From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

4 RISK AND VULNERABILITY LIVING WITH RISKWhether in cities or rural areas, in normal times juggling risk is a largepart of what it means to be poor. Families are adept at diversifyingtheir dependence: in rural areas, they send young adults off to work inthe city, grow multiple crops in different areas, sell and buy livestock tosmooth their income, or collect and sell wild products. In the cities,they hustle a living in the informal economy, working as street vendors,maids, in construction, or recycling rubbish.If these strategies fail, they resort to more drastic measures that ineffect mortgage the future, pulling children out of school, eating fewermeals, or selling off vital assets, even when this reduces future earningpower. This happens regularly in ‘peace time’ but is more widespreadwhen a shock hits a whole community, so that households find itharder to borrow from or support each other or otherwise cope, andlocal authorities are overwhelmed with the demand for help. At somepoint, vulnerability can tip over into a downward spiral of hunger,weakness, distress sales, destitution, and even death.Although vulnerability is conceptually similar to poverty, it focusesmore attention on relationships. It provides an X-ray of the power,connections, and exclusion that run through society. When disasterstrikes, you find out who your friends are: social ties and relationshipswith other families and patrons render even very poor households lessvulnerable than, for example, wealthier migrant households with noties in the community or claims on patronage. The most vulnerablepeople of all are the marginalised groups who constitute the ‘chronicpoor’: ethnic minorities, women heads of households, elderly people,and those who are sick or disabled.HUMAN SECURITYThe opposite of vulnerability is security. Broadly speaking, rich andpowerful people and communities lead more secure lives. As oneresident of Ha Tinh, Viet Nam explains, ‘The wealthy can recover lossesin one year, but the poor, who have no money, will never recover.’ 7Correcting that disparity is central to tackling poverty and inequality.To reduce the threat of shocks, individuals and governments mustseek to enhance people’s security: not the militarised version ofsecurity that has dominated public debate in recent years, but a more203