A Mixed Methods Approach to Vulnerability and Quality of Life Assessment of Waste Picking in Urban Nigeria

Quality of life (QoL) studies have become acceptable globally as indicators of how well a people are living. They are increasingly
being used to identify and design areas of intervention to raise the wellbeing of a population. While studies on livelihoods
in the informal waste recycling system of developing country cities have also been on the increase in recent years, assessments
of the QoL expectations within the livelihoods framework in the informal waste recycling sector seem surprisingly few. Studies
of this nature have also not been undertaken in the context of Nigerian socio-political, cultural and economic environment.
Applying qual-dominant mixed methods approach to the livelihood activity of waste picking in the commercial city of Aba in
southeastern Nigeria, this paper identifies predominant social indicators relevant to the Aba scavengers, waste pickers’ perceptions
and QoL expectations, and potential outcomes of meeting the QoL expectations of waste pickers in the area. It also categorizes
pickers’ vulnerabilities into four levels of increasing magnitude. Given that African social dynamics do not always or often
find expression, fully or partially, in figures, the paper stresses the need to apply ethnographic and qualitative research
methods in assessment of QoL and wellbeing in the informal waste recycling system. It further argues that integrating QoL
assessments into public decision-making and social policy in Nigeria will contribute significantly towards meeting some of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) while also engendering sustainable urban livelihood outcomes.