An experimental methodology for studying household financial governance and coping mechanisms in Goma, DRC

This paper examines our experiences designing and implementing an experimental methodology to study households’ socioeconomic coping mechanisms in insecure, unstable, or conflict-affected contexts. Our method combined longitudinal household diaries with social network research to collect data on how 24 households living in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, use their financial and social resources to overcome daily struggles and unexpected shocks like bereavement and theft. Before outlining how the methods complement one another in this study, we overview how each has been employed separately for similar aims. We then turn to the realities of combining them in Goma, reflecting on foreseen and unanticipated challenges and how we addressed them – both successfully and not. Money matters are generally sensitive subjects, and particularly so in such environments. The threads that run through this assessment are those of forging and maintaining trust; translating across languages and cultures; and navigating an insecure and fast-changing environment. To contextualise a discussion of how these factors may have affected the research, data collected, and our conclusions, we provide two vignettes of households that participated in the study. Throughout, we also explore the potential effects of a water provision programme implemented by Mercy Corps that benefited some of the studied households. We conclude with recommendations for those wishing to build upon our method and for development programmes keen to use it to complement their own monitoring, evaluation, and learning.