Resilience in the midst of a pandemic: A study of a livelihoods program in rural Nepal

Ekstrom, Kierstin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115424 Copy

Description

Title

Resilience in the midst of a pandemic: A study of a livelihoods program in rural Nepal

Author(s)

Ekstrom, Kierstin

Issue Date

2022-04-27

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Janzen, Sarah

Committee Member(s)

• Michelson, Hope
• Winter-Nelson, Alex

Department of Study

Agr & Consumer Economics

Discipline

Agricultural & Applied Econ

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Nepal
• resilience
• poverty
• Covid-19
• pandemic
• vulnerability
• livestock
• goats
• savings
• loans
• debt
• coping
• coping strategies
• ex-ante
• ex-post
• shocks
• covariate
• idiosyncratic
• development
• household
• South Asia
• impact evaluation
• lockdown
• personal savings
• consumption smoothing
• asset smoothing

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the vulnerable rural poor through direct shocks to health and disruptions to rural livelihoods. We use household level panel data from Nepal to examine the coping strategies used in the first 18 months of the pandemic, with focus on the four months of government mandated national lockdown. Households were more likely to turn to coping strategies during the national lockdown, most frequently taking on a loan, selling livestock or using savings. Previous randomized implementation of a Heifer International productive asset transfer and training program allows us to examine the long term effect of these types of programs on resilience. Program beneficiaries are more likely to sell livestock and less likely to take on loans during the national lockdown than non-beneficiaries. As beneficiaries are more likely to have any and more savings than non-beneficiaries, the program participation moves households towards sustainable and less onerous coping strategies.

Graduation Semester

2022-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Kierstin Ekstrom

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