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Abstract

Vol. 62, No. 2, pp. 141-152 (2011)

“Distributing Disaster Aid within the Village--Kinship, Mutual Help, and Hierarchy--”
Yoshito Takasaki (Graduate School of Humanity and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba)

Distributing natural disaster aid within villages in developing countries strongly relies on village institution and governance. This paper examines mutual help and hierarchy as self-distribution mechanisms. Using original household survey data gathered in rural Fiji, the paper compares relief/early recovery phases (food aid) and recovery/reconstruction phase (housing construction materials). When aid is distributed as part of informal risk sharing, the validity of targeting performance, but not weak performance, is a primary issue. Social hierarchy leads to elite domination in aid distribution. The paper shows how kinship-based risk sharing and hierarchy interact with each other in distributing disaster aid.