Picking Up the Pieces: Social Capital, Human Capital and Coping Strategies of Households Displaced by Boko Haram Insurgency in Northeast Nigeria

Abstract

Boko Haram insurgency has precipitated humanitarian tragedy on a scale comparable to the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970) and arguably the worst of any man-made or natural disaster in Nigeria's history. At its peak in 2014, more than 3 million people were displaced. The insurgency has since escalated beyond the Nigerian border to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin (Cameroon, Niger and Chad)- with 2.5 million forcibly displaced. The project places a strong emphasis on the agency of displaced peoples, and how this is developed and expressed at the individual level (human capital) and the communal level (social capital). This project examines the extent to which the displaced and host populations are drawing on social and human capital to withstand, cope with and recover from the adverse experiences and consequences, as well as to rebuild their livelihoods.