Overview

Professor Maria Evandrou (PI) with colleagues from the Centre for Research on Ageing (Dr Gloria Langat, Dr Isabella Aboderin) and the Division of Demography (Prof. Jane Falkingham and Dr Angela Baschieri) received funding from the ESRC in order to explore the resilience of older persons in slums in Nairobi, Kenya. The study sought to better understand resilience among older people in coping with stresses and shocks, and how some people are able to adapt and to emerge with better health and socio-economic outcomes and overall wellbeing relative to other older people in these communities.

The project outcomes have contributed to fostering a deeper understanding of the nature of, and ways to foster the 'resilience' of older slum residents, among policy role players locally. The findings suggest, moreover, that the nature of adversity and resilience among older slum dwellers differs markedly from, or is novel to existing conceptions in the largely Western-focused literature. Taken together, the project findings are expected to advance the scientific and policy debate on later life resilience globally.

This project was funded between October 2012 and July 2015.