LIVELIHOOD ASSETS BASED SURVIVAL STRATEGIES, A STUDY OF SCAVENGER GROUP IN SUKABUMI CITY

Scavengers have their own survival strategy when they have to deal with crises and vulnerability, in term of change, shock and seasonality. For those who do not have skill and lack of other assets and can not provide themselves a better occupation, scavenging is their last resource to earn money. In some point, people might engage working as a scavenger because of their assets are declining and have no other option to earn money. On the other hand, there are also people who manage to build their assets through scavenging. The objective of this research is to understand the change of livelihood among the vulnerable group and the role of assets in their survival strategies. Therefore, this research is aimed to identify the episode of crisis in poor people�s lives and find out how their changes of assets influence their survival strategy or vice versa. This research was conducted among the group of scavenger in Cikundul Final Dump Site (TPSA Cikundul), Kecamatan Lembursitu, Sukabumi. This research is a qualitiative research which used in depth interview. Respondents were chosen with snowballing method. Serial of events in people life as the interview result were being analysed and mapped out in a life trajectory. The life trajectory tells if people condition is inclining or declining together with the explanation of the causation. The research shows that scavengers in the final dump site have limited livelihood assets. They have low level of nowledge, skill and education. Capacity to work and health condition are likely to deplet along with their age and the amount of responsibilites they have to handle. Most of the respondents have low natural capital. They also have limited financial asset. Their social capital comprise of support from peers and family, network and connection among scavenger peer and neighbours. The survival strategy is very closely linked to the series of events and turning point of one�s life. One event can cause the depleting of assets for example when a family member passed away, financial asset might be depleted due to the absence of the breadwinner. On the same time another asset migh increase. Yet, the change of assets which happen in the range of assets that are very limited, might have pushed people to make dramatic change in their life in order to reduce the impact of shocks, change or seasonality. In brief, the events in people life lead to the change of livelihood assets, which later on can cause both increasing and decreasing of asset, which has been used to reduce the impact of the event or crises. Finally, this research recommends that attention must be given at their human asset, especially education and skill. Enhancing their skill and knowledge is a way to break the poverty and the vulnerability line among this group, which also giving those more chance to access job opportunity