Exploring the Role of Collective Efficacy in a Community’s Ability to Engage in Flood Measures in Urban Informal Settlements in Fiji Público

Abstract

With more than one billion people worldwide living in urban informal settlements, residents are vulnerable to flood risks due to inadequate drainage, high population density, and general poor housing construction, making them at higher risk for adverse health outcomes. Research has shown that positive collective efficacy beliefs and experiences with collective action can increase motivational investments for individuals and communities, and in turn have a positive impact on community and group development. However, collective efficacy research has predominately focused on group and community settings in high-income countries. There are limited studies on the impact that collective efficacy has on flooding for urban informal settlements. As a sub-study of Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE), this qualitative study aimed to explore the role that collective efficacy plays in a community’s ability to engage in flood measures in urban informal settlements in Fiji. In total, 42 in-depth interviews with men and women were conducted in 10 settlements in Suva, Fiji. Thematic analysis was used to elicit key themes. The data indicated that the most salient enablers or barriers to collective efficacy in these settlements were strong leadership, social ties, past performance experiences, and expectations and unity around collective action.  The findings showed that strong leadership and social ties within communities were seen as positive influences to engaging in flood related collective action. Additionally, positive experiences with previous forms of collective action for flood measures were enablers, while past negative experiences were a barrier to engaging in collective action. While participants expressed expectations around collective action for flood related measures, the findings were unclear as to whether expectations for people to contribute to flood related measures are enablers of collective efficacy. Programs intending to implement flood interventions need to consider the unique influencing factors to engaging in collective action for the settlements where they plan to work. Additionally, practitioners should determine if engaging in collective action for flood related measures are expected by communities.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Literature Review 4

Methods 13

Results 17

Discussion 26

Implications & Recommendations 30

References 33

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Hubert Department of Global Health
Degree	M.P.H.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health
Palavra-chave	Fiji Collective efficacy Flooding Informal Settlements
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Sheela Sinharoy, Emory University
Committee Members	Allison Salinger, Emory University

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