What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe
Based on real-time recording and reflection of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, this article identifies the features of ‘community resilience’ across sites in rural Zimbabwe. The findings confirm the importance of local knowledge, social networks and communication, as highlighted in the literatur...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2022-09-01
|
| Series: | BMJ Global Health |
| Online Access: | https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/9/e009528.full |
| _version_ | 1811180720278732800 |
|---|---|
| author | Iyleen Judy Bwerinofa Jacob Mahenehene Makiwa Manaka Bulisiwe Mulotshwa Felix Murimbarimba Moses Mutoko Vincent Sarayi Ian Scoones |
| author_facet | Iyleen Judy Bwerinofa Jacob Mahenehene Makiwa Manaka Bulisiwe Mulotshwa Felix Murimbarimba Moses Mutoko Vincent Sarayi Ian Scoones |
| author_sort | Iyleen Judy Bwerinofa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Based on real-time recording and reflection of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, this article identifies the features of ‘community resilience’ across sites in rural Zimbabwe. The findings confirm the importance of local knowledge, social networks and communication, as highlighted in the literature. In addition, a number of other aspects are emphasised, including the importance of adaptable livelihoods, innovation and collective learning. Flexible adaptation was especially important for responding to lockdowns, as livelihoods had to be reconfigured in response to public health measures. Meanwhile, innovation and shared learning was vital for generating local treatment responses to the disease. In the Zimbabwe context, these adaptation and innovation capabilities emerge from a particular historical experience where resilience in the face of harsh economic conditions and in the absence of state support has been generated over years. This is often a more resigned coping than a positive, empowering, transformational form of resilience. While adaptation, innovation and shared learning capabilities proved useful during the pandemic, they are not evenly spread, and there is no singular ‘community’ around which resilience emerges. The article therefore argues against seeing ‘community resilience’ as the magic bullet for disaster preparedness and response in the context of pandemics. Instead, the highly differentiated local practices of adaptation, innovation and shared learning—across gender, age and wealth differences—should be seen as an important complement to public, state-led support in health emergencies and so are part of a wider, plural health system. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:08:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-45e93af987234120b86637e769324777 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2059-7908 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:08:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Global Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-45e93af987234120b86637e7693247772022-12-22T04:32:34ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Global Health2059-79082022-09-017910.1136/bmjgh-2022-009528What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural ZimbabweIyleen Judy Bwerinofa0Jacob Mahenehene1Makiwa Manaka2Bulisiwe Mulotshwa3Felix Murimbarimba4Moses Mutoko5Vincent Sarayi6Ian Scoones7Hippo Valley, Chiredzi, ZimbabweChikombedzi, Chiredzi, ZimbabweChatsworth, Gutu, ZimbabweMatobo, Bulawayo, ZimbabweVictoria Ranch, Masvingo, ZimbabweWondedzo, Masvingo, ZimbabweMvurwi, Mazowe, ZimbabweInstitute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Falmer, UKBased on real-time recording and reflection of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, this article identifies the features of ‘community resilience’ across sites in rural Zimbabwe. The findings confirm the importance of local knowledge, social networks and communication, as highlighted in the literature. In addition, a number of other aspects are emphasised, including the importance of adaptable livelihoods, innovation and collective learning. Flexible adaptation was especially important for responding to lockdowns, as livelihoods had to be reconfigured in response to public health measures. Meanwhile, innovation and shared learning was vital for generating local treatment responses to the disease. In the Zimbabwe context, these adaptation and innovation capabilities emerge from a particular historical experience where resilience in the face of harsh economic conditions and in the absence of state support has been generated over years. This is often a more resigned coping than a positive, empowering, transformational form of resilience. While adaptation, innovation and shared learning capabilities proved useful during the pandemic, they are not evenly spread, and there is no singular ‘community’ around which resilience emerges. The article therefore argues against seeing ‘community resilience’ as the magic bullet for disaster preparedness and response in the context of pandemics. Instead, the highly differentiated local practices of adaptation, innovation and shared learning—across gender, age and wealth differences—should be seen as an important complement to public, state-led support in health emergencies and so are part of a wider, plural health system.https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/9/e009528.full |
| spellingShingle | Iyleen Judy Bwerinofa Jacob Mahenehene Makiwa Manaka Bulisiwe Mulotshwa Felix Murimbarimba Moses Mutoko Vincent Sarayi Ian Scoones What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe BMJ Global Health |
| title | What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe |
| title_full | What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe |
| title_fullStr | What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe |
| title_full_unstemmed | What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe |
| title_short | What is ‘community resilience’? Responding to COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe |
| title_sort | what is community resilience responding to covid 19 in rural zimbabwe |
| url | https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/9/e009528.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT iyleenjudybwerinofa whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe AT jacobmahenehene whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe AT makiwamanaka whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe AT bulisiwemulotshwa whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe AT felixmurimbarimba whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe AT mosesmutoko whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe AT vincentsarayi whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe AT ianscoones whatiscommunityresiliencerespondingtocovid19inruralzimbabwe |