This paper reports on DFID-funded research by ITDG to develop analytical tools that help development practitioners understand livelihoods involving micro / small-scale enterprise (MSE). The research concerned the roles which:
- private-sector markets play in livelihoods of micro-entrepreneurs and small-scale producers
- technological change (including poor people’s own adaptability) has on livelihood opportunities and outcomes
Millions of poor people depend to a significant degree on earnings from MSEs – whether as business owners, employees or self-employed. Processes of technological change and market development are often highly significant factors in their livelihoods. However, weak analysis of these factors’ influence within SL approaches means that opportunities to enhance poor people’s livelihoods may be over-looked. Also, the pro-poor influence which SL advocates seek to have on the objectives and priorities of development programmes may be diminished.
The study focuses on two methodological tools which may be particularly useful to understand livelihoods that involve micro / small-scale enterprise:
- The concept of technological capabilities – a bundle of specific organisational skills and linkages that help determine people’s ability to generate and manage processes of technological change.
- The systems tool known subsector analysis – which models enterprise inter-relations, market channels and linkages in order to create a map of the institutional / market landscape for MSEs.
The 15 page report describes ITDG’s practical experience and lessons learned from applying these tools. It draws on two case-study reports generated by field research in Kenya and Ghana in April 2001. It also includes suggestions for revisions to SL frameworks for livelihoods that involve micro-enterprise.
Poverty reduction is the ultimate objective of both the Market Development and Sustainable Livelihoods approaches. However, the means by which to achieve poverty reduction often differ under these approaches. Realising the need to find common grounds of understanding between the two approaches, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) organized a seminar on Making Markets Work for Poor (in short: M4P), looking for complementarities, divergences and synergies with other approaches to poverty reduction. This seminar in particular focussed on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA).
The following series of three papers (prepared by The Springfield Centre on behalf of the FAUNO Consortium) explore synergies, complementarities and divergences between the M4P and Sustainable Livelihoods approaches.
- Complementarities, divergences and synergies
- Case studies
- International development cooperation: seeking common principles that underpin a coherent approach to poverty reduction
This main paper outlines the conceptual framework used to assess the two projects in the case studies (below) as well as summarising the seminar discussion.
These case studies compare two projects in Bangladesh: KATALYST for M4P and LEAF/SAAKTI for SLA, with a third case study reporting on a joint initiative between KATALYST and LEAF/SAAKTI.
These briefing notes describe the analytical framework under which the M4P and SL approaches were compared to each other.
Time: 10:00AM – 12:00PM
You’re invited to join the Washington Network on Children in Armed Conflict for a discussion exploring the linkages between youth, unemployment and security in post-conflict settings, an issue that demands our attention, as countries transitioning from crisis to development face broad challenges.
Central to the event’s discussion will be an analysis of two key trends – a burgeoning youth population and growing global unemployment – and their implications for sustainable development and regional security. The global youth unemployment rate in 2008 was estimated to be 11.9%. In some countries however, such as Sierra Leone, it is expected to be as high as 50%. Both figures were calculated prior to the current global economic crisis. For NGOs working in developing countries, where 85% of youth are concentrated, the emphasis on the livelihood needs of stakeholders is vital. Exploring the conflict – humanitarian crisis – reconstruction – development continuum, we hope to foster a discussion about past and current youth employment initiatives, as well as lessons learned.
Join us Friday, February 13, 2009, as our guest speakers Jason Wolfe and Radha Rajkotia will highlight two frameworks being implemented by the IRC and USAID; the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and the Value Chain Approach.
The WNCAC has partnered with The CYES Network and AED to advance this discussion both before and after the event. Visit the CYES Network blog for a recent Expert Post from Jason Wolfe on the relative strengths of the livelihoods framework and value chain approach.
We expect a lively discussion and look forward to seeing you.
