Poverty and inner wellbeing: India and Zambia 2010-2014

The Wellbeing and Poverty Pathways project developed a multi-dimensional model of wellbeing called “Inner Wellbeing” (IWB) which reflects what people think and feel they are able to be and do. The project explored relationships between people's subjective experiences of wellbeing and the external conditions in which they live their lives. Inner wellbeing comprises seven domains: economic confidence; agency and participation; social connections; close relationships; physical and mental health; competence and self-worth; values and meaning. It was constructed through a combination of theoretical reflection and empirical analysis in two rural communities, one in Zambia and one in India.

The main research instrument was a survey which comprised three sections: an opening section
on demographics and health; the central IWB section; and a final section on livelihoods and access to state services. Specifically for the central IWB section, the survey has five questions (or items) for each domain, which are designed to reflect different aspects of that domain. For each question respondents are asked to select one of five graduated answers. These are then scored on a scale from strong negative (1) to weak negative (2) to neutral (3) to weak positive (4) to strong positive wellbeing (5). The questions were extensively grounded and piloted to ensure they captured issues that were important to people’s lives locally.

The studied population came from two rural areas of the Global South: Chiawa in Zambia and four villages in the Sarguja district of the Chhattisgarh state in India. No sample selection was applied. Instead, everyone in the study areas who would talk to us was interviewed.

Chiawa is a Game Management Area (GMA), located in Kafue district, Lusaka province. To the south east it borders Zimbabwe and to the east the Lower Zambezi National Park. The majority population is Goba, a people-group that originated in what is now Zimbabwe.

The research in India focused on four villages located in the historically remote hill and forest regions of northern Chhattisgarh. These villages were selected because they presented a range of contrasts. The communities there are extremely poor and people depend on (largely rainfed) farming, daily labour and gathering non-timber forest products to survive. Reflecting the area’s population as a whole, the majority of respondents (84%) are Adivasi, including Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PTG), with smaller numbers of Other Backward Caste (OBC) (15%) and Scheduled Caste (1%) people.

The Data Collection is available for download to users registered with the UK Data Service.