Social Capital and Slum Communities: How to Fulfill Their Basic Needs in Palembang City during The Covid-19 Pandemic

The problem of slum settlements is still a major problem faced in Indonesia and other developing countries. One of the triggers for the emergence of slum settlements is due to the high rate of population growth, both through the birth process and the urbanization process. This study discusses the social capital of the people of the slum area of Palembang City in fulfilling basic needs, precisely in the 12 Ulu Village Area, Palembang City during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive method. Sampling used a purposive sampling method with data collection using observation techniques and in-depth interviews. The study’s findings indicate that (1) a high level of social capital as measured by networks, norms, and beliefs enables slum communities to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) the slum area communities’ strategy for survival is to utilize yard land, home industries, social gathering, recitation, and mutual cooperation. There are several policy implications from this research: (1) Strengthen social capital, (2) Enhance community engagement, (3) Targeted support for vulnerable groups, (4) Ensure food security and (5) Strengthen social safety nets.


INTRODUCTION
Over one billion people live in informal housing worldwide (Gilbert, 2016;Ren, 2018), and while some progress toward improving their lives, slum reforms have lagged behind the expanding numbers of urban poor (Mayne, 2017;Dovey et al., 2021).
Poverty is concentrated in urban areas throughout the Global South (Broto et al., 2017;Rigolon et al., 2018), and this is due to a combination of economic and demographic factors (Brady et al., 2016;Cruz & Ahmed, 2018). Several macro-economic models in emerging nations imply that public spending on public infrastructure and services are reducing, which has had a negative impact on the urban poor in these countries (Edriss & Chiunda, 2017;Omar & Inaba, 2020).
Not only has the pandemic triggered a public health crisis, but the essential steps to restrict the virus's spread have resulted in significant economic, social, and educational issues as a result of the virus's spreading (Tabish, 2020; Barlow et al., 2021). The impacts of the epidemic have been unevenly distributed across economies and communities (Bambra et al., 2020;Blundell et al., 2020).
The fast spread of the new coronavirus illness  around the world is a significant challenge for development practitioners owing to the negative impact it has on socio-economic development (Karunathilake, 2021;Rasul et al., 2021) It has finally led in the creation of global uncertainty (Naeem, 2020;Ciravegna & Michailova, 2022), which has prompted the need for practical and inventive strategies to aid in the management of the disease's spreading (Abdullahi et al., 2020) and the mitigation of its negative consequences (Douglas et al., 2020).
Palembang demonstrates its potential in terms of comparatively favorable urban development prospects Papargyropoulou et al., 2015), the potential for urban resources including public infrastructure and human capital (Trotier, 2022), as well as more sophisticated technology breakthroughs (Hairi, 2020;Saputra et al., 2020).
An effect on slum area due to covid-19 pandemic made suffering people in 12 Ulu Village so the social capital in this area would be interesting to knowing deeper. Since the late 1980s, social capital has gained significant importance among scholars, claiming a prominent position in the social sciences (Vilar & Cartes, 2016;Burt, 2017;Wiltshire & Stevinson, 2018). It refers to a collection of characteristics that are inherent in trusting and cooperating social interactions (Mpanje et al., 2018;Obaitor et al., 2021). The breadth of this definition enables us to use the phrase in place of "civic virtue, social cohesiveness, social solidarity, capacity for collective action, or any other characteristic of a morally valued society" (Vilar & Cartes, 2016;Mitra et al., 2017).
The empirical data for this research were gathered through the use of qualitative methodologies (Gerring, 2017;Collins & Stockton, 2018). The recruitment of informants is done using purposive sampling (Etikan et al., 2016;Lenaini, 2021)  In-depth interviews (Showkat & Parveen, 2017) were conducted with a number of informants who were experiencing difficulties at work as a result of the effect of the COVID-19 epidemic on Slum area. Face-to-face in-depth interviews with informants were carried out with the use of an interview guide that had been established in advance in relation to the means of subsistence utilized by the population living in the slum area as a result of Covid-19. Another study related to our fi nding is also similar, like in Kathmandu, Nepal, (Elsey et al., 2016) where poor ventilation and cooking on open fi res in the kitchen cause respiratory problems. Likewise, Nampula, Mozambique, which has been studied by (Momade & Hainin, 2018), shows the same health problems.

Job Condition in Slum Community
Our observations reveal that during the COVID-19 epidemic, the people of 12 Ulu Village saw a sea change in their lifestyle.
Beginning with job loss and lower income.
A low income does not preclude many local people from complaining about the epidemic, particularly the expenditures on everyday necessities and living expenses such as school children and other family expenses.
Research by Izzudin & Risyanto (2013) in Surabaya also shows that there is a link between low income and slum dwellers. Mumbai, India, also shows that they spend their money on schoolchildren. In addition, Uddin & Firoj (2013) research also explains that slum residents, who are generally migrants from villages, are very vulnerable to losing their jobs.    According to Redclift (1993)

Research Policy Implication
Several policy implications can be derived to resolve the diffi culties that shanty communities faced during the pandemic.