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Few would deny the importance of the ideals espoused by a
‘sustainable livelihoods approach’ - poverty reduction, reducing
livelihood vulnerability, improving environmental sustainability, and
participatory approaches are all seen as ‘good things’ for
development. But how, in practice, to realise these ideals is a key question.
IDS has embarked on a new research programme funded under DFID Rural
Livelihoods Department's Policy Research Programme. Its guiding hypothesis is
that a sustainable livelihoods approach requires new ways of thinking about
institutional and organisational arrangements for development, as well as new
ways of thinking about policy processes in order for the concerns of the rural
poor to have an influence.
Frequently there is a diverse range of often overlapping and competing
institutional arrangements for development in rural areas. One important
feature in many contexts is new attempts at decentralisation of local
government. These take on a variety of forms and, importantly, interact with a
range of other institutional arrangements influencing access to natural
resources. In some settings, ‘traditional’ authorities, participatory
community based natural resource management programmes, new forms of private
sector intervention and conventional line ministries are all important, with
different priorities, mandates and capacities. Lines of power and authority and
forms of accountability are therefore often highly complex and contested. The
implications of this for how poor people gain access to natural resources and
articulate their demands in policy processes remains unclear.
Through work in southern Africa this research programme will explore the
challenges of institutional, organisational and policy reform around land,
water and wild resources in particular locations. The case study sites are
provisionally Zambezia in Mozambique, the Eastern Cape Wild Coast in South
Africa and the lowveld area of south-east Zimbabwe. The research programme runs
from April 2000 - March 2003 and is being conducted in collaboration with
partners in each southern African country. Three broad themes will be explored
during the research:
- How do poor
people gain access to and control over land, water and wild resources and
through what institutional mechanisms?
- 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?
- 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?
One of the key
aims of the research is to engage with policy actors from the beginning, with
their concerns helping to guide and shape the research throughout. Reactions,
comments and suggestions from DFID Advisers, Programme Officers and
consultants/NGOs working with DFID would be particularly welcome.
For more information, please contact Annette Sinclair at: a.sinclair@ids.ac.uk
Resources from the IDS Environment Team, including recently completed research
on Enhancing Rural Livelihoods can be found at:
http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/env/index.html
Ian Scoones (IDS)
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