affects different people in very different ways.

Joe Devine is the Country Coordinator for WeD Bangladesh.

Exploring wellbeing in Thailand: initial findings from Quality of Life (QoL) and Resources and Needs Questionnaire (RANQ)
Darunee Jongudomkarn, Laura Camfield, Mònica Guillén Royo and Jackeline Velazco

Most frequently mentioned was Family Relationships. These included following social norms and codes of conduct, engaging in reciprocal relationships of caring and support, and being able to meet the family's needs.But this was often a source of stress and conflict, for example where wives felt husbands neglected their
families in favour of alcohol (North East Thailand) or religious observance (Southern Muslims), or parents felt their children weren't showing them due gratitude ('katanyu') by sending them remittances.

The second most frequently mentioned area was Money, which impacted on wellbeing through enabling rest and leisure as well as meeting material needs. Why money was needed differed across age groups: young people wanted to be able to afford status goods; middle-aged people to be able to fulfil their family responsibilities and old people to be able to stop working.

Occupations (and those of their children) were the third most frequently mentioned area. These were seen as a source of money, status and stress. Owning a House was mentioned by all, although only people in peri-urban areas were concerned about its appearance and size. People were also concerned about their Health, largely due to the inconvenience and cost of illness, but also because of psychological impact of stress caused by family problems and the threat of debt.

Food was primarily discussed in terms of celebration - only the elderly remembered times of food insecurity. Land was a source of pride where it was owned but stress where insecurity of landholding was common. Another common goal was the acquisition of material or 'convenience goods'; mobile phones were ubiquitous in peri-urban areas and those who had motorbikes aspired to own pick-up trucks. These goods were regarded as symbols both of wealth and happiness: 'we know how happy a man is by counting his material goods' said an elderly female respondent. Although people emphasised the importance of restraint and financial planning, few seemed to subscribe to it and rising levels of debt were much in evidence.

Another part of the research asked what were the characteristics of an 'ideal person' and an 'ideal village'. In response to the former, religious and ethical beliefs and practices were frequently mentioned, focusing on personal characteristics and behaviour towards others. Similarly, while good infrastructure and environment were part of the 'ideal village', good relationships between villagers, good leadership, religious observance and morality, safety and security were equally important. Education was usually only mentioned as training to improve skills and not considered intrinsically important.

The study raises interesting questions: do the Thai respondents' reports on the sources of their wellbeing justify a different approach to wellbeing in developing countries? Do they support theories about the universality of human needs?

The main priorities of the Thai respondents support Doyal and Gough's theory which emphasizes human needs such as good health, significant relationships, adequate housing and economic security. But it also reveals many subtle subjective aspects of wellbeing such as being able to live a moral life, abide by social norms and have hopes and dreams. These are often neglected in mainstream development research. More work is needed to bridge the gap between universal indicators and those which have meaning and importance for people at a local level.

Mònica Guillén Royo and Jackeline Velazco use rural Thai data from the Resources and Needs Questionnaire to explore the relationship between subjective and objective dimensions of wellbeing. Respondents were asked to indicate how adequately their basic needs were being met in the five life domains of housing, food, education, health care and income and how satisfied this made them feel. In addition, households were asked to assess their overall happiness.

The analysis follows the approach of happiness economics where happiness and satisfaction with life domains are explained by economic, social and demographic characteristics (Frei & Stutzer). However, the study goes further by investigating whether objective indicators of basic needs drawn from the Theory of Human Need (Doyal & Gough) do in fact explain people's own subjective views. The data was collected from household heads for the household as a whole. Regression models were used to empirically test these suggested relationships.

The results show that respondents' assessment of their satisfaction with each of these domains - and their overall happiness - can be explained by whether or not their basic needs are met. In particular, there are lower levels of satisfaction where basic needs are not being met. For example, households with high numbers of people affected by chronic illness, major disability or serious injuries report low levels of satisfaction with health care. Food shortages emerge as a significant factor explaining low levels of food satisfaction. Similarly, electricity, clean water and toilet facilities are important in determining satisfaction with housing. The extent to which a household is satisfied with its level of income is strongly related to how it perceives its wealth status relative to others. Further, all the domains were strongly related to asset ownership and the household's perceived relative wealth status.

The factors determining respondent's overall happiness are similar. The level of education of the household head, type of employment, the incidence of food shortages, material wealth (measured by wealth asset index) and relative perceptions of wealth again emerge as significant
variables. Of particular interest is the finding that the precariousness associated with self-employment results in lower levels of happiness (consistent with findings from Peru and Russia of Graham and Pettinato). Further, the household's perception of its relative wealth status again proved to be a powerful determinant of happiness, similar to the above results for particular domains of basic needs.

This study confirms the relationship between objective indicators of basic needs and the household head's subjective assessment of satisfaction in particular domains, and overall happiness, using a theoretically based analysis. Moreover, the household's perceived relative wealth status is a useful predictor of its subjective satisfaction. Like the findings from the Quality of Life research above, it illustrates how social comparisons enter into people's assessments of their wellbeing. More work will be done to explore the relationships and causal links between these different factors.

Laura Camfield (Psychology), Darunee Jongudomkarn (Thailand), Jackeline Velazco (Economics) and Mònica Guillén Royo (Social & Policy Sciences) are all WeD Researchers.

For more detail on RANQ, see the RANQ toolbox online. www.welldev.org.uk/research/methods-toobox/ranq-toolbox.htm