Sell, Borrow, Work or Migrate? Exploring the Choice of Coping Strategies in Ghana

Abena Oduro

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Chapter 9 Sell, Borrow, Work or Migrate? Exploring the Choice of Coping Strategies in Ghana

In: Philosophical Foundations of the African Humanities through Postcolonial Perspectives

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Abena Oduro

Abena Oduro
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 152–167

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004392946_011

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Abstract

Quantitative data collected in 2008 from households in six regions and 23 districts of Ghana provides information on what strategies households make recourse to when hit by adverse events such as the illness of a family member or the loss of assets through theft. Almost all households that report undertaking a specific action or set of actions in response to shocks resorted to informal social protection mechanisms such as borrowing from friends and relatives, selling their assets or reducing food consumption. Qualitative data from in-depth life history interviews were used to explore what considerations go into a person’s choice of coping strategies when an adverse event occurs. These interviews were conducted in 2009 using a small sub-sample of women and men living in households that were surveyed initially in 2008. The qualitative data added context that is missing routinely from data collected during quantitative household surveys. For example, when probed in the course of interviewing, some respondents provided reasons why one strategy was adopted and not another, or why they relied upon a particular combination of strategies to meet their long-range goals. By relying upon qualitative methods to supplement standard methods of quantitative measurement, the analysis reveals that the way individuals respond to shocks is typically the result of a complex interplay of several considerations including the reliability and strength of their particular social networks, and the way in which they take stock of the physical and financial assets that they own.

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Philosophical Foundations of the African Humanities through Postcolonial Perspectives

Series: Cross/Cultures, Volume: 209

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004392946

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 12 Feb 2019

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Chapter 9 Sell, Borrow, Work or Migrate? Exploring the Choice of Coping Strategies in Ghana

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Philosophical Foundations of the African Humanities through Postcolonial Perspectives

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