Dumbuya, B and Nirupama, N (2017) Disasters and long-term economic sustainability: A perspective on Sierra Leone. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 8(1), pp. 58-76. ISSN 1759-5916
Abstract
Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the case of Sierra Leone from the lens of economic impact and underlying causes for concern towards economic sustainability in a post-Ebola recovery phase. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis of literature from various sources, including public and private sectors, non-governmental organisations, multilateral agencies, peer reviewed scholarly articles and media reports was carried out. A total of 77 articles were reviewed. Each document from each source types was then examined for recurring themes that would enhance understanding on the topic addressed here. The NVivo qualitative analysis software was used for coding and extracting of themes from these articles using certain keywords and phrases that relate to the study objectives. Findings: The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone caused impairment of exports and the capacity to raise revenue via taxes due to significant slump in economic activities. The post-conflict strategy to increase foreign investment had kick-started a gradual recovery, but the Ebola crisis threatened further gains. The crisis also highlighted that the country’s economy depended on foreign investment in a single key sector of iron ore for which global prices fell during Ebola significantly. Although socio-economic impacts of Ebola will linger for some time and health system would have to be vitalised, a sense of optimism was found in many documents. Originality/value: The research approach is new and comprehensive in that it looks at post-conflict Sierra Leone in combination with ongoing biophysical and hydrometeorological hazards, and how the Ebola outbreak became completely devastating for the country’s economic sustainability.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ebola; economic sustainability; flooding; foreign aid; hazards; Sierra Leone |
| Index terms: | Sierra Leone, media, foreign investment, economic sustainability, export, non-governmental organization, economic activity, outbreak, recovery, private sector, qualitative analysis, economic impact, documents, impairment, methodology, agency, ebola, foreign aid, revenue, socio-economic impact, flooding, strategy, content analysis |
| Subjects: | professional development, Geography, economic concepts, research methods, management, health risk and incident analysis, financial analysis, political science, environmental hazards, industry analysis, sociology, health conditions and diseases, economic and policy analysis, research design and methodology, economic analysis, data analysis and analytics, operations management |
| Topics: | International Construction, Health and Safety, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Information Management, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Governance, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here