Sustainable Livelihoods Approach
Annex 4: A Process for Practical Livelihoods Analysis
A step-by-step process for the undertaking of practical livelihoods analysis in the context of development programmes and projects is outlined below. It should be emphasised that it is a guide to a process, not a blueprint. The steps are not necessarily comprehensive, nor do they necessarily have to occur in the order set out - livelihoods analysis is often in practice an iterative process.
- Step 1: Select the sites
- Step 2: Put together the team
- Step 3: Collect secondary data
- Step 4: Determine entry strategies
- Step 5: Building the team
- Step 6: Initial assessment
- Step 7: Analysing the information
- Step 8: Making the linkages (1)
- Step 9: Reflection, vision and prioritisation
- Step 10: Activity design and appraisal
- Step 11: Making the linkages (2)
- Step 12: Programme or project implementation
- Step 13: Participatory monitoring and evaluation
Step 1: Select the sites where the livelihoods analysis will be undertaken. This will not be difficult if the development programme or project being planned is at a very local level and involves a particular group of households. However, if the programme or project is working at the district level, or with a particular sector focus, it will not be possible to carry out an in-depth livelihoods analysis in every area. Thus criteria to help choose the most appropriate areas in which to carry out the analysis will need to be carefully developed.
Step 2: Put together the team who will carry out the analysis. This involves the selection of team members who can best meet the demands of the particular situation. This may involve selecting people with particular Participatory Rural Appraisal and/or Gender Analysis skills. It may involve identifying people with specific local, content or policy knowledge.
Step 3: Collect secondary data. Once sites have been selected, the collection and summation of secondary data - information from reports, development plans and census data - will help the team build up knowledge about the areas in which they will be doing planning. A list of indicative key questions to help guide secondary data collection as well as the initial assessment (Step 6), are set out in Annex 3: Key Questions for Sustainable Livelihoods Analysis.
Step 4: Determine entry strategies. Before the team can get started with fieldwork in selected sites, they will need to develop an entry strategy. This involves identifying who the key stakeholders are, deciding who they will speak to, and deciding how to negotiate the planning process with local people. When the team develops its entry strategy, it might find that an area it selected is not suitable after all and then it is a case of reconsidering Step 1.
Step 5: Building the team. The team members orient themselves and refresh key fieldwork principles, behaviours, and approaches. The team needs to reflect on some of the dos and don’ts of working with people on the ground, and it must prepare properly to do the fieldwork.
Step 6: Initial assessment. This is likely to involve a combination of different participatory methods and activities. These help the team - and participants:
- develop a historical understanding of the area and different forces that have shaped it
- identify issues of gender, age and power and how these are reflected in local institutional arrangements
- discover how local people define well-being
- understand the range of assets, activities and capabilities that create different livelihood strategies
- develop categories of well-being and rank sample households
- assess the key aspects of the vulnerability context - risks, hazards and trends
- identify connections between local level issues and factors which affect them that originate in the broader environment
Participatory methods that are frequently used in the context of livelihood analysis are given in Annex 5: Participatory Methods for Livelihoods Analysis.
Step 7: Analysing the information. This is about making sense of the information collected through different participatory activities. The team brings together secondary data and information from fieldwork to see key trends and the connections between different issues. At this stage the team needs to be particularly aware of its biases. It needs to re-examine how it saw the issue and problems at the beginning of the process. The team must make sure it reflects the assessment findings back to the community in an open-ended way so that local analysis can take place.
Step 8: Making the linkages (1). Now that the team and local stakeholders have the information before them, they need to consciously make the connections between local trends and factors in the broader environment that are influencing them.
Step 9: Reflection, vision and prioritisation. This is about reflecting back and analysing the information that has been synthesised from fieldwork and secondary data with local people. Who develops the criteria and indicators that are used to assess the information and prioritise the issues? Team members should not substitute their ideas for the analysis of local people. They should also recognise the limitation of narrow problem-based analysis. Appreciative planning approaches can enable people to develop a vision, priorities and ideas about key activities, building on existing strengths.
Step 10: Activity design and appraisal. This involves carrying forward the analysis, reflection and prioritisation undertaken in Steps 7-9 above into activity design and appraisal. More information on the livelihoods situation of households and individuals, through a baseline study that includes household profiles, can be helpful. Furthermore, this stage will entail more in-depth information on, and the analysis of, the specific priorities that have been identified. Depending on these priorities, it might be appropriate at this stage to use other types of analyses or methods, such as market analysis, gender analysis and environmental analysis.
Step 11: Making the linkages (2). This involves a revisiting of, with local people, the linkages with the wider environment (Step 8). This process may suggest areas for policy reform and advocacy that can form a separate (but parallel) stream to local-level livelihood activities.
Step 12: Programme or project implementation. Key activity areas are refined with the stakeholders and detailed activities agreed.
Step 13: Participatory monitoring and evaluation. Data from the baseline livelihoods analysis and household profiles can provide important information for a monitoring and evaluation framework. This data enables the team to select indicators that will measure the impacts of the development activities.