Learning about livelihoods Insights from southern Africa Peripe rii LEARNING ABOUT LIVELIHOODS: INSIGHTS FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA An integrated package of learning materials comprising a training handbook and five short films on videocassette co-published by Periperi Publications and Oxfam Publishing. Distributed exclusively in southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) by the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa; Tel +27 21 650 2987; Fax +27 21 689 1217; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.egs.uct.ac/dimp Distributed exclusively outside Africa by Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK. Tel +44 1 865 311 311; Fax +44 1 865 312 600; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.oxfam.org.uk/publications Distributed exclusively in the USA for Oxfam GB by Stylus Publishing LLC, PO Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605, USA. Tel: +1 703 661 1581; Fax: +1 703 661 1547; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.styluspub.com Distributed in Africa outside southern Africa by the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme and Oxfam Publishing. © Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme 2002 (book) © Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme and Pemba Productions 2002 (films) All rights reserved. Copyright subsists in this material. It may be reproduced by any method without fee for teaching purposes, as long as no charge is made for copies, and as long as the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme and/or Pemba Productions receive appropriate acknowledgement. No part of this book or the film material may be reproduced by any means, electronic, mechani- cal, by photocopying, by recording or otherwise for the purpose of profit without the prior written consent of the copyright holders. Permission may be granted free of charge to non-profit organisations. Published simultaneously by Periperi Publications in South Africa and Oxfam GB in the UK. Learning about livelihoods has been developed by a team of development practitioners, researchers, trainers and academics in southern Africa. It has been edited and designed, and the production has been overseen, by Periperi Publications, who are entirely responsible for the content. Oxfam GB is co-publishing and distributing Learning about livelihoods with Periperi Publications as a part of its work in disseminating interesting and challenging contributions to development practice and learning. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. First published in 2002 Periperi ISBN for the pack: 0-9584273-2-1 Oxfam ISBN for the pack: 0-855-98-468-6 Oxfam GB is a registered charity, no. 202918. Principal author: Rick de Satgé Contributing authors: Ailsa Holloway, Dan Mullins, Leah Nchabeleng and Penny Ward. Film producer and writer: Annie Holmes, Pemba Productions Film directors: Vuyo Maphela (Home-making, ‘Pruned’ and Legacies), Farai Mpfunya (Moving on) and Annie Holmes (Floods). Text copy-editing: Stephen Heyns Text design and layout: Fiona Adams Proofreading: Laurie Rose-Innes Cover design: Doret Ferreira Book illustrations: Doret Ferreira (icons), Ann Westoby (all other illustrations) Cover photograph: Cape Argus Printed by: Logo Print Financial support for this project was provided by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance under grant no. AOT-G-00-99-0016-00. The views presented in this package do not represent the views of USAID. Learning about livelihoods Insights from southern Africa Principal author: Rick de Satgé Contributing authors: Ailsa Holloway Dan Mullins Leah Nchabaleng Penny Ward ri iiper er P Table of contents Foreword vi Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations xi An overview of Learning about livelihoods xv Chapter 1: Introduction to the livelihoods framework 1 Understanding the terminology 2 The concept of sustainable livelihoods 3 Livelihoods frameworks compared 4 Southern African approaches to livelihoods 9 Main principles of the livelihoods approach 15 Advantages of the approach 17 Criticism of the livelihoods framework and its implementation 18 Listening to the critical voices 21 Putting the livelihoods framework into practice 21 Frequently asked questions from programme managers 23 Chapter 2: Workshop sessions 27 Session 1: What are households? 28 Session 2: Inside the household 40 Session 3: Introducing the livelihoods framework 57 Session 4: Household activities 88 Session 5: Capabilities and assets 97 Session 6: Access, power and control 110 Session 7: The external environment 126 Session 8: The vulnerability context 155 Session 9: Exploring sustainability 170 Session 10: Livelihoods and disaster risk 190 Learning about livelihoods iv Chapter 3: Practical livelihoods analysis and planning 220 Part 1: From the conceptual framework to fieldwork methodology 221 Part 2: Site selection 225 Part 3: Selecting secondary data 229 Part 4: Determining entry strategies 233 Part 5: Building the team – Fieldwork principles, behaviours and approaches 237 Part 6: Initial assessment 243 Part 7: Analysing the information 270 Part 8: Making the linkages (1) 273 Part 9: Reflection, vision and prioritisation 274 Part 10: Proposal development 279 Part 11: Start-up: Baseline research 282 Part 12: Making the linkages (2) 283 Part 13: Programme implementation 283 Part 14: Participatory monitoring and evaluation 284 Chapter 4: Southern African case studies and support materials for using the Learning about livelihoods films 289 Case study 1: The Dlamini household 291 Case study 2: The Kalongwe household 292 Case study 3: The Macala household 293 Case study 4: The Pretorius household 294 Case study 5: The Ntini household 295 Case study 6: The Mgijima household 296 Case study 7: Three households in Winterveld, South Africa 297 Case study 8: Three households in Sinde District, Zambia 306 Case study 9: Three households in Manganeng, South Africa 312 Case study 10: Bairro Santa Cruz, Benguela, Angola 317 Gender analysis checklist 320 Guidelines for actively using the films in this package 322 Support material for the film Home-making 325 Support material for the film ‘Pruned’ 329 Support material for the film Floods 334 Support material for the film Legacies 340 Support material for the film Moving on 343 Glossary 351 Consolidated bibliography 357 v Contents Foreword In August 2002 – a decade after the historic ‘Earth Summit’ was held in Rio de Janeiro – Johannesburg will host the World Summit on Sustainable Development. In spite of the achievements of the Earth Summit, notably Agenda 21 and its conventions on climate change, biological diversity and desertification, for the last ten years we have witnessed new challenges and debates around sustainability. These reflect a world in which markets have rapidly globalised and which is increasingly shaped by a ‘new economy’ driven by communications advances, trade liberalisation and economic reform. They also reflect a world whose natural resources are under mount- ing pressure, and whose climate continues to change, largely as a result of uninformed or uncaring human action. These trends have created wealth and opportunities for many. However, especially in developing countries, they have widened the gap between the rich and growing numbers of poor. As we look back on the past decade, one of the most critical lessons we draw must be that our goal of sustain- able development can be achieved only if we place at its centre the lives and livelihoods of people, particularly the poor. Livelihoods thinking, which has been around since the early 1990s but has gathered pace of late, is one way of helping us to do this. It puts people at the centre of a holistic understanding of how things work: how people make a living, how the wider world impacts on them, and the impact their livelihood activities have on the wider world. Learning about livelihoods builds on and extends the considerable thinking and policy development around livelihoods approaches. Drawing from its southern African context, the package aims to make the theory and practice of a livelihoods approach accessible to development practitioners. How- ever, the learning pack goes beyond explaining the concepts that underpin the approach. It includes ten engaging and participatory learning sessions that provide a framework for training development workers. These sessions make use of a wide range of case studies from southern Africa, including five films. In keeping with the holistic nature of livelihoods, the print mate- rial provides a set of notes and references on how to bring a number of key development concepts – including gender, sustainability and disaster risk – into the picture. Learning about livelihoods also applies the livelihoods approach to the project cycle, making it easier for practitioners to put the ideas into prac- tice. While applying livelihoods to the project cycle is not new, Learning about livelihoods takes this effort a step further. Selected steps in the project cycle are augmented by learning and reflection sessions that refresh key Learning about livelihoods vi concepts and methods and provide checklists of guiding questions. The package aims to practically ground the framework and highlight its uses at different scales from either sectoral or integrated district planning perspectives. Central to the package is a commitment