Security and Vulnerability in Livelihood Systems

Abstract

This chapter sets out the conceptual framework for the analysis of the data presented in this book. Five concepts are used in its construction:

• 1. livelihood systems and security within them, encompassing a broader range of factors than household food systems and security to explain how and why producers pursue particular mixes of strategies to confront food insecurity;

• 2. entitlements to explain different sources of food and the range of calls on them within households and livelihood systems;

• 3. vulnerability to explain the nature and intensity of food and livelihood insecurity;

• 4. resilience and sensitivity, useful in analysing changes in levels and intensity of vulnerability to food insecurity within different Sahelian livelihood systems;

• 5. livelihood-system diversity to account for variation in the nature and intensity of vulnerability, depending on the different ways in which people acquire access to food.