What resources are included here?
The documents gathered into this training matrix have been submitted by a variety of development agencies and all have some contribution to make to training for people-centred development with a livelihoods perspective. In order to simplify the search process, the documents have been sorted into three main groupings:

				Self Instruction - these are guidelines and easy-to-follow materials for carrying out people-centred development, and can be used as part of a training course, as self-help or during development activities
				Workshop Materials – this section includes presentations, background documents and case studies from workshops held by the different agencies in different countries.
				Reference Materials – this is a collection of discussion documents and case studies on interventions which were people-centred with a livelihoods perspective.

It is also hoped that the gathering of these documents will provide a route for networking and information-sharing to promote ‘best practice’ among all actors involved in development.

For information on how this resource was prodeced see: About
For contact details for organisations featured see: Contributors

Defining the terms

Such interventions should have an impact on improving the livelihoods and assets base of vulnerable people who are susceptible to livelihoods collapse, food insecurity and agricultural crises, through reducing their vulnerability, enhancing their resilience, increasing diversity of livelihoods sources, and have good indicators of sustainability. In other words, they should have a livelihoods focus.

What do we mean by people-centred development with a livelihoods perspective (PCD-L)?

People-centred development has a variety of aspects and is developed in different ways and under different names by a range of development agencies. In the case of this collection, we are taking “people-centred development with a livelihoods perspective” as referring to development approaches and interventions which contain the following key characteristics:

Development activities are holistic in that there is recognition of the existence of a variety of strategies in the livelihoods of the poor and marginalised. As such, we must identify these strategies, how they relate to one another and what the constraints and opportunities are in regard to utilising them to their full potential.

Development interventions themselves must be multi-disciplinary, to include a range of sectors and activities.

There is an emphasis on community involvement in all the stages of the project cycle, from diagnosis to monitoring and evaluation. The case studies included in this collection reflect local participation in the different stages. Genuine community participation reflects the growing awareness that communities and local people are not simply passive recipients of development interventions, but that they have a central role to play in such processes.

The involvement of the community means that a conscious effort must be made to ensure that elite groups within the community do not drown out the voices of marginalised and poor households. This can be linked to decentralisation processes that have become popular in recent years, and this is reflected in some of the discussion documents and others in the matrix.

Central to the active participation of local people is capacity building for genuine participation. The real participation of people and communities means there is likely to be a need for a change in the working systems of many agencies, including community groups, local-level government institutions, central government and line departments, development agencies, NGOs and other actors involved in development processes. Building capacity in these groups will facilitate the necessary changes in attitude and working methods to ensure that the priorities and needs of local people are central to any intervention.

Within PCD-L interventions, there is recognition of the vulnerability that is a key feature in the livelihoods of the poor and marginalised. The poorest groups tend to be vulnerable to shocks, trends and other stresses, such as climate change, disease, the outbreak of conflict and so on. Their capacity to deal with such stresses is limited and can often reinforce their vulnerability. The materials included here deal with the vulnerability inherent in the livelihoods of these groups.

There should be a systems approach to problem solving. By this we mean that society is regarded as being made up of multi-level, holistic and inter-related systems. This is a formal recognition of that interventions occur at multiple levels, involving a range of actors, linked in different power relationships, and that these relationships must be taken into account in any intervention.

There is an emphasis on the sustainability of development activities. This can be achieved through the cooption of local NGOs, community organisations, government services and other stakeholders. The sustainability of livelihoods is also key, in that there is some degree in which interventions focus on ensuring the sustainability of:
 The environment – ensuring the future productivity of natural resources;
 The economy – reaching a baseline of economic wealth and maintaining it in the long-term;
 Society – through the reduction of social exclusion and inequality;
 Institutions – ensuring their ability to carry out their duties for the benefit of all actors in the long-term.

Sustainability is key to all the materials in this collection, with the aim being to ensure that the direct intervention of the agency is not needed in the long-term. All of these documents incorporate some or all of the characteristics outlined above.