Abstract
The sustainable livelihood approach is a way of thinking that rests on a set of core principles and provides a conceptual framework for analysis. The sustainable livelihoods thinking emerged in the 1990s aligned with the emerging development approaches of participatory, bottom-up planning that challenged the dominant economic growth-led development paradigm. It recognizes that the poor have resources, capabilities, and the agency, and draw on the concepts of the capability approach, equity, and environmental sustainability. This approach was widely adopted in international development policy and practice and resulted in a shift from a top-down sectoral approach to household-level investments. Over time, this approach was criticized for being too household focussed and abstract to provide insights on general patterns and policy analysis. That it does not automatically lend itself to macro-level analysis, comparative studies, impact evaluation, and policy analysis. However, over time several studies have innovated to combine this framework with participatory methods and quantitative techniques to enhance its utility in livelihood assessment, project management, and impact evaluation.
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Tambe, S. (2022). Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. In: Teaching and Learning Rural Livelihoods. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90491-3_4
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