Concern’s
mission is to help people living in absolute poverty achieve major improvements
in their lives which last and spread without ongoing support from Concern. Concern
is contributing to poverty reduction through four key organisational programme
areas: - Livelihoods
- Health
- Education
- HIV&AIDS
The
livelihoods programme is currently implemented in 29 countries. The majority of
our interventions focus on the rural poor, but we are also working in urban areas
as well. The
livelihoods programme is guided by Concern's Livelihoods Policy and a comprehensive
programme strategy which incorporates cross-cutting issues such as HIV/AIDS, equality
and social protection. Within this framework, we have identified 5 key strategies:
Strategy
1: Support management of natural resources by poor communities.
We support
poor communities to organise themselves in order to gain access to, and management
of, the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend. Strategy
2: Support food production and processing.
The core outcomes of our livelihood
programmes are those of increased and diversified food production, processing
and storage. Strategy
3: Support better interaction with markets.
The main intervention areas
include microfinance, micro-enterprise, marketing of agricultural produce, vocational
training and road/bridge construction or repair. Strategy
4: Support strengthened and responsive institutions and policies associated with,
for example, land tenure, local services, etc.
Many of our country programmes
are engaging with good governance, decentralisation and policy advocacy related
to sustainable livelihoods. Strategy
5: Support effective emergency mitigation strategies including, for example: disaster
preparedness plans, social safety nets, welfare distribution, etc.
We
support people in extreme poverty to mitigate against and prepare for disasters,
and to influence the factors that reduce the impact of these disasters, including
government provision of social safety nets | 
