ODG has particular experience in:

• livelihoods research methods at micro and community levels
• applying the livelihoods framework to livelihood diversification
• making micro-macro policy and institutional links, up to PRSPs
• linking livelihoods approaches to natural resource management policies

Frank Ellis led the DFID/PRP funded LADDER research project in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi (www.odg.uea.ac.uk/ladder/). Several downstream activities emerged from the project including work on rural taxation policy in Uganda; vulnerability to famine in Malawi and other southern African countries; and the development of a livelihoods shortcourse suitable for SL training in the UK or in-country. Frank Ellis continues to be interested in developing the micro-macro policy linkages of livelihoods work, as well as in situating the livelihoods approach within the broader arena of rural development.

Janet Seeley, formerly a DFID Social Development Adviser, has been actively involved in the development of DFID funded rural livelihoods projects in India. She has also worked with rural livelihoods projects recently in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal and undertaken research on gender-specific aspects of HIV/AIDS mitigation and rural livelihoods in Africa and South Asia and on migration and SL. She is particularly interested in the practical application of the SL approach, including creating links to health interventions and social protection, and the development of the approach to reach more effectively disadvantaged groups.