Paper short abstract:

This paper examines livelihoods and survival strategies in post-conflict cities and the informal economy’s role in poverty-reduction and economic recovery. Based on studies of Hargeisa and Cairo, the paper argues for a re-evaluation of the informal economy in supporting post-conflict livelihoods.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines livelihoods and survival strategies in post-conflict cities and the role of the urban informal economy in poverty-reduction and economic recovery. The focus is both on displaced people moving into the city, including former combatants, migrants and refugees, and on host communities. Based on a comparison of findings in Hargeia, Somaliland, destroyed by civil war in 1988, and Cairo in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the paper draws on current DFID-ESRC research on Economic Recovery in Post-Conflict Cities: the Role of the Urban Informal Economy, to examine the how the informal economy responds through conflict and its role as a refuge for conflict-affected communities.

Political upheaval or violent conflict is often characterised by a fundamental failure of governance and economic collapse. An immediate impact of crisis is the destruction of livelihoods and local economies, leading to insecurity, poverty, hunger, and frustration. Problems are often compounded an influx of urban migrants, who may find integration into urban life difficult. For instance, after the 2011 revolution, Egypt experienced soaring inflation and unemployment, with migrants moving from Upper Egypt to Cairo to work informally.

Using a pathways framework, the paper will examine structural inequalities of politics, governance, ethnicity, religion, and gender, and individual strategies e.g. drawing on kinship or trade networks, or gang monopolies, and the anonymity afforded by working in the city, to examine different livelihood trajectories. The paper argues that both government initiatives and humanitarian assistance miss the potential of what people are already doing to help themselves. (this paper was developed in collaboration with Peter Mackie)