Sustainable Livelihoods Relevance of the Research

Gaining access to the assets needed to create a sustainable livelihood depends on policy measures (at the local and national level), institutions (formal and informal organisations, customary rules such as resource tenure and legislation) and processes (the dynamic relations between these) (see SL Guidance Sheets 2.4). These operate at all levels, from the household to the international, and in public and private spheres. They determine:

• access (to social, physical, financial, natural and human capital, to livelihood strategies and to decision-making bodies and sources of influence) (see SL Guidance Sheets 2.3)
• the terms of exchange between different types of capital;
• and the returns to a given livelihood strategy.

Policy, institutions and processes are key determinants of livelihood outcomes. The work presented here illuminates and unpacks some aspects the "black box" of structures and processes in the livelihoods framework, providing concrete examples of how these operate to help or hinder the improvement of rural livelihoods, particularly with regard to agricultural production.

The case studies of the role of civil society organisations in general, and farmers’ organisations in particular, in developing and disseminating agricultural technologies and providing agricultural services to farmers, shows the importance of policy and institutions to livelihoods. These farmers’ organisations are defined here as groups of rural producers coming together to found organisations, based on the principle of free membership, to pursue specific common interests of their members – developing technical and economic activities that benefit their members and maintaining relations with partners operating in their economic and institutional environment .Farmers’ organisations and civil society organisations are clearly key in shaping livelihood opportunities and outcomes. Legislation on freedom of association and the State’s legal recognition of farmers’ organisations are also shown to be key factors affecting people’s livelihood opportunities.

This research was based on the premise that it is useful to compare diverse case studies of farmers’ organisations in order to identify factors that contribute to an increased downward accountability of service providers in specific contexts. The comparison of case studies across contexts and countries contributes to the unpacking of the policy, institutions and processes elements of the sustainable livelihoods (SL) approach, providing some answers to the question of why farmers’ organisations are successful in achieving downward accountability in certain settings and not in others (see section 4 and section 5). The study assessed of the role of the political context, history, legislative and economic reform in the process - elements not explicit in the SL framework, but of key importance in shaping livelihood outcomes (see section 6).

[see definition of upward and downward accountability and discussion in section 2]

Further principles implicit in the SL approach guided this research:

• triangulation of different data sources (secondary literature review, key informant interviews, participatory research methods with farmers, observation…);
• the central importance of designing and supporting policies and institutions that fit with rural people’s diverse context-dependent livelihood strategies.

Eight main issues or lessons for the policy, institutions and processes aspects of the SL approach emerge from these case studies [see section 7].