An Introduction to the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework

Peter ThorneInternational Livestock Research InstituteSLATE Training for Africa RISING / NBDC

Addis Ababa / Jeldu. 1 - 5 April 2013

A way of thinking about scope, priorities and objectives for development.

Identify the range of assets and options open to households.

By doing so, the constraints faced by and opportunities available to them can be clarified.

Multi-dimensional. Based in householders’ realities

Why Sustainable Livelihoods?

The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework

Human – skills, knowledge, ability to labour and good health that together enable people to pursue different livelihood strategies and achieve their livelihood objectives. At a household level human capital is broadly a factor of the amount and quality of labour available.

Natural – natural resource stocks from which resource flows and services (e.g. nutrient cycling, erosion protection) useful for livelihoods are derived

Financial – financial resources that people use to achieve their livelihood objectives (includes capital and income for the purposes of the livelihoods analysis)

Physical – basic infrastructure and producer goods needed to support livelihoods (roads, shelter, milk collection plants etc.).

Social – the social resources upon which people draw in pursuit of their livelihood objectives. Includes family, other social, commercial networks etc., membership of formal organisations (cooperatives etc.)

What are the Capital Asset Classes?

Livelihoods PentagonsSmall-scale commercial poultry Resource poor subsistence

The Process 1: Identifying Asset Indicators Identify a set of indicators for the communities that

we are working in. Important that these reflect the needs, concerns and

opportunities that affect the community Groups of key informants

The Process 2: Household scoring Combine indicators identified during step 1. Assess each household according to these indicators Weight (importance): 0 to 10 – how relevant is this

indicator to the household when compared with all the other indicators.

Score (impact): -5 to +5 – how much does this indicator contribute to or compromise the household’s livelihood.

Vulnerability – Score future perceptions

What will we get from this?Learn about the different livelihoods assets and indicators within a community and their relative importance.Identify benchmarks that can be used to see where individual households are in relation to their neighboursIdentify groups (types) of household that are sufficiently similar in nature for them to be able to adopt similar sets of interventions.

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