|
Background and use of SL
This project set out to improve livelihood security in urban
slums by protecting and promoting household income and community
resources and assets; by improving hygiene
and childcare practices; and by creating sustainable and effective
institutional support mechanisms. The SL
approach was explicit in the project’s preparation studies,
which included a livelihood security assessment
of urban slum households in the cities of Tongi, Khulna and
Bogra. The subsequent baseline survey produced a vulnerability
context analysis by focusing on security/insecurity
in education, economics, habitat, food, nutrition, health,
environment, social networks. Work was then started through
a range of partner NGOs in Jessore and Tongi.
As
SHAHAR moved into the second phase of the project, expanding
to the cities of Dinajpur and Mymensingh, some adjustments
were made to the project, based on lessons learned in Jessore
and Tongi. In particular, participatory approaches
were prioritised and emphasis was placed on understanding
the community. Tools included the launch of a community survey
to explore the place of the interventions in the community.
The IFPRI team also focused its collaborative work with CARE
on improving understanding of urban livelihoods for strategic
use in programme development. This involved quantitative and
qualitative livelihood surveys in Dinajpur, a medium-size
city of about 200,000 people, that focused on the dynamics
of urban poverty and livelihood security; land rights and
tenure; crime and violence; and the relationship of child
nutrition to women's social status.
At
this stage, SHAHAR also used its assessment of vulnerability
to identify project beneficiaries with more discretion, choosing
a limited number of most vulnerable sites for intervention.
|
