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Putting livelihoods thinking into practice: implications for development management
Author(s) -
Toner Anna,
Franks Tom
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.395
Subject(s) - blueprint , livelihood , psychological intervention , sustainable development , poverty , intervention (counseling) , process (computing) , process management , economic growth , political science , economics , business , engineering , psychology , computer science , geography , law , mechanical engineering , archaeology , psychiatry , agriculture , operating system
The failure of ‘blueprint’ development interventions to deliver substantive improvements in poverty reduction has been well recognised over the last twenty years. Process approaches seek to overcome the rigidity and top‐down operation of much aid‐funded intervention. Sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLA) are one of the latest additions to this family of approaches. As a theoretical framework and as a set of principles for guiding intervention, sustainable livelihoods thinking has implications for development management. Drawing on research exploring the application of sustainable livelihoods principles in 10 development interventions, this article considers how these principles have evolved from continuing debates surrounding process and people‐centred (bottom‐up) approaches to development management. This research suggests that whilst these principles can improve the impact made by interventions, the effective application of sustainable livelihoods and other process approaches are fundamentally restricted by unbalanced power relationships between development partners. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.