A conceptual framework for measuring livelihood resilience: Relocation experience from Aceh, Indonesia

Meeting the global targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Millennium Development Goals requires a resilience paradigm to be embedded in the very fabric of community livelihoods. As livelihood holds the key to rapid recovery following a large-scale disaster, building livelihood resilience is a high priority. Through a survey of five post-2004 Indian Ocean tsunami relocated villages in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, Indonesia, this research developed a framework for measuring livelihood resilience in cases of post-disaster displacement. The framework suggests that the indicators for measuring resilient livelihood fall into four categories: individual livelihood coping ability, individual wellbeing, access to livelihood resources, and socio-physical robustness of the local community. Relocated individuals seemed to perceive the importance of the first two categories higher than the latter, which implies they think proactive self-sufficiency is more important than other external enabling conditions in building their livelihood resilience. This framework can help government agencies and aid organizations to plan for appropriate livelihood support post-disaster and/or prioritize investment in pre-event livelihood preparedness for individuals, so that they can fare better when facing displacement from a disaster. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.