Urban Livelihoods in Afghanistan - the Afghanistan Research and ...

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Urban Livelihoods in Afghanistanexplicitly expressed in the Government’sNational Development Framework (NDF) andSecuring Afghanistan’s Future:Accomplishments and the Strategic PathForward (SAF). 9 A new Constitution andsuccessful presidential and parliamentaryelections have constituted important firststeps toward stability and nationalgovernance. As the political process continuesto evolve, one outstanding challenge is toreform the bureaucracy. While publicadministration is highly centralised on paper,it has weak links with and control overprovinces and municipalities, which, takentogether, have been largely ineffective todate in achieving local level economicdevelopment, governance and servicedelivery. There is a critical tension betweenthe national imperative to strengthen thecentre and the need at the city level toensure that effective municipal structuresand processes are developed and supported.At present, only a small proportion of thepopulation, mainly the urban and provincialelites, makes a decent living and has accessto local level services such as good healthcare,education, safe water supply andsanitation. Access to urban labour markets,infrastructure and services must be extendedto the poor and vulnerable. This will involvebreaking down existing power structures andremoving the influence of vested interests— goals which may be formidable yet notimpossible to achieve.2.2 Sustainable urban livelihoods:Framing the analysisThe term “livelihoods” has been used to referto assets, income-generating activities andthe access to both (mediated by institutionaland social relations). Together, theseelements determine an individual’s or ahousehold’s quality of life. 10 The idea ofsustainable livelihoods became very influentialin the development community among thosewho recognized the need to move beyondmoney-metric concepts of poverty to includea more holistic and dynamic understandingof deprivation. Influenced by Amartya Sen’sanalysis of poverty and Robert Chambers’exploration of risk and vulnerability,development practitioners started looking atlivelihoods with a multidimensional approachto social disadvantage, paying attention topeople’s vulnerabilities, capabilities andendowments. 11 Such an approach regardeda household’s livelihood sustainable when itallows the family to cope with economicstresses, recover from shocks and consistentlymaintain or enhance its financial capabilitiesand assets without depleting its naturalresource base.A common feature across existing livelihoodsframeworks is the assessment of the strengthof people’s “capitals” or “assets”. One ofthe most widely adapted frameworks is theSustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF),developed by the United Kingdom’sDepartment for International Development(DFID). The SLF identifies five types of capital:human, financial, physical, social andnatural. 12 Human capital constitutes thelabour resources available to households andtheir quality. Financial capital refers to thesavings, credit, remittances and pensions,which allow households different incomestreams and livelihood options. Physicalcapital comprises basic infrastructure suchas housing, transport, water supply andcommunications, as well as the equipmentand tools by which people pursue theirlivelihoods. Natural capital refers to naturalresources useful to livelihoods such as land,water and public resources: rivers or common9 GoA (2004), Securing Afghanistan’s Future: Accomplishments and the Strategic Path Forward (SAF), Kabul: GoA.10 Ellis, F. (2000), Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 10.11 Sen, A.K. (1999), Development as Freedom, Oxford: Oxford University Press; Chambers, R. and G. Conway (1992), SustainableRural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts for the 21st Century, IDS Discussion Paper No. 296, Brighton:IDS, University of Sussex.12 Carney, D. (1998), Implementing the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, in D. Carney (ed.), Sustainable Rural Livelihoods:What Contribution Can we Make? London: Department for International Development, pp. 3-23.Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 11
Synthesis Paper Seriesland. Social capital consists of relationshipsbased on trust and membership in a group orcommunity. Such social networks are reliedupon for employment, loans and other typesof assistance. All of these assets help familiesundertake household responsibilities and gainaccess to labour and more institutions ofsociety.The various frameworks reviewed for thestudy also include analysis of vulnerability,the likely trends and shocks that couldinfluence livelihoods, as well as the structuresand processes that determine who gets accessto markets, shelter or decision-making arenas.The latter is very important to livelihoodanalysis in the Afghan context, where systemsand structures often operate on the basis ofwasita — knowing influential people, whocould provide access to livelihood assets andeven positions of power. An analysis of urbanlivelihoods in Afghanistan demonstrates thatreciprocal networks of support, whileindispensable as an informal social protection,can sometimes become an obstacle to poorand vulnerable groups accessing decisionmakers beyond their community. For example,a weak wakil-e gozar may fall under thecontrol of a commander and stand in the wayof other citizens, who are more active indeveloping political assets through directdealings with local officials, politicians orNGOs.One criticism about the SustainableLivelihoods Framework is its inadequateemphasis on institutional factors andgovernance issues, falling short in addressingthe significance of politics and the role playedby voice and rights in determining livelihoodoutcomes. These critiques are particularlyimportant to understanding the dynamicsaround urban livelihoods and to adapting aframework that factors in social asymmetries,the complexities of the institutional contextand the prominent role played by politicsand power in urban settings. 13Perceptions of poverty in many urban areasare not only associated with materialdeprivation but also include the more psychosocialissues of respect and dignity, stigmaand exclusion. Also relevant is an assessmentof which forms of social relationships peopletend to align themselves with and how suchconnections relate to the immediate needsof their households, for instance, land andlabour. It is important to recognize that insome cases, poverty is not necessarilyexacerbated by exclusion from resources oremployment, but by power imbalances, whichinfluence how people gain access to resources.Individuals with less power in socialrelationships may have to make trade-offsbetween dependence on a source foremployment, land or credit needed forimmediate survival, and the ability to makeindependent choices that could lift them outof poverty in the medium to long term. Theybecome locked in negative social relations,which may provide security today but at thecost of long term growth prospects. 14 Forexample, a family may obtain land throughconnections to a commander who grabbedit. This provides short-term security of tenurethrough the commander’s protection butcould then lead to future insecurity if therelation to the commander deteriorates, orland policy reforms are implemented,nullifying the commander’s authority overthe grabbed land.In general, it has been a challenge to capturesuch dynamics in a livelihoods frameworkintended to address urban issues.Nevertheless, a strategic approach, includinga framework specific to a certain setting, isnecessary in tackling urban problems. Havinga framework to start with allows planners tolink micro-level analysis of how poor peoplecope and prosper, with how city institutions13 Some authors suggest the inclusion of a sixth category: “political capital,” claiming that social capital does not capturethe complexity of urban social and institutional interactions. See Beall, J. (2005), “Urban Livelihoods” in C. Toumain andB. Wisner (eds), Towards A New Map of Africa, London: Earthscan Publications, pp. 97-112.14 Wood, G. (2003), “Staying Secure, Staying Poor: The ‘Faustian Bargain’”, World Development 31(3): 455-71.12Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
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