Download Sustainable Livelihoods Approach

Radha Rajkotia, Youth & Livelihoods Technical Advisor
Child & Youth Protection and Development Unit
International Rescue Committee
A Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and Economic
Strengthening for Youth
IRC Liberia - Nimba & Lofa
October 4, 2006
Lili Stern, Technical Advisor
for Youth & Livelihoods
IRC New York - CYPD
Starting from the beginning…
What is a ‘livelihood’?
‘A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets and activities
required for a means of living’
What is a ‘sustainable livelihood’?
‘A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and
recover from stresses and shocks, maintain or enhance its
capabilities and assets…’
(Chambers and Conway, 1992)
What is the sustainable livelihoods
framework?
What have we learned about the SL
framework?
Limited practical assistance
for application
Non-sectoral approach does
not match reality
Downplayed importance of
focused technical/ financial
support services, increased
emphasis on ‘soft’ issues
e.g. capacity-building, social
organization, participation
Very useful as conceptual or
heuristic tool
Helps to see links between
different factors affecting
livelihoods
Helps build cross-sectoral
and potentially, crossinstitutional dialogue
So, what about youth in conflict/ postconflict settings?
Scale
Sub-Saharan African youth population has quadrupled since 1950 (World
Bank, 2006)
In 2005, 62% of Africa’s population fell below 25 (World Bank, 2009)
60% of total Sub-Saharan unemployed population are youth (ILO, 2006)
4.5 million unemployed youth in Côte d’Ivoire (UNIDO, 2007)
48,000 child soldiers in Sierra Leone, including approximately 12,000 girls
(McKay & Mazurana, 2004)
88% youth unemployment in Liberia (ILO, 2006)
7,000-9,000 children and youth involved in commercial sexual
exploitation in Uganda (ILO-IPEC, 2004)
Half of FATA’s 3.5 million population is female, but female literacy rate
stands at 3% (DfID, 2003)
Complex puzzles of youth needs/assets
Knowledge
Social networks
Jobs
Financial services
Rights education
Skills
Family/ community
reintegration
Trauma counseling
Access to
justice
Healthcare
Access to natural/
physical resources
Confidence
Advice
Access to
markets
Crisis to Development
How youth needs/ assets are frequently
prioritized
Knowledge
Skills
Trauma counseling
Healthcare
Confidence
Family/ community
reintegration
Rights education
Financial services
Jobs
Social networks
Access to
markets
Access to
justice
Advice
Access to natural/
physical resources
Crisis to Development
Why so?
In crisis/ immediate post-conflict…
Youth
Experiences of trauma
Need for change in
behaviors
Fractured community
relationships –
particularly intergenerational
relationships
Contexts
Fragile peacegovernment and donor
urgency
Weak markets not able to
absorb youth
Poor capacity/
infrastructure
BUT, this does change with time
Does not mean that we have to be tunnel-visioned or
short-sighted in our approach
Need to explore interventions that are innovative and
responsive to both needs and contexts
Youth VSLA Groups (Burundi)
Micro-franchising (Sierra Leone)
Complementary education and employment programs e.g.
youth agriculture extension (CAR)
Mainstreamed entrepreneurship education (CdI, Sierra
Leone, Liberia)
Need robust evaluations of youth livelihood
programming – using same holistic approach as that is
applied to design
Northern Uganda – DoL funded ORACLE project (2003-2007)
- Youth interviewed one year after leaving project
93% not involved in child labor
72% say life is better
77% say that they have more choices
67% have better community relations
56% making more money
Burundi – VSLA and GBV impact evaluation