1. What is livelihood? “A livelihood comprises
the capabilities, assets (store, resource, claims, and access) and activities required for strengthening means of living.
A livelihood is sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets
and provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for the next generation
and which contributes net benefits to other livelihoods at local and global level and in the long and short term”
Robert Chambers and Conway

2. Livelihood Goals Families have varying livelihood goals
Basic need security
Reducing vulnerability
Income
Leisure
Social status
Growth

3. Five A’s
The conditions under which the family needs to make efforts to achieve these goals can be described by 5 A’s
Assets
Access
Abilities
Assurances
Attitudes
The first four are objectively verifiable features
Attitudes are uniquely a personal, individual feature.

4. Assets
Physical assets such as land (with its topography), animals, equipment (pump, tractor, implements), ponds, wells, cash, jewelry, bank balances, home stores of seed, grain and food and perhaps also goodwill with the traders, bankers etc
People – both asset and liability
The quality of the asset, its carrying (or work) capacity and the risk of its deterioration are relevant facets households need to consider.

5. Access To assets – leased in/out, encroached, ownership for women
To commons -canals, ponds, streams, rivers, forests, wastelands, grazing lands etc
To information on things like market prices, demand, seasonality, expected quality for the produce; on schemes and programmes
To markets and institutions; to input suppliers-physical, social and financial
To technology

6. Abilities Physical prowess – strength, eye sight
Motor skills -- eye – hand co-ordination in spinning and weaving
Special abilities unique to a specific trade – rigour, regimentation, managerial skills
To envision, plan
To receive market signals, negotiate
“Street smartness”

7. Assurances Traditional coping mechanisms –bonded labour
Crop diversification
Insurance
Futures
Savings
Social Capital

8. Need for differential as well as collectivisation approch
Different people have different level of these As depending on their life stages and thus need different approaches even in same activity
This framework also equality applicable at collective level such as village, Panchayat level etc.
Collectivisation like SHG often fosters these As and thus livelihoods outcomes

9. Livelihoods of rural poor is the result of a complex set of interactions among various factors related to the Community themselves, the Area where they are situated and sector dynamics

10. Framework of Area-Community-Sector

11. Community
“Self” of the person is the most pivotal factor that guides livelihoods choices
self-efficacy’, which helps explain what either constrains or supports people’s ability to seize opportunities
Enhancing the “self-efficacy” or “sense of agency” of poor people must be a necessary and key element of strategies to remove poverty.
This can only be done by engaging directly with them focusing on the “person”, her aspirations, her dreams, her dilemmas and internal blocks rather than the task / project at hand
Collectives like SHGs, Cluster and federation can help the members women develop confidence, draw support from each other emotionally and help each other in times of crisis

12. Contd.
The collectives also help in achieving scale of economies, share resources and knowledge, and also manage risks.
Again to fight these structures which are inherently discriminatory, women have to be organized to collectives

13. Area
Poverty is also a function of the physical location a person finds herself.
A vast majority of poor people in villages typically inhabit regions with complex and vulnerable ecologies; for e.g., – the undulating, hilly and mountainous terrain, erratic rainfall.
Need intervention in such ecologies that result in higher productivity and carrying capacity of natural resources, which would have a direct impact on livelihoods & well being of the people
A booming farm economy also benefits a large number of people down the line such as the laourers, traders, transporters and a host of market players.

14. Sector
The Sector here denotes the multifarious institutions of the Market and the State ( including policies and rules), Technology directly affecting choices.
A vast majority of poor people live in regions with weakest institutions, including poorly developed markets and weak governance.
Weak governance results in inadequate penetration of public resources and programmes into the rural areas which further exacerbates the already dismal situation.
New opportunities/technology developments in different sectors influences production system and thus livelihoods