Livelihoods Approach to

Development
• There have been several experiments in
development, in our country and other parts of
the world too
• Basically two approaches have been tried : (i)
when the development programme is designed
by State or other agency or individual and
thought to benefit the people in general and
poor in particular and (ii) when people are
helped to design their own development
programme, based on their endowments, skill
set, market demand, factor conditions etc.
• The second one is popularly known as Livelihoods
Approach to Development
• Livelihoods approaches are a way of thinking about
the objectives, scope and priorities for development
• It places people and their priorities at the centre of
development not the programme
• It focuses poverty reduction interventions on
empowering the poor to build on their own
opportunities, supporting their access to assets,
and developing an enabling policy and institutional
environment
 Principles ( DFID Approach)
• People-centred: focusing on poor people’s
priorities, understanding the differences
between groups of people and working with
them in a way that is appropriate to their
current livelihood strategies, social
environment and ability to adapt
• Responsive and participatory: listening and
responding to the livelihoods priorities
identified by poor people themselves
• Multi-level: working at different levels to
reduce poverty- ensuring that micro level
reality informs development of policy and an
effective enabling environment, and macro
level structures support people to build on
their own strengths
• Conducted in partnership: with the public and
private sector
• Sustainable: balancing economic, institutional,
social and environmental sustainability
• Dynamic: recognising the dynamic nature of
livelihood strategies and responding flexibly to
people’s changing situations
• Building on strengths: working to develop
poor people’s strengths - their skills,
knowledge and resources, rather than
focusing solely on their needs
• Holistic: understanding the complex reality of
poor people’s livelihoods rather than taking a
purely technical or sectoral approach
 Conceptual Framework
• Livelihoods approaches are based on a conceptual
framework to aid analysis of the factors affecting peoples’
livelihoods, including:
1. the priorities that people define as their desired livelihood outcomes
2. their access to social, human, physical, financial and natural capital or
assets, and their ability to put these to productive use
3. the different strategies they adopt (and how they use their
assets) in pursuit of their priorities
4. the policies, institutions and processes that shape their access to
assets and opportunities
5. the context in which they live, and factors affecting vulnerability
 to shocks and stresses
 Evolution of Livelihood Concept
• The term 'sustainable livelihood' came to
prominence as a development concept in the
early 1990s, drawing on advances in
understanding of famine and food insecurity
during the 1980s
• Much of the literature takes an adaptation of 
Chambers and Conway’s (1991) definition of
livelihoods [Chambers, R., and G.R. Conway.1991. Sustainable
rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century]
• A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets
(including both material and social resources) and
activities required for a means of living. A livelihood
is sustainable when it can cope with and recover
from stresses and shocks
• CARE, UNDP, Oxfam and IISD were some of the early
adopters of sustainable livelihoods methodologies
• In the late 1990s the sustainable livelihoods
approach gained momentum in the UK’s
Department for International Development (DFID)
with investments in research, workshops and the
publication of guidance sheets and other papers