Climate change resilience and social capital: Insights from informal urban neighbourhoods in Kumasi, Ghana

This research addresses the pressing need to strengthen climate change resilience of the urban poor living in informal settlements by leveraging social capital - skills and networks. This research builds upon existing works to understand how social skills and networks contribute to building climate resilience in two informal settlements of Kumasi, noted to have diverse and strong community skills and networks. Through a qualitative research approach encompassing household surveys and focus group discussions, we gathered data from residents of Aboabo and Asawase, two of Ghana's largest informal neighbourhoods in Kumasi. We observed a strong presence of social bonding among the residents, characterized by tight-knit networks and reciprocal relationships. This form of social capital played a critical role in facilitating information sharing, resource pooling, and collective action in response to climate hazards. Despite limited government support, residents demonstrated a remarkable capacity for self-organization and community resilience-building, leveraging their social ties and local knowledge to address climate-related risks. However, we identified that the insular nature of these networks may hinder the inclusion of marginalized or vulnerable groups within the community, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities in climate resilience outcomes. These findings highlight the implications of our research for policy and practice, emphasizing the need for inclusive and participatory approaches and multiscalar responses that involve local, national, regional, and global actors to climate resilience in informal settlements.