Livelihoods and Integration
Livelihoods and Durable Solutions
Church World Service/IRP 2010 Conference,
Miami, Florida
June 2, 2010
Objectives
1. Develop an understanding of challenges in
implementing economic programs in
contexts of displacement and early return.
2. Develop awareness of how economic
programs serving the conflict-affected can
be improved.
3. Identify linkages and application in U.S.
resettlement context.
Livelihoods: What is it?
Comprises the capacities, assets and
activities required to make a living.
When is a livelihood sustainable?
 When it can cope with and
recover from stress and
shocks, maintain or enhance
its capabilities and assets, and
provide livelihood
opportunities for the next
generation.
Aim of Livelihoods Initiative
Transform livelihood interventions to improve
quality and effectiveness
Promote strategic, comprehensive approaches based
on individual needs
Include gender lens on livelihood approaches
Promote strategies that are market-driven, build on
skills & lead to sustainable income
Consultations with Refugees
• “We want jobs”
• “We want programs that lead to work”
• “We need to make money”
3 year research project
Focus: identify what is happening, what are the
gaps, what is needed to improve practice
Methodology
10 field assessments
Global research
Funded 7 pilot projects
Advisory committee
San Diego
Egypt
Sudan
Colombia
Liberia
Ethiopia
Kenya
Nepal
Thailand
Malaysia
Problems with Current
Approaches
Displacement is
viewed as temporary
Existing skills and life
experience are seldom
capitalized on
Market demand and
economic context are little
understood
Little understanding of
livelihoods as a tool of
protection
Consequences of
Unsustainable Livelihoods
Conflict destroys livelihoods and forces people to
adopt new strategies to support themselves
Enforced dependency / the administration of
misery*
Desperation often leads to adoption of negative
economic coping strategies that can increase
exposure to GBV
Selling and bartering food rations and other
humanitarian assistance becomes a vital component
of a refugee’s livelihoods strategy
Lack of access to a means of livelihoods creates the
conditions for GBV*
Continued Consequences
Waste of potential & erosion of skills
Little opportunity to pass on livelihood
to children
Trainings don’t lead to jobs
Programs don’t result in sustainable
income
Displaced remain dependent on food
aid & humanitarian assistance
Unprepared for “durable solution”
Assumptions
Economic
opportunities have
many positive rollon effects
When women have
income they are safer
When households have
income their children are
more likely to be in school,
to be accessing health care,
and are better fed
Challenges Confronting
Current Livelihood Programs
Capitalizing on existing skills and life
experience
Understanding market demand and
economic context – opportunities, barriers
and constraints
Building capacity and expertise to design
and implement programs
Lack of an evidence base about what works
and why
Host government policies
Identifying and preparing people for emerging
markets
Improving Practice
Conceptual Framework
Livelihoods Analysis
Livelihoods assets
Human
Capital
Social
Capital
Physical
Capital
Conflict-Affected
Natural
Capital
Financial
Capital
Human
Capital
•
•
•
•
•
•
Health
Nutrition
Education
Knowledge and skills
Capacity to work
Capacity to adapt
Natural Capital
• Land and produce
• Water & aquatic
resources
• Trees and forest
products
• Wildlife
• Wild foods & fibres
• Biodiversity
• Environmental services
Social Capital
• Networks and connections
o patronage
o neighbourhoods
o kinship
•
•
•
•
•
•
Relations of trust and mutual support
Formal and informal groups
Common rules and sanctions
Collective representation
Mechanisms for participation in decision-making
Leadership
Physical Capital
• Infrastructure
•
•
•
•
•
transport - roads, vehicles, etc.
secure shelter & buildings
water supply & sanitation
energy
communications
• Tools and techology
• tools and equipment for production
• seed, fertiliser, pesticides
• traditional technology
Financial Capital
• Savings
• Credit/debt - formal, informal, NGOs
• Remittances
• Pensions
• Wages
Human capital
• labour capacity/ physical strength
• elementary school education
• limited skills
Out-of-school
male youth:
Day Laborer
Natural capital
• landless
Financial capital
• low wages
Human Capital
Social
Capital
Physical
Capital
• no access to credit
•No access to safe savings
Natural
Capital
Financial
Capital
Physical capital
• poor water supply
• poor housing
• limited electricity
Social capital
• low social status
• doesn’t belong to clubs or groups
• strong links with family & friends
= an extremely reduced “livelihood
pentagon”
Steps
 Situation Analysis
–Participatory Needs Assessment
–Conflict Analysis
 Market Analysis
 Market Assessment
 Labor Market Assessment
 Value Chain Analysis
 Organizational Capacity Assessment
Situation Analysis
The process of assessing a complex situation
within its wider context, systematically gathering
information, identifying the main problems and
needs within a population, identifying the
principle resources contained within that
population, and analyzing the information
gathered in order to facilitate the process of
planning in a systematic, strategic and
integrated manner.
Situation Analysis
• Goal: Assessment of
the situation
– Identify the main needs,
problems and resources.
– Assess the impact of the
conflict (conflict analysis).
– Identify and consult the
different stakeholders.
– Consult the target
population (participatory
needs assessment).
– Consult existing secondary
information sources.
Conflict Analysis
Goal: Understand the
way in which
conflict impacts
livelihoods and
longer term
sustainability.
Conflict analysis
entails assessing
whether a program
may perpetuate or
renew the conflict
Participatory Needs Assessments
• Goal: Identify the
livelihoods priorities of
beneficiaries and of the
surrounding
community.
• Identify existing skills,
experience and
resources
• Inform the beneficiary
group about the
opportunities available.
The market analysis process involves conducting:
1) a market assessment;
2) a labor market assessment; and
3) value chain analysis
Market Assessment
• Market assessments
identify supply and demand
for goods and services, the
viability of occupations and
enterprises, and market
capacities and trends in the
local community.
Questions to include in a market
assessment are:
What priority goods and services are available?
Which goods are bought most often?
How has conflict affected the availability and the purchase
of these goods?
Where do people buy goods?
How many buyers are there in a market compared to
sellers?
Are wholesalers and traders able to respond to an
increase in demand for their goods?
What are the government policies and restrictions that
affect the market economy?
What is the rate of inflation?
• Programs must look at barriers to market
access. Assessing the barriers that prevent a
population from accessing a market is
imperative to the success of an intervention
Labor Market Assessment
•
Value Chain Analysis
•
Is a market analysis tool
used to assess how
products gain value
as they pass through
the range of activities
needed to bring a
product to market.
•
Conducting a value chain analysis is
important for assessing how to add value
to products and strengthen linkages with
markets
Value chains look at the life cycle of a
product for initial production through the
chain of events and actors (including
suppliers, manufacturers, traders) to final
markets
•
Mapping the value chain:
• Clarifies market actors
• Defines relationships among suppliers, producers, and
consumers
• Enables practitioners to identify the most appropriate
livelihoods intervention based on where the value
chain can be strengthened
A sample value chain
• INPUTS (tools, equipment, labor, capital, training and
technical assistance)
• PRODUCTION (using inputs to produce or process
goods to add value)
• TRANSPORTATION/DISTRIBUTION (transporting goods
to buyers or distributors)
• TRADE/MARKET ACCESS (getting finished product(s) to
local, national, regional and international end markets)
Organizational Capacity Assessment
Assess:
• Governance
• Management Practices
• Finance
• Technical/Service Delivery
• Sustainability
Chapters Covering Direct
Interventions
Training and placement
Cash- and food-for-work
programming
Building in-camp
economies
Chapters Covering Direct
Interventions
Supporting agrarian
interventions
Micro-finance
Enterprise
development
Chapters Covering Related
Issues
Working with
host governments
Public-private
partnerships
Leveraging remittances
Tools and Approaches
Situation analysis
Conflict analysis
Participatory needs
assessment
Market assessment
Organizational capacity
assessment
Monitoring and evaluation
3 Questions You Should Ask
1. How does your program identify and build on
target beneficiaries’ skills, experience and
current economic coping strategies?
2. How does your program link to market
opportunities and address market barriers?
3. How do you measure program impact?
Dale Buscher, Director of Protection
Women’s Refugee Commission
DaleB@wrcommission.org
212.551.3129
skype.dale.buscher
Download the Livelihoods Manual at:
http://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/component/remository/func-startdown/63
PHASE ONE
•CWS compilation of internal knowledge and
white paper draft
•UC-Berkeley student research team project
PHASE TWO – NEXT STEPS
How would the concept of
livelihoods developed for use
overseas be applicable in the
US?
Would a prospect of
employment upon
resettlement have influence
on the type and structure of
livelihoods programs
overseas?
Could the focus of
livelihoods/employment
programs domestically be
amended to focus more on
the strengths of the
programs overseas?
How would the expanded
livelihood opportunities in
the US affect the diasporic
identity and the value of
remittances sent back to the
country of first
asylum/origin?
What impact and connection
could there be between the
programs on both sides of
the resettlement process?
How would expanded
livelihood opportunities
affect refugee integration in
the US?