Livelihoods Approaches Compared: A Multi-Agency Review of Current Practice
Karim Hussein (2002)
How have Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches (SLAs) been used recently in different organisations? What issues are emerging from these experiences?
This paper explores the key elements of SLAs as they have been used in a variety of development agencies ranging from bilaterals and multilaterals to international NGOs. It finds that SLAs have acquired applications in new sectors and settings; have been adapted to incorporate more explicitly issues of gender, power and markets; and have challenged the sectoral divisions characterising development work.
The review identifies several areas where challenges remain, including:
- Practical attempts to address Policy, Institutions and Processes (PIPs) have tended to focus on service delivery: further work is needed on how to address informal institutions, and on how to encourage the private sector to take on pro-poor roles.
- Methods for mapping causal relationships between local (micro) processes and macro level policies need to be further explored.
Implicit recommendations of the review include that:
- SLAs require further institutional change: sectoral division need to be bridged; multidisciplinary skills promoted, and needs-assessment, programmme identification and participatory decision-making require investment.
- To realise these changes, strong support is needed from management, and middle management needs leeway to improvise; support for inter-sectoral thinking must be consistent and backed by mechanisms for sharing ideas and lessons.
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