1. Save lives and save (or restore) livelihoods…..
Livelihoods Interventions
Save lives and save (or restore) livelihoods…..
The duration is approx. 45 min.
“way of making a living”
In a food security context it means people, their capabilities, their assets, their income and the activities they require in order to make a living.
In a food security context it means people, their capabilities, their assets, their income and the activities they require in order to make a living
Module 16
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2. Learning objectives
Be familiar with the different options of livelihood interventions
Understand their main objectives
Be aware of advantages, disadvantages and criteria for implementation of livelihood interventions
Understand the various contexts for livelihood interventions
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3. Why Livelihoods?
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4. Why Livelihoods?
Understanding livelihoods is critical to understanding nutrition in emergencies as it is through livelihoods that people obtain food and income security.
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5. OPTIONAL SLIDE
In case the livelihoods framework is relevant to the audience this slide can be used to explain it. See HTP module 16 for more detailed information.
The design of this presentation did not anticipate the introduction of the ‘assets/capital’ concept as it needs extensive time to explain it.
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6. Livelihoods and emergency programming
In emergencies, livelihood support programmes include any intervention that protects people’s capabilities and assets, and supports livelihood activities
These programmes can be undertaken to prevent or mitigate* the impact of a crisis or in response to a crisis
*mitigate = alleviate, make it lighter/milder
Ask the group examples of each word marked in green (capability is often a human asset)
Human, social, financial, physical, natural assets (from a previous slide) – give examples and why they can be important
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7. Would these fishermen benefit more from food aid or support to repair their boat?
Impact of a tsunami
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8. Would these farmers benefit more from food assistance or logistic support to get their produce to markets?
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9. Undernutrition Inadequate food intake Disease Underlying causes
Immediate causes
Basic causes
Formal and informal infrastructure/ political ideology/resources
Inadequate food intake
Poor Public Health
Household food insecurity
Disease
Undernutrition
Poor social and care practices
Explain the position of livelihood interventions in this causal framework. They support potentially on various levels: esp household food security, but they can also impact on social and care practice (time or resources dedicated to care), public health as well as basic causes.
Livelihood interventions can indirectly free time, money and other resources and can have a positive impact on health, hygiene practice, care for children or the sick, schooling as well as economic security.
Source: UNICEF conceptual framework
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10. Interventions to support livelihoods can have 3 objectives:
Planning and Designing Interventions that Support Livelihoods in emergencies
Interventions to support livelihoods can have
3 objectives:
Livelihood Provision, the supply of basic immediate needs
Livelihood Protection, preventing the sale of assets or the recovery of lost assets
Livelihood Promotion, strengthening institutions, skills and advocating for policy change that supports livelihoods
Examples of
Provision
Provision of fodder or water for animals
Provision of seeds
Protection
Cash for work (repairing roads: provide income and repair an infrastructure that can have a positive effect on market access of sellers and buyers)
Destocking of livestock
Provision of productive tools (for carpentry, for fishing, for a small business, for a bakery, etc)
Promotion
Promotion of conservation farming
Income generation activities
Training in veterinary health services
Training in certain livelihood skills
These interventions hook into various of these objectives. Overall, they fall in the categories on the next slide.
Examples?
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11. Interventions can be divided into 4 main groups:
(Food assistance (GFD))
Income and employment (Food for work, Cash for work, Cash grants, micro-finance, income generating activities)
Production support (crop production support, livestock support, fishing support)
Market support (commodity vouchers, cash vouchers, monetization and subsidized sales, market infrastructure and access, de-stocking)
In following slides we will discuss each of the 4 main groups if there is enough time.
However, Food assistance is not discussed here in detail as it is presented in full in Module 11.
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12. Hand-out
Overview of different livelihood support interventions in emergencies and criteria/condition for decision-making on interventions to address food crises
Provide hand out and discuss various examples
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13. Interventions can be divided into 4 main groups:
(Food assistance (GFD))
Income and employment (Food for work, Cash for work, Cash grants, micro-finance, income generating activities)
Production support (crop production support, livestock support, fishing support)
Market support (commodity vouchers, cash vouchers, monetization and subsidized sales, market infrastructure and access, de-stocking)
Back to the main 4 groups.
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14. Food assistance is organized to:
Implementing interventions to support Livelihoods: Food assistance interventions
Food assistance is organized to:
Maintain or improve nutritional status, hence enabling a healthy active life
Reduce the need for people to sell off assets to obtain food
Release income that would otherwise have been spent on food
Enable the payment of credit or debt i.e. supports important coping strategies
Some risks are to be considered, such as the impact on market, people dependency, competition with other aid interventions, etc.
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15. Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods: Income & Employment
Cash approaches are increasingly being used
when sufficient food (or other goods) is available and accessible on markets
when no risk of increasing inflation exists; and
when conditions are respected for safe and effective cash transfer.
Types of interventions are cash
grants, cash vouchers, cash for work.
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16. Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods: Market support
The aim of market support programmes in emergencies is generally to ensure that people’s access to basic goods is maintained.
Market support interventions can take many forms:
cash and voucher programmes
programmes that support market infrastructure, the maintenance of food prices in markets (e.g. through the provision of subsidized foods) and the producers’ access to markets locally, nationally and internationally.
Such programmes require adequate market analysis.
If necessary more details can be given on adequate market analysis.
E.g. the Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis Tool (EMMA) provides details on gaps analysis, market analysis and response analysis (see more for details in HTP module 16).
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17. Implementing Interventions to support Livelihoods: Production support
It can take many forms such as support of livestock, crop production and fishing interventions
The main types of interventions are:
Seeds and Tools
Seeds fair
Livestock programmes
Livestock marketing support
De-stocking
Fodder distribution
Veterinary and animal health support
Re-stocking
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18. How would you monitor and evaluate Livelihoods Interventions?
And….. Is it different from other interventions?
In many interventions the M&E follows the same principle:
Monitoring: who received what and why, did it make a difference and to whom and in what way? Were the actual recipients those that indeed very initially selected? Are the selection criteria followed, if not why not; are their problems with the implementation of the programme. etc
Evaluation: it is about the impact for the recipients (and their communities), did the programme made a difference, in what way, negative and positive consequences, did food security improve (and for whom?), what did they do with what they were provided, etc
It is not different from M&E of other interventions, it follows the same principles (see module 20)
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19. How to decide which intervention is appropriate?
Selection based on the need, the context, the advantages and disadvantages of each intervention. Example:
Type of intervention
Criteria/condition
Common emergency context
Advantages
Disadvantages
Seeds and tools
Food insecurity due to reduction or loss in crop production
Affected households lacking seeds and tools
Lack of seeds/tools limits production
Local knowledge available on the use
Sufficient food accessible (otherwise seeds might be eaten)
Recovery stage or protracted emergencies
(Note: but planning needs to start during emergency!!!!)
Re-establishes crop production
Strengthens agricultural systems in longer term
Increases self-sufficiency
Requires knowledge of local seeds and agriculture.
Imported seeds may not be used.
HTP module 16 gives more examples and can be inserted according to relevance.
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20. Monitoring and evaluation of livelihoods interventions
Key questions for monitoring process (how was the transfer delivered?)
Did the intended recipients receive the seeds?
Did the recipients receive the correct amounts of seeds
Was the distribution done on time?
Were the recipients and other stakeholders satisfied with the process and method of implementation?
What other assistance are recipients receiving?
Types of recipient?
Key questions for monitoring impact (what change has there been for the recipient?)
What was the average yield of the seed distributed?
How have sources of food and income changed?
How have coping strategies changed?
How much has income and expenditure changed since the seed distribution programme?
Have there been any changes in consumption patterns?
Would recipients have preferred another form of assistance?
It is important to recognise that some impact indicators, such as altered income and expenditure patterns or changed consumption patterns, may appear closely associated with, and a consequence of, the intervention.
It is also important to recognize that other indicators, such as nutritional status and mortality, cannot necessarily be attributed to the livelihood intervention. But…. conclusion might be that there is a plausible causal association.
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21. Are all livelihood interventions appropriate for each context?
For example:
- in relief?
- in pro-tracted crisis?
as part of disaster preparedness?
in rehabilitation/early recovery
phase?
No, it depends on your objective, the time you have between planning and meeting the anticipated needs, etc.
BUT….. certainly livelihoods interventions can play a role in EACH phase from disaster preparedness, to relief, rehabilitation/early recovery, development, etc
(see also the handout provided earlier)
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22. Issues and challenges for livelihoods programming in emergencies (1)
Examples of different interventions dependent on the context (disaster management cycle)
Relief
Rehabilitation
Development
Mitigation/preparedness
Income generation
and markets
Asset/income transfers or expenditure reduction;
Food aid;
Cash grants; vouchers;
Cash-for-work; Food-for-work; Seed distribution
Vouchers and fairs;
Cash-for-work;
Food-for-work;
Asset recovery (seeds and tools, livestock, equipment);
Microfinance
Microfinance;
Training in business management;
Organizing small-scale producers;
Lobbying for a more supportive market environment;
Social welfare programmes;
Diversification opportunities
Contingency stocks;
Linking social welfare to emergency response;
Insurance to, e.g., cereal/fodder banks;
Early warning systems
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23. Issues and challenges for livelihoods programming in emergencies (2)
Working in conflict makes it very necessary for livelihood interventions to be linked with protection ones.
Mainstreaming HIV and AIDS in livelihood interventions because of the deep prolonged impact of the disease on livelihoods.
Can livelihood interventions improve nutrition?
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24. Can livelihood interventions improve nutrition?
Improvement of nutritional status cannot necessarily be attributed to the livelihood intervention.
Because there is a complex pathway between that intervention and nutritional status (with many factors that can change the nutritional status)
But……at best there might be a plausible causal association, e.g. it might be possible that a livelihood intervention leads to increased income leading to improved consumption patterns.
As long indicators on each level are not measured, it will be difficult to defend this ‘causal’ relationship.
BUT…..livelihood interventions do not need to have nutritional objectives to be still useful and supportive to families/communities in emergencies.
Nutritional status can be both an outcome of the success or failure of livelihoods and a key contributor to successful livelihoods.
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25. Many opportunities, often not used
Questions?
Your experiences?
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26. Key messages
Understanding livelihoods is critical to understanding how an emergency will affect nutrition.
Organisations are increasingly programming to support livelihoods during emergencies.
A wide variety of interventions can be implemented in support of livelihoods during emergencies including:
Food aid (general food distribution, food for work)
Income and employment (cash distribution, cash for work, micro-finance)
Market support (vouchers, monetization and de-stocking)
Production support (agricultural, livestock and fishing)
The choice of the most appropriate livelihood intervention depends on the pros and cons, the context (relief, rehabilitation, development. mitigation/preparedness), preferences of the communities, etc.
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