These are the following: The more assets any household has access to, the less vulnerable they will be to negative effects of the trends and shocks as described above, or to seasonality, and the more secure their livelihood will be. Basically the CARE's livelihoods framework shares key aspects in common with DFID's SLF, while also including elements of the Basic Needs Approach (see GLOPP lesson "Development Theories") as targets for livelihood outcomes. DFID aims to understand livelihood strategies as part of its overall framework but in principle focuses its actual development activity on either assets themselves or on structures and processes (the idea being that this will maximize people's opportunities over the long term). It was developed over a period of several months by the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Advisory Committee, building on earlier work by the Institute of Development Studies (amongst others). You might, therefore, find it helpful to ‘test’ the livelihoods framework by trying to assess your own personal situation. The sustainable livelihood framework appreciates the contexts and relationships that exist and thus influence and shape communities and households. The sustainable livelihoods framework helps to organize the factors that constrain or enhance livelihood op-portunities and shows how they relate to one another. production, income and exchange activities that result from them. DFID Livelihoods Advisory positions are regularly advertised and only individuals who have met the required professional standards through accreditation at the appropriate grade are eligibletoapply. improve livelihoods. Analysing livelihood strategies aims Sometimes, however, one form of capital decreases as another increases. livelihoods, both in rural and urban areas. The call for emphasis on sustainable livelihoods was This includes trends (such as national or international economic trends, changes in available technology, political systems), shocks (such as illness or death, conflict, weather), and seasonality (of prices, production cycles and so on). The framework … actors. In so doing, there is a realisation that production and income • The framework considers five types of capital - the “asset pentagon”- and how these DFID Department for International Development DiNER Diversity in Nutrition and Enhanced Resilience ... Assets as defined by the CRS Integral Human Development framework “A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a … Among others, the Department for International Development (DfID), of UK, the UN system including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and national governments have actively used the SLF since the The sustainable livelihoods framework has also been criticised for failing to take power dynamics into consideration, as it relates to gender, for example. Wider economic conditions can create more or fewer opportunities; an illness in the family can deprive a family of an important source of income and can force them to sell important assets that they have built up. The holistic framework which has been developed by DFID is intended to: • Define the scope of and provide the analytic basis for livelihood analysis • Help those concerned with supporting SRL to understand and manage the complexity of themselves. livelihoods. basic needs and broader social and psychological senses of a common with DFID's SLF, while also including elements of the Basic Needs Approach (see GLOPP lesson Two recent DFID evidence and to build up assets to withstand and recover from shocks and security status of households requires monitoring of the consumption "Development Theories") as targets for livelihood outcomes. The Sustainable Livelihood Framework (DFID) The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF – below), developed by DFID, focuses on the strengths and assets that people own to ensure their food security and livelihoods. status and asset levels of household members (Drinkwater et al. household and community in a specific perspective. The sustainable livelihoods framework in 3.1.1 is an effort to conceptualise livelihoods in a holistic way, capturing the many complexities of livelihoods, and the constraints and opportunities that they are subjected to. Yet is that it lays greater emphasis on the household. The Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) to development intervention has been in vogue since the late 1990s and formed a central concept of the UK‟s Department for International Development‟s (DFID) strategy during the early years of the New Labour government in the UK. The vulnerability context is important because the three factors have a direct impact on the possibilities that poor people have to earn a living now and in the future. livelihood.". of welfare for the weakest groups of society (Elliott 2002). go hand in hand with an increase in absolute and relative poverty. These constraints and opportunities are shaped by numerous factors, ranging from global or national level trends and structures over which individuals have no control, and may not even be aware of, to more local norms and institutions and, finally, the assets to which the households or individual has direct access. Seasonal shifts in prices, production and employment opportunities are one of the most enduring sources of hardship for poor people all over the world. their ability to claim from relatives, the state or other They also often involve hierarchical and coercive relationships that limit options for those at the lower levels, and even when relationships are more horizontal than vertical, the obligations that reciprocal relationships involve can be onerous. 4.5 Livelihood strategies – how do the rural poor make a living? Each of DFID’sadvisory cadres have a technical competency framework (TCF) that sets out the These are represented by five key types of assets that households can draw from to achieve positive livelihood outcomes. society of which they are part. What do you ‘have’, that has enabled you to get to your present status, and that will most likely enable you to progress further, by whatever measures you assess progress? lead a life that is fundamentally secure in respect both of the a. DFID adapts a … DFID sustainable livelihoods guidance sheets Author: DFID Year: 1999 Resource type: Official. The BNA gained momentum in the mid 1970s and had poverty They require food, shelter, clothing, access to medical facilities, the ability to The livelihood assets, direct approach was required to deliver welfare outcomes. The Household Livelihood Security (HLS) approach has become the basic framework for CARE’s programme analysis, design, monitoring and evaluation. • a policy and institutional environment that supports multiple livelihood strategies and promotes equitable access to competitive markets for all. Comparing agencies All three agencies use the SL approach as a strategy towards poverty 1999) Thus, CARE's emphasis is on household livelihood security (De Haan et al. The question arises whether or not livelihood frameworks can be used The framework shows how, in different contexts, sustainable livelihoods are achieved through access to a range of livelihood resources (natural, economic, human and social capitals) which are combined in the pursuit of different livelihood strategies (agricultural intensification or extensification, livelihood diversification and migration). 18 ... DFID-SEA Department for International Development – Southeast Asia FUNCINPEC The National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Co- ... University of Hull established the broad framework for the study. CARE's model focuses The livelihoods framework is a tool to improve our understanding of livelihoods, particularly the livelihoods of the poor. All of these can change both the vulnerability context and the assets to which poor people have access. alternative visualisation of the CARE livelihood framework used to Are there structures and processes that have helped or hindered your progress so far? stresses." The frameworks have come under two very different kinds of criticism. outcome status for different areas of livelihood • a policy and institutional environment that supports multiple livelihood strategies and promotes equitable access to competitive markets for all. These objectives relate directly to the livelihoods framework; they will be explored in greater detail in Section 2 of the Guidance Sheets. participatory methodology and adapting DFID's sustainable livelihoods framework, the research will identify how AIDS-affected young people are incorporated into (or excluded from) current household livelihood strategies, the processes and practices that shape their access to livelihood opportunities, now and in the future, and how they make decisions about livelihoods. Are there trends that you have benefited from? The context can be seen as structures that Both frameworks are people-centred. It is very important to keep in mind that the wider environment affects not only the assets to which people have access, but also what can be achieved with those assets. This framework builds on a previous DFID agriculture policy paper published in 2005 and responds to changes in the global context as well as new DFID priorities. All of the criticisms and limitations of the sustainable livelihoods approach outlined above are certainly valid. modernisation and as a break with past development theory. activities are only a means to improve livelihoods and not an end in Sustainable Livelihoods Framework “A livelihood comprises the assets (Natural, Physical, Human, Financial and Social Capital), the activities ... 2.2 The UK’s Department for International Development - DFID In defining resilience, DFID focuses on disaster ... DFID Elements of Resilience Framework (DFID 2011) 6. It does not offer definitive answers and guidelines. The SLF was integrated in its program for development cooperation in 1997. Inevitably, when used in practice it is unwieldy and certain elements will be highlighted more than others depending on the interests of the users. They require access to productive resources Figure 1: Sustainable livelihoods framework . By the end of the 1960s, it was widely agreed that the A contextual analysis The vulnerability context in 3.1.1 refers to the external environment in which people live. Livelihoods are generally associated with rural livelihoods. CARE seeks to understand the The sustainable livelihoods approach is no more than an attempt to provide a tool which is ‘useful to think with’. Sometimes one outcome can negatively affect another; for example, when poor people engage in less risky, and hence lower income activities, in order to be less vulnerable to shocks. the livelihoods approach. Department for International Development (DFID). A central notion is that different households have differ-ent access livelihood assets, which the sustainable livelihood approach aims to expand. In particular, social capital has often been seen as simply 'a good thing' whereas, in reality, social networks can be both inclusive and exclusive, with often the weakest and most vulnerable excluded. The approach attempts to summarise in a single set of diagrams and connected terms the extremely complex and diverse reasons for poverty and the possibilities for addressing it. The very fact that you are studying this programme suggests that you are more fortunate than most people in your country, or in the world as a whole, or at least that you are not poor. and stress factors affecting livelihoods on the other. In the 1997 White Paper on international development, DFID made the ‘sustainable livelihoods approach’ (or SLA), a core principle of its strategy for pro-poor policy making. As we discussed earlier, poor people are usually obliged to combine a range of strategies in order simply to survive; individuals may engage in multiple activities, and the different members of a household may live and work in different places. Again, while such dynamics are included in the framework, in practice, they have been neglected. These issues are of course captured in the wider sustainable livelihoods framework, within the transforming structures and processes and the 'vulnerability context' but, in practice, many people have used the idea of the five capitals more than they have the linkages between those and the wider environment in which people live. Under the Basic Needs Approach, development was redefined as a that remains unchanged: people themselves. For rural people, agriculture and other natural resource-based activities may play an important role, but rural households also diversify into other activities, some of which are linked to agriculture and the natural resources sector, others which are not. As a whole, this set of Guidance Sheets attempts to summarise and share emerging thinking on the sustainable livelihoods approach. resources; infrastructure; economic, cultural and political environment) De Haan (2002) Rather than understanding poverty as simply a lack of income, the sustainable livelihoods approach considers the assets that poor people need in order to sustain an adequate income to live. CARE makes use of various figures to support the application of aims to produce an understanding of the key contextual factors (natural commonly used and ‘conceptually sophisticated’ (according to Pain and Lautze, 2002) is DFID’s Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) which continues to prove influential today (see Figure 1). 3.1 The sustainable livelihoods framework. Open the PDF file in the right-hand column and take a look at an the theory of structuration. income and other resources to enable households to meet basic needs to understand the typical levels of human, social, economic and natural answers this question in the following manner: "Living in an urban environment is (socially, politically, intellectually and spiritually), in the support consumption needs. agency (livelihood strategies). A livelihood framework is a tool that can be used to improve our understanding of the multiple components and processes that make up livelihood – particularly the livelihood of the poor. The framework shows how, in different contexts, sustainable livelihoods are achieved through access to a range of livelihood resources (natural, economic, human and social capitals) which are combined in the pursuit of different livelihood strategies (agricultural intensification or extensification, livelihood diversification and migration). 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