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Policy Research Programme (DFID)-Projects |
| Four major focused
research projects were commissioned which focus upon specific
areas and regions within this broad theme. |
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Making the Link Between Micro and Meso:
learning from experience on community-based planning |
 Background:
A 1998-2000 DFID funded project on "Institutional Support for
Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa" identified that
if livelihoods of poor people are to improve, there is a need to
improve the linkages between activities/actions at the micro level
(community) and at meso level (local government and district service
providers).
This more recent Community-Based Planning (CBP) project, co-ordinated
by Khanya, focused on one aspect of this: community involvement
in the planning process. Unless poor people can influence the resource
allocation system, the ability to promote sustainable livelihoods
for poor people is limited. The planning system is a key mechanism
for resource allocation. Current attempts have usually focused on
ad-hoc, expensive and unreplicable Participatory Rural Appraisals.
The project learnt from best practice about what systems for community-based
planning can be developed and implemented, linked to the local government
planning system, so that poor people can influence resource allocation.
Project
Purpose:
Realistic plans have been developed in each country for policy change,
implementation or piloting of community-based planning systems,
which participating institutions are committed to take forward.
Key Outputs:
- Lessons
shared amongst partners through workshops and in country dissemination
- Implementation
plans developed which reflect learning and are refined by comments
from collaborating partners; and
- National
level funding proposals drawn up and submitted
Approach and Methodology: A participatory action research approach
was adopted with multiple partners and stakeholders to help support
local processes in relation to community-based planning in each
country.
The
partners in each country included key national Government departments,
a local government where improved community based planning systems
was implemented, and an NGO partner, typically involved in the facilitation
process.
The
project learnt from best practice in 4 participating countries (Uganda,
Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ghana), plus 2 visited (Madhya Pradesh
in India, and Bolivia), and as a result proposals will be made for
implementation by participating local governments, with the assistance
of the development facilitators involved; and for policy change
to enable such types of community-based planning to happen.
Key activities included:
- In-country
review processes of the status of community based planning June-July
2001;
- Implementation
of improved CBP mechanisms;
- Cross-country
workshop in South Africa to share learnings August 2001;
- Study
tours to India and Bolivia Sept 2001/Feb 2002;
- Piloting
methodology in South Africa Sept/Oct 2001;
- Final
workshop to share learnings April 2002;
- Implementation
of CBP
Partners:
The project was managed by Khanya-Managing
Rural Change in collaboration with: the Department of
Provisional and Local Government, Mangaung Municipality, and CARESA
(South Africa); Local Government Development Programme, CAREUganda,
Bushenyi District Council, and Project for the Modernisation of
Agriculture (Uganda); Ministry of Local Government, Works and National
Housing, IT Southern Africa, and Gwanda Rural District Council (Zimbabwe);
Ministry of Local Government, ISODEC, Owusu Ansah, District Assembly,
and District Assembly (Ghana); ODI John Farrington (UK).
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Improving Policy-Livelihood Relations in
South Asia |
The "Improving Policy-Livelihood Relationships in South Asia"
research project is being implemented by the Stockholm Environment
Institute at the University of York
in partnership with the International Institute for Environment
and Development (IIED), Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG)
and the University of East Anglia's Overseas Development Group (ODG)
in the UK; and the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS)
and IUCN in Bangladesh; Development Alternatives, the Centre for
Science and the Environment (CSE) and the Centre for Economic and
Social Studies (CESS) in India; the University of Kathmandu and
the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Nepal; and
the Lanka International Forum on Environment, the IUCN and IWMI
in Sri Lanka. The project will run from April 2000 to March 2004.
The
project's goal is to develop
and promote practical policy options to support rural livelihoods
through a range of research, development and advocacy activities.
These will together realise the stated project purpose of developing
and promoting policy reform options to improve access to livelihood
assets and reduce vulnerability of poor rural people. A multidisciplinary
team from the project partners is implementing the project and partnership
is integral to the approach developed for the project. The project
sees policy as a process that operates at a range of levels from
individual households to national institutions. Research findings
indicate that sector policies in natural resources management sectors
such as forestry and water can have positive livelihood benefits
even where these are not specific objectives, but that these benefits
will be limited if effective mechanisms for participation, community
organisation and equity are not included in the implementation process.
In many cases the rights and entitlements enshrined in policies
are not carried through, in part because of resistance from implementing
agencies and in part because of a lack of knowledge on these provisions
amongst implementers. The trajectory of policy development in all
cases is towards more poverty-focused approaches supportive to sustainable
livelihoods development. Policy change is influenced by many forces,
but a combination of political will, a broad constituency of support
from influential actors and support within government agencies is
essential for real innovations to be integrated into policy processes.
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Livelihoods
and Diversification Directions Explored by Research (LADDER): |
The
purpose of this research was to identify and promote policies to
reduce the vulnerability of poor rural people in low income countries.
This purpose was pursued through the theme of policy reform option
to support livelihood diversification in rural areas. The project
is being undertaken in Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, and comprised
three field locations in each country linked to natural resource
management issues as well as the examination of micro-macro economic
and institutional links affecting livelihood diversification in
each country and location.
Main Research Questions:
- linking
from micro up to macro, what are the policy
contexts that enable or disable, encourage or
discourage, livelihood diversification?
- what
are the links, positive and negative, and mediated
by wealth, income, location, gender etc., between
livelihood diversification and NR management policies?
Research Design
- 3
countries: Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi;
- 3
locations: representing different natural resource management
concerns;
- Uganda:
farming, livestock, fishing;
- Tanzania:
farming, small-farm irrigation, wildlife;
- Malawi:
farming, forestry, fishing;
- micro-macro
links: economic;
- micro-macro
links: institutions and processes
The
project is being lead by the Overseas Development
Group at the University of East Anglia. Partners include
in Uganda: Makerere University; in Tanzania: Sokoine University
of Agriculture, Economic and Social Research Foundation, Research
on Poverty Alleviation,Tanzania Development Research Group; and
in Malawi: National Economic Council, CARE Malawi.
The purpose of this research is to identify and promote policies
to reduce the vulnerability of poor rural people in low income countries.
This purpose is pursued through the theme of policy reform option
to support livelihood diversification in rural areas. The project
is being undertaken in Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, and comprises
three field locations in each country linked to natural resource
management issues as well as the examination of micro-macro economic
and institutional links affecting livelihood diversification in
each country and location.
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Sustainable
Livelihoods in Southern Africa: Natural Resources, Governance
and Policy Processes: |
Few would deny the importance of the ideals of the 'sustainable
livelihoods approach' - poverty reduction, reducing livelihood vulnerability,
improving environmental sustainability, and participatory approaches
are all seen as 'good things' for development. How, in practice,
can these ideals be realised? The sustainable livelihoods approach
requires new ways of thinking about institutional and organisational
arrangements for development, as well as understanding how poor
people can gain access to natural resources and influence policy
processes so that their concerns are realised. This research programme
examined the challenges of institutional, organisational and policy
reform around land, water and wild resources in southern Africa.
 One of the
key aims of the research was to engage with policy actors from the
beginning, with their concerns helping to guide and shape the research
throughout. The three year programme started in April 2000 and was
carried out in collaboration with the Overseas Development Institute
(ODI, UK) as well as with partners in each southern African country.
The programme was co-ordinated by the Institute
of Development Studies, Sussex, UK.
Through case
studies in Zambezia (Mozambique), the Eastern Cape Wild Coast (South
Africa) and the lowveld area of south-east Zimbabwe, three broad
themes were explored:
- Livelihoods:
How do poor people gain access to and control over land, water
and wild resources and through what institutional mechanisms?
- Institutions:
How do emerging institutional arrangements in the context of decentralisation
affect poor people's access to land, water and wild resources?
What institutional overlaps, complementarities and conflicts enable
or limit access? What new governance arrangements are required
to encourage a livelihoods approach to decentralised rural development?
- Policy
Processes: How do the livelihood concerns and contexts of
poor people get represented in policy processes concerning land,
water and wild resources in local, national and international
arenas? What are the challenges for participation in the policy
process?
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The
Livelihoods Options Study: |
Around
70% of the populations of South Asia rely on agriculture and renewable
natural resources for a large part of their livelihoods. Historically,
there has been a trend in all countries for people to move from
rural to urban areas, and even within rural areas, to move out of
natural resource-based occupations. Yet, these transitions are neither
simple nor painless: some people are able to climb out of poverty
by specialising in some new full-time occupation, but for many,
the only way forward is to diversify into new, part-time activities,
taking up some and dropping others as circumstances allow. Diversification
is far more widespread and complex than many had thought. But it
is not always a positive 'exit': those denied access to NR may have
to diversify out of desperation, and become caught up in a downward
spiral.
The Livelihood
Options study,running until March 2003, and drawing on evidence
from India, Bangladesh and Nepal, aims to identify how policies
can be changed to support positive exits via diversification, and
how to reduce the impact of negatives.
The project
is being co-ordinated by the Overseas Development
Institute. Partners include in the UK: Institute of Development
Studies, Overseas Development Group, and Reading University; in
India: Sanket, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, BASIX, and
MANAGE; in Bangladesh: Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
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The
Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods Project (IMM) |
The
Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods (SCL) project aims to identify and
promote policy processes which support the development of sustainable
livelihoods for the poor in the coastal communities of South Asia.
It provides an understanding of the factors which contribute to,
or constrain, sustainable livelihoods and it identifies options
for improving the policy processes and structures to create a more
supportive environment for the poor. The SCL Project operated in
India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the period 2000-2003.
The
project focused on understanding the problems that the poor face
in the coast and the problems associated with providing effective
policies to support the poor. The project has also explored a range
of options that aim to help those working in the sector to build
more effective policy processes that can address poverty in coastal
areas.
Partners:
IMM Ltd, Rennes Drive, Devon, UK
Integrated Coastal Management (ICM), INDIA 533 004
FIRM, Andhra Pradesh, India
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