Jason Wolfe (USAID) and Radha Rajkotia (IRC) are researching and writing an “open paper” aimed at outlining how the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and the Value Chain Approach can be used to improve the lives of youth affected by conflict. The open paper approach welcomes community input and feedback throughout the writing process – click here for more information. This post outlines the goals and structure of the paper.

Having decided to write about how sustainable livelihoods approaches and value chain approaches can be integrated for youth in conflict, we are left with a tough and intimidating question - how can sustainable livelihoods approaches and value chains be integrated for youth in conflict? In our discussions about this issue we have thought about the relative merits of each of the approaches individually, and debated whether integration of the two approaches should even be our goal if our ultimate aim is to better serve the economic needs of youth in conflict.

In the end, it seems that the best way to sort through this conundrum is to roll up our sleeves and muddle through it. As we said in our initial posting, we are hoping that the process of writing this paper by engaging with colleagues and interested onlookers will help contribute to a collective resolution of these difficult issues. We want to have voices of the youth development workers and the die-hard economists coming together, if not to make harmony, then at least to make for a productive discussion.

So, below you will find the outline of the paper. It is a basic structure, but one that we hope will allow us to delve into the thick of the issues that we are trying to understand. What is hugely important to us is that we don’t duplicate existing efforts, but instead connect the dots between disparate writing that has already been produced. We want to be thorough and we want to be critical. We want to be able to question what we think we know and also hold our hands up about what we don’t. We want to avoid jargon, but also be thoughtful about the meanings that we commonly attach to the words that we use. Most of all though, we want to move our thinking forward so that we can design and implement better programs and really move towards our development goals.

As always, we welcome comment and response from you and will be happy to hear if you have opinions on this endeavor or suggestions on how to approach it. We also welcome suggestions on existing resources that will help inform this writing project, so please feel free to share them with us.

- Radha & Jason

Open Paper Outline

Section 1: Introduction
This section will serve as the foundation for the paper, providing an overview of each of the development approaches, an historical perspective on their application and an overview of where they sit in relation to other prominent economic strengthening approaches. Given that this is the first section of the paper, it is likely that amendments will be made to it once all of the sections have been completed.

Section 2: What do we know about economic strengthening initiatives for youth in conflict-affected settings?
This section will draw out defining characteristics of both youth and conflict-affected environments so that we can look at generally recognized truths and frequent assumptions or unproven hypotheses as they relate to economic strengthening initiatives. We will look at common development objectives for economic strengthening programs for youth in conflict and will set the objectives that we will aim to use as parameters for our discussion through the remainder of the paper.

Section 3: Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and Value Chains Approach in relation to youth.
Section 4: Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and Value Chains Approach in relation to conflict
These sections look discretely at each of the approaches in relation to youth and conflict, examining in turn what works well and not well for each; what they each emphasize in terms of programming content; and what each of them suggests as important or unimportant in terms of their application. We will aim to ensure that each of these approaches is looked at both individually and in comparison to the other so that we may steadily build up our understanding of the connections or gaps between the two.

Section 5: Livelihoods and Markets for Youth in Conflict
The final section aims to pose recommendations for how programs may concretely draw from the two approaches to design and implement more effective economic strengthening programs for youth in conflict. The underlying assumption for this closing section is that integration of the two approaches is both possible and more effective than using one or the other.

Click here to read previous posts in this series.