Social service and healthcare access among income poor households in the Philippines amid intersecting social-ecological crises
The global elimination of extreme poverty by 2030 is a central and crosscutting target of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. However, innovation is needed within poverty reduction strategies and programs to reach individuals and households who previously have been excluded from these initiatives. In the Philippines, some regions are characterized by persistent extreme poverty despite recent impressive macroeconomic growth at the national level. Working with International Care Ministries (ICM), this project aims to understand how income poor households navigate the social service and healthcare systems (from the perspectives of service beneficiaries and service providers) amid intersecting social-ecological crises (e.g., extreme weather events and COVID-19 pandemic), with the intention of developing interventions to improve access to and use of these services.
Funding: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, New Frontiers in Research Fund
Youth and Climate (Im)mobilities (Youth CLIMB)
Pressures to migrate from the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) will continue to intensify amid the climate crisis, which will exacerbate existing drivers of migration including poverty, food insecurity, violence, and political instability. Despite the current and projected impacts of the climate crisis, some individuals are choosing to remain in rural areas (i.e., practice immobility) for diverse reasons including attachment to place, connectedness to family and social networks, and engagement in meaningful and fulfilling work. Further, community-based organizations embedded within remote communities are providing ongoing support, training, and resources to facilitate rural and agricultural development alongside local adaptation efforts to address the current and projected impacts of the climate crisis.
Youth in remote and resource-constrained communities within the Northern Triangle are uniquely positioned when considering how the climate crisis may exacerbate pressures to migrate. As youth form aspirations for their lives, the current and projected impacts of the climate crisis will necessarily shape their capacity to envision a future in their community. With this in mind, community-based organizations are mobilizing across remote settings in the Northern Triangle to support capability formation among youth who are weighing (im)mobility decisions. Anchored by a collaboration with community-based organizations in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, the goal of the Youth and Climate (Im)mobilities (Youth CLIMB) partnership is to co-create strategies and approaches for community-based organizations to support youth in remote and resource-constrained settings as they navigate (im)mobility decisions amid the climate crisis.
Funding: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
“Urban Futures”: Toward health equity, inclusive governance, and climate adaptation in African informal settlements
This project works with informal settlements residents in African cities to understand the lived realities of climate change and co-produce contextually appropriate adaptation strategies. Typically, informal settlement residents are excluded from formal planning processes. Historic marginalization and structural inequalities mean that these residents are disproportionately exposed to cascading climate hazards that compound their socio-economic vulnerability. Even within informal settlements, some are more vulnerable or excluded than others, such as women and girls, people living with disabilities, and other minorities. Our participatory, inclusive, interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral research focuses on risks to human health, living standards, and critical physical infrastructure, networks, and services. Identifying these interactions is vital for developing effective adaptations and to avoid further harm from urban policy which overlooks informality and may exacerbate injustices including distributive (the distribution of adaptation’s risks and benefits); procedural (inclusion-exclusion in decision-making); and recognitional (recognizing lived experiences and local knowledge). Our multi-national, cross-disciplinary and multi-sectoral team will explore the cascading, multi-dimensional risks in urban informal settlements in three African cities that experience differing climate-relates risks (Freetown, Kampala, and Bulawayo).
Funding: New Frontiers in Research Fund (International Joint Initiative for Research in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation)