The moderating role of Covid-19-related support on urban livelihood capitals: Evidence from suburban Accra
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Urban Governance
Abstract
In the Global South, the COVID-19 crisis has compelled varied efforts to quickly address the pandemic’s impact
on urban livelihoods. Families, friends as well as public, private, and civil society organizations have mobilized
various resources to avert the pandemic’s onslaught on the survival of the urban vulnerable. Indeed, there is a
burgeoning ‘pandemic urban scholarship’ that shed insights on COVID-19 risks, local responses, and impacts on
everyday urban life. Yet, it is unclear how many of these responses are affecting urban livelihoods. This paper
thus investigates the impact of COVID-19 on urban livelihood capitals (financial, human, social, and physical)
and analyses the moderating role of COVID-19-related support (from families, friends, government agencies,
faith-based and non-governmental organizations) to address the pandemic’s impact on these capitals. Drawing
on a quantitative study in Adenta Municipality of the Greater Accra Region, Ghana, the study finds a negative
association between COVID-19 impacts and all urban livelihood capitals. Crucially, COVID-19-related support
only reduced the negative impact of the pandemic on financial capital, and not on the other forms of capital.
The study suggests that building post-pandemic community resilience warrants the need to transition from the
usual reactive, fragmented support to integrated, holistic, and contextually embedded long-term strategies that
consider the multi-dimensionality of everyday urban life.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
COVID-19 impact, Urban livelihoods, Covid-19-related support, Structural equation modelling, Post-pandemic resilience