The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach: The Importance of Policies, Institutions and Process

Abstract

The sustainable livelihoods approach (SLA) to development as adopted by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) draws strongly from practical experience of project management by organisations such as CARE, Oxfam UK and the UNDP and combines these lessons learnt with the theoretical framework for poverty analysis outlined by Scoones (1998).¹ The subsequent evolution of DFID’s SLA has been dynamic because debate and discussion of its analytical value and experimentation with its application has been encouraged (see, for instance, DFID, 2000). However, there are several key principles that underpin the approach. In respect to implementation and evaluation, for instance, the SLA places a strong emphasis on participation. Many of the field methodologies and approaches developed over the last two decades, such as participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and participatory poverty assessment (PPA), build on the premise that useful and applicable knowledge is best generated and used in partnership. The SLA explicitly draws from the discourse on participation lead by Robert Chambers and the bank of experience in applying these approaches in the field (see for instance Chambers 1997).