A sustainable livelihoods approach involves starting from people's real lives and drawing localized development strategies from their everyday struggles for survival.
Sustainable livelihoods approaches work within a specific local context to solve a particular set of issues. This process may draw upon tools and understandings generated from many different arenas. The goal is to find the proper fit with what a community needs, and the possible paths for getting there. This requires creative ways of approaching development. Tools need to be created or adapted to fit community needs, rather than forcing communities to fit with whatever tool is in vogue.
Sustainable livelihoods encompass many locally defined needs and priorities, whether economic, social, spiritual, political, etc. Sustainable livelihoods approaches should base strategies to meet these needs on local livelihood skills and systems.
Given the obstacles facing the world's poor, the first steps towards sustainable livelihoods can be painful and tentative. Working from an area of strength can empower people to initiate more widespread change and action. Ultimately, the creation of sustainable livelihoods in a community may require a collection of locally identified strategies implemented over time (i.e. a long-term investment in the community).
Of the many possible entry points within a sustainable livelihoods strategy, some of those used by DA and ENDA, include:
- Appropriate Technologies
For a technology to be considered appropriate, it has to be economically viable, socially beneficial, and environmentally sound. Appropriate technologies can increase employment, generate income, and enable people to their meet basic needs. Appropriate technologies can also conserve or rehabilitate the environment. They should promote equity, whether among genders, generations, castes, or other social divides. DA's design and development of the TARA-loom, and the use of this weaving technology to generate income for scheduled-caste women in Sathanur village is one example of an appropriate technology strategy for creating sustainable livelihoods. ![[ Jump to DA module ]](/webgfx/dajumper.gif)
ENDA PRONAT has been devoted to protecting natural resources by using appropriate technologies, which allow local plants to be transformed into natural pesticides. In Koussanar, the cultivators prepared a cartoon explaining the process and its influence on the life in their village. ![[ Jump to ENDA module ]](/webgfx/endajumper.gif)
(en français)
- Micro-Enterprise Development
Developing economically viable small enterprises can generate income among the poor, enabling them to meet their basic needs. Decreasing the economic risk to participants may require innovative financing schemes. Often some of the most successful (and replicable) micro-enterprises have very low start up costs and tap into a local market. DA has developed micro-enterprises to create sustainable livelihoods in Tumkur District. Here village women are selling (or using) vermicompost which they generate from home units.
- Using Waste as a Primary Resource
Waste can be used in many ways to provide a starting point for livelihood creation. In addition to projects such as the vermicomposting in India, which arises from organic sources, there is also recuperation material, such as tin cans, metal wires, etc. , which can be used. In Dakar, an artisan workshop using recuperation material as primary resource has become a source of income for many people. Along with providing lessons on how to create those objects, ENDA ECOPOLE is a center for learning basic school, and livelihood strategies. (en français)
- Training / Education / Skills building:
Education can be a particularly powerful livelihood tool when it provides job related knowledge and skills. Such training has the potential to increase the incomes of the poor. Education can also be a powerful empowerment mechanism as it strengthens local peoples' confidence and abilities.
DA's training program at their appropriate technology centre in Madhya Pradesh works on both of these levels. Here, tribal women are taught work related skills including paper making and building material production, as well as receiving basic literacy and accounting training.
ENDA RUP's training program in health, nutrition and environment in Rufisque was beneficial for twenty-five women in the area, who became involved in educating mothers in their community on how to take care of their children. (en français)
- Institutional/ System change
Adapting economic systems to the reality of the community can be another way to stimulate livelihoods creation. With their exchange system based on ''work token'', ENDA GRAF was able to involve more than 400 women in exchanging goods, services, and capacities. The system works as a stimulus for the pre-existing human potential within a community: each person has something to offer. (en français)
- Mixed Strategies
In practice most projects combine a number of these strategies. For example, although a project may focus on technologies, training might also be a key component. Similarly many projects start with one entry point as a base to anchor other strategies. In Azadpura village, DA worked with villagers to build homes using appropriate building technologies. After earning their trust and strengthening local capacities, DA then helped the villagers create cooperatives. Members of these cooperatives are now running a mason's guild and a women's handicraft production center.
ENDA PPU worked with an association on a integrated approach to the development of their community. The CODIS is a coordinating body within the community which seeks to foster dynamic approaches and collaboration between associations. Their strategy includes a cleaner environment, increased security, and better education. (en français)
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