Livelihoods

Interventions

Module 16 Nov 20, 2020 11

 Learning objectives
• Be familiar with the different options of
livelihood interventions
• Understand their main objectives
• Be aware of advantages, disadvantages and
criteria for implementation of livelihood
interventions
• Understand the various contexts for
livelihood interventions

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Understanding livelihoods is critical to
understanding nutrition in emergencies
as it is through livelihoods that people
obtain food and income security.

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 Livelihoods and emergency programming

• In emergencies, livelihood support programmes

include any intervention that protects people’s
capabilities and assets, and supports livelihood
activities

• These programmes can be undertaken to prevent or

mitigate* the impact of a crisis or in response to a
crisis

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 Would these fishermen benefit more
from food aid or support to repair their
boat?

Impact of a
tsunami

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Would these farmers benefit more from
food assistance or logistic support to get
their produce to markets?

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 Undernutrition

Immediate Inadequate food

Disease
causes intake

Household Poor social Poor

Underlying food and care Public
causes insecurity practices Health

Formal and informal infrastructure/

Basic causes
political ideology/resources

Source: UNICEF conceptual framework Nov 20, 2020 9

 Planning and Designing Interventions that
Support Livelihoods in emergencies
Interventions to support livelihoods can have
3 objectives:
– Livelihood Provision, the supply of basic
immediate needs
– Livelihood Protection, preventing the sale of
assets or the recovery of lost assets
– Livelihood Promotion, strengthening
institutions, skills and advocating for policy
change that supports livelihoods

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Interventions can be divided into 4 main groups:
– (Food assistance (GFD))
– Income and employment (Food for work, Cash for
work, Cash grants, micro-finance, income
generating activities)
– Production support (crop production support,
livestock support, fishing support)
– Market support (commodity vouchers, cash
vouchers, monetization and subsidized sales,
market infrastructure and access, de-stocking)

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 Hand-out
Overview of different
livelihood support
interventions in
emergencies and
criteria/condition for
decision-making on
interventions to
address food crises

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Interventions can be divided into 4 main groups:
– (Food assistance (GFD))
– Income and employment (Food for work, Cash for
work, Cash grants, micro-finance, income
generating activities)
– Production support (crop production support,
livestock support, fishing support)
– Market support (commodity vouchers, cash
vouchers, monetization and subsidized sales,
market infrastructure and access, de-stocking)

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 Implementing interventions to support Livelihoods:
Food assistance interventions
• Food assistance is organized to:
– Maintain or improve nutritional status, hence enabling a
healthy active life
– Reduce the need for people to sell off assets to obtain
food
– Release income that would otherwise have been spent
on food
– Enable the payment of credit or debt i.e. supports
important coping strategies
• Some risks are to be considered, such as the impact
on market, people dependency, competition with
other aid interventions, etc.

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 Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods:
Income & Employment

• Cash approaches are increasingly being used

- when sufficient food (or other goods) is available and
accessible on markets
- when no risk of increasing inflation exists; and
- when conditions are respected for safe and effective cash
transfer.

• Types of interventions are cash

grants, cash vouchers, cash for work.

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 Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods:
Market support
• The aim of market support programmes in emergencies is
generally to ensure that people’s access to basic goods is
maintained.

• Market support interventions can take many forms:

– cash and voucher programmes
– programmes that support market infrastructure, the maintenance
of food prices in markets (e.g. through the provision of subsidized
foods) and the producers’ access to markets locally, nationally and
internationally.

• Such programmes require adequate market analysis.

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 Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods:
Production support
• It can take many forms such as support of livestock,
crop production and fishing interventions
• The main types of interventions are:
– Seeds and Tools
– Seeds fair
– Livestock programmes
– Livestock marketing support
– De-stocking
– Fodder distribution
– Veterinary and animal health support
– Re-stocking

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How would you monitor and evaluate
Livelihoods Interventions?

And….. Is it different from other interventions?

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 How to decide which intervention is appropriate?
Selection based on the need, the context, the advantages and
disadvantages of each intervention. Example:
Common
Type of
Criteria/condition emergency Advantages Disadvantages
intervention
context
•Food insecurity due to Recovery stage or •Re-establishes •Requires knowledge
reduction or loss in crop protracted crop production of local seeds and
production emergencies •Strengthens agriculture.
•Affected households lacking (Note: but agricultural
seeds and tools planning needs to systems in longer •Imported seeds may
•Lack of seeds/tools limits start during term not be used.
Seeds and tools production
emergency!!!!) •Increases self-
•Local knowledge available sufficiency
on the use
•Sufficient food accessible
(otherwise seeds might be
eaten)

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 Monitoring and evaluation of livelihoods interventions

 Did the intended recipients receive the seeds?

Key questions for  Did the recipients receive the correct amounts of seeds
 Was the distribution done on time?
monitoring process (how  Were the recipients and other stakeholders satisfied with
was the transfer the process and method of implementation?
delivered?)  What other assistance are recipients receiving?
 Types of recipient?

 What was the average yield of the seed distributed?

 How have sources of food and income changed?
Key questions for  How have coping strategies changed?
monitoring impact (what  How much has income and expenditure changed since
change has there been for the seed distribution programme?
 Have there been any changes in consumption patterns?
the recipient?)  Would recipients have preferred another form of
assistance?

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Are all livelihood interventions
appropriate for each context?
For example:
- in relief?
- in pro-tracted crisis?
- as part of disaster preparedness?
- in rehabilitation/early recovery
phase?

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 Issues and challenges for livelihoods programming in emergencies (1)

Examples of different interventions dependent on the context

(disaster management cycle)

  Mitigation/pre
Relief Rehabilitation Development
paredness
Asset/income Vouchers and Microfinance; Contingency
transfers or fairs; Training in business stocks;
expenditure Cash-for-work; management; Linking social
reduction; Food-for-work; Organizing small-scale welfare to
Income Food aid; Asset recovery producers; emergency
generation Cash grants; (seeds and tools, Lobbying for a more response;
and vouchers; livestock, supportive market Insurance to, e.g.,
markets Cash-for-work; equipment); environment; cereal/fodder
Food-for-work; Microfinance Social welfare banks;
Seed   programmes; Early warning
distribution Diversification systems
opportunities

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 Issues and challenges for livelihoods programming in emergencies (2)

• Working in conflict makes it very necessary for

livelihood interventions to be linked with
protection ones.
• Mainstreaming HIV and AIDS in livelihood
interventions because of the deep prolonged
impact of the disease on livelihoods.
• Can livelihood interventions improve
nutrition?

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Can livelihood interventions improve nutrition?

• Improvement of nutritional status cannot necessarily be attributed to the

livelihood intervention.

• Because there is a complex pathway between that intervention and

nutritional status (with many factors that can change the nutritional status)

• But……at best there might be a plausible causal association, e.g. it might be

possible that a livelihood intervention leads to increased income leading to
improved consumption patterns.

• As long indicators on each level are not measured, it will be difficult to

defend this ‘causal’ relationship.

• BUT…..livelihood interventions do not need to have nutritional objectives to

be still useful and supportive to families/communities in emergencies.

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Many opportunities, often not used

Your experiences?

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 Key messages
• Understanding livelihoods is critical to understanding how an
emergency will affect nutrition.
• Organisations are increasingly programming to support
livelihoods during emergencies.
• A wide variety of interventions can be implemented in support
of livelihoods during emergencies including:
– Food aid (general food distribution, food for work)
– Income and employment (cash distribution, cash for work, micro-
finance)
– Market support (vouchers, monetization and de-stocking)
– Production support (agricultural, livestock and fishing)
• The choice of the most appropriate livelihood intervention
depends on the pros and cons, the context (relief,
rehabilitation, development. mitigation/preparedness),
preferences of the communities, etc.

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