Power of partnership conference: Poster: Poverty alleviation in the wake of typhoon Yolanda

1. Poverty Alleviation in the Wake of Typhoon
Yolanda
Pauline Eadie: Pauline.Eadie@nottingham.ac.uk
Project Partners:
University of Nottingham, UK
University of the Philippines, Diliman.
University of Nottingham, Ningbo China
Three year project 2015-2018
Case Study – Tacloban, Tanauan, Palo – Eastern
Visayas Region the Philippines
Aim of project - to identify the strategies that
work in relation to poverty alleviation in post-
disaster urban environments and the conditions
necessary for the success and scaling up of
these strategies.
Approach – Multiple interviews and household
surveys.
Audience – local and international disaster relief
practitioners.
Findings
• Many communities and individuals had little control over their
recovery, this entrenched them in their marginalized position in
society.
• ‘Resilience’ is an overused term that remains an aspiration rather
than a sustainable reality.
• Stakeholders should engage local communities to enhance their
ability to rebuild their communities, and engage them in the
process of sustainably developing their security, dignity, and
resilience.
• Entrenched patron-client relationships were transposed on to relief
agencies and distorted the allocation of goods and services.
Change:
Increased awareness of:
• The need for ‘good’ data post-
disaster.
• ‘Orphaned’ projects collapsing when
disaster relief agencies leave.
• The ongoing problem of top down
relief building – despite rhetoric to
the contrary.
Capacity:
• We trained local early career
researchers in data gathering.
• We shared our findings with the
local communities we worked in and
highlighted failures in practice that
affected them.
Coordination:
• We generated a network of like
minded academics and practitioners
that are now sharing best practice
at an international level. We hope
this generates Impact during future
disasters