Sustainable Livelihoods (SL)

1
Sustainable Livelihoods (SL)

2
Why all the noise about SL?

• Were getting serious about poverty
• What we have done in the past has not been too
  successful a search for something more effective
• Initially direct impact on the poor
• Later a more analytical understanding
• of the complexity of poverty
• of the factors that affect poverty

3
Defining poverty

• Not just income / GDP
• but human development

Uganda PPA The rich are getting richer and the
poor are getting poorer

• Not just the means to survive
• but the capability to thrive

TIP Think people, not national statistics
4
Not being poor means that
people ...

• can sustain the capabilities, assets, and
  activities required for a means of living,
• have the ability to cope with stresses and
  shocks,
• and can maintain and enhance those capabilities
  and assets
• without undermining the natural resource base

TIP These are the characteristics of
a Livelihood (Chambers Conway, 1992)
5
If we put people at the centre of development, we
need ...

• to be more holistic
• - poor people lead complex lives
• to be dynamic
• - like the threats and opportunities the poor
  face
• to build on their inherent potential
• - rather than what they have not got
• to consider macro-micro links
• - because people are affected by policies
• to mainstream sustainability
• - environmental, economic, social, institutional

6
And in particular ...

• We need to incorporate peoples own definition of
  desirable outcomes

7
The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach is simply
about putting these principles into practice
8
Sounds obvious ?

• But its not what weve been doing

9
What we did before (1)Taken from an analysis
of livestock-sector projects

• Supply of Technology, Inputs Services 93
• often production orientated
• missed the poor
• not targeted towards the poor / inappropriate to
  the needs of the poor
• captured by the wealthy
• could not be sustained
• Move to capacity-building in sector
  organisations instead

10
What we did before (2)

• Organisational Development 49
• equipped people and organisations with the skills
  and resources to do a better job
• but, on the whole, little has changed
• new skills are not used
• the new-look organisation is not financially
  viable
• still tended to be sector-specific and
  supply-driven
• because the rules of the game never really
  changed

11
So we now think about ...

• Policies and Institutions as well 10
• creating the enabling environment for a better
  way of doing things by changing the rules of the
  game
• locally
• nationally
• internationally

12
The SL Framework (1)

• Is simply a tool to help
• plan new development initiatives
• assess the contribution to livelihood
  sustainability made by existing activities
• It
• provides a checklist of issues
• highlights what influences what
• emphasises the multiple interactions that affect
  peoples livelihoods

13
The SL Framework (2)

• Helps us think holistically about
• The things that the poor might be very vulnerable
  to
• The assets and resources that help them thrive
  and survive
• The policies and institutions that impact on
  their livelihoods
• How the poor respond to threats and opportunities
• What sort of outcomes the poor aspire to

14
The SL Framework

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

15
The SL Framework

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

16

• Livelihood Outcomes
• Sustainable use of NR base
• Income
• Well-being
• Reduced vulnerability
• Food security

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

17
Vulnerability Context

• The external environment in which people exist
• Trends - population, resources, economic,
  governance, technology
• Shocks - illness, natural disaster, economic,
  conflict, crop / livestock pests diseases
• Seasons - prices, production, health, employment

18

• Livelihood Outcomes
• Sustainable use of NR base
• Income
• Well-being
• Reduced vulnerability
• Food security

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

19
What are these assets?

• Human capital - skills, knowledge info.,
  ability to work, health
• Natural capital - land, water, wildlife,
  biodiversity, environment
• Financial capital - savings, credit, remittances,
  pensions
• Physical capital - transport, shelter, clean
  water, energy, comms.
• Social capital - networks, groups, trust, access
  to wider institutions

20
Its all about pushing out the area of these
assets
Human Capital
Natural Capital
Social Capital
TIP But its also about the
sustainability of those assets
Physical Capital
Financial Capital
21
With your neighbour(s) ...

• Consider one form H, N, F, P, S of capital
  asset
• Why is this form of capital asset important?
• What could we do to build this form of capital
  asset
• directly
• indirectly

22

• Livelihood Outcomes
• Sustainable use of NR base
• Income
• Well-being
• Reduced vulnerability
• Food security

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

23
Peoples access to livelihood assets is affected
by policies and institutions

• Or transforming structures and processes
• Structures
• organisations, levels of government, private
  sector behaviour
• Processes
• policies, laws, institutional
• rules of the game, incentives

TIP Think micro, think macro, link micro to
macro
24

• Livelihood Outcomes
• Sustainable use of NR base
• Income
• Well-being
• Reduced vulnerability
• Food security

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

25
Livelihood Strategies- what do people do?

• Natural-resource based
• Non-NR / off-farm activities
• Migration / remittances
• Intensification vs. diversification
• Straddling
• Competition
• Short-term vs. long-term

26
Our interventions must recognise that people have
different strategies to achieve different ends

• How important is our concern to peoples
  livelihoods?
• And whose livelihoods in particular?
• What else is important to people, and what
  conflicts might there be?

27

• Livelihood Outcomes
• Sustainable use of NR base
• Income
• Well-being
• Reduced vulnerability
• Food security

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

28
Livelihood Outcomes- what are people seeking to
achieve?

• More sustainable use of the NR base
• More income
• Increased well-being
• Reduced vulnerability
• Improved food security

29

• Livelihood Outcomes
• Sustainable use of NR base
• Income
• Well-being
• Reduced vulnerability
• Food security

• Policies Institutions (Transforming Structures
  Processes)
• Structures
• Government
• Private Sector
• Processes
• Laws
• Policies
• Culture
• Institutions

Livelihood Strategies

• Vulnerability Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons

30
To my mind ...

• Its about seeing development from the shoes of
  the poor, not the shoes of the scientist
• It has major implications for the way we work
• as specialists
• within a country programme
• as a donor agency
• with other donors

31
Not the same as ...

• Integrated Rural Development
• Farming Systems Approaches
• Not incompatible with ...
• Sector-wide approaches
• Rights-based thinking
• Common sense

32
(No Transcript)
33
SL in Practice

• Working up new initiatives
• Reality checks on existing initiatives
• Wheres the big difference?
• Projects Programmes
• Ways of working

34
Wheres the difference?

• Forced to look at context relationships
• Vulnerability (inc. environment)
• Policies Institutions
• Therefore more complicated than before
• but the complexity has to be captured
• horizontal and vertical linkages
• internalising assumptions
• Process, and policy dialogue, implicit

35
Projects Programmes

• Explicitly related to peoples livelihoods
• but not necessarily sitting crossed-legged under
  a tree
• assess short-term livelihood interests against
  long-term environmental interests
• Holistic analysis, but not necessarily an
  holistic project
• balance between what is desirable and what is
  feasible
• entry points sectoral anchors /
  institutional homes
• Longer, wider, process projects, and
  joined-up programmes
• More effective macro-micro linkages

36
Ways of Working

• More information, more analysis, better
  partnerships .... and more time
• Process appraisal - when is a project not a
  project?
• Seize opportunities - esp. with policies
  institutions
• Teams- DFID teams, consultancy teams
• make use of the neutral framework - space for
  everyone
• familiarising sectoral experts
• managing cross-sectoral teams
• synthesing through an SL lens

37
(No Transcript)