Survival strategies employed by the urban poor during the Covid 19 lock down In Kampala District.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to understand the survival strategies that were employed by the urban poor during the COVID 19 lockdown in Kampala District. This study was guided by three objectives namely, to identify the effects of COVID 19 lockdown on the livelihoods of the urban poor, to examine the different survival strategies that were employed by the urban poor during the COVID 19 lockdown and to identify the enabling and constraining factors affecting the survival strategies of the urban poor during the COVID 19 lockdown. The study was purely qualitative in nature and adopted non probability sampling techniques to identify and select the respondents, while the sample size was relatively small with a total of seventeen study participants and five key respondents while data was collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study presented the general overview of the effects of COVID 19 to the urban poor in the lockdown that is to say, increase in poverty levels, businesses collapsed, people lost life time plans, inflation went above single digit, increase in the cost of living, production lines almost collapsed, loss of loved ones, increase in immorality among people and an increase in Gender Based Violence in livelihoods, the survival strategies employed by the urban poor during the COVID 19 lockdown that is to say, people went to villages, those with big businesses reduced them to small businesses, subsistence farming, provided for the disadvantaged, loans, support from the government, e-tivities, resorted to other means of transportation, reducing of prices especially agricultural produce and barter trade , the enabling factors for the existence of the survival strategies for example government support, accessibility to phones, reduction of taxes, support from families and friends, provision of free health care services, extension of payment of loans, favorable climate, existence of online services, large market of the agricultural produce and the provision of the COVID Cash relief by the government, the constraining factors that hindered the existence of the survival strategies for example, the lockdown, unfair government policies, high interest rates on loans, corruption, extension of the lockdown, early curfew hours, low payments from customers, high prices of data bundles, limited movements as restricted by the government, unfair policies to the boda boda men, limited resources and death of loved ones, the challenges that need immediate response that is to say, high taxes, unstable economy, high interest rates on loans, high transportation costs, corruption, poverty and low health care facilities and the suggestions of how to solve the given challenges that is to say, reducing tax rates, provide funds for small and medium enterprises, provision of low interest rates, reduction of fuel costs, reduction of prices, handle corrupt officials, provide more cash reliefs to those in need, stabilize the economy, and improving the health care facilities. The study also provided summaries and discussion of findings, recommendations at various levels that is to say the urban poor who have to learn how to save, grab opportunities from difficult situations, to get immunized, invest in social capital, be flexible in this dynamic environment, and should put an effort in subsistence farming, their leaders who should extend opportunities to people, sensitize people about the current situation, saving and encouraging xiv them to keep law and order, to the government to reduce taxes, prepare for unexpected circumstances, invest in small businesses, handle corruption, provide more benefits to the vulnerable, stabilize the economy and improve health care facilities and to the University for the supervisors to work on the students in the given time. Conclusively, I have shown the different survival strategies that were employed by the urban poor during the COVID 19 lockdown were different categories of the urban poor were explained, the effects they faced during the lockdown, how they survived including the factors that supported their survival and those that hindered their survival all in respect of the research topic „‟The survival strategies employed by the urban poor during the COVID 19 lockdown in Kampala District‟‟.