Module 3: Towards an application of livelihood approaches

3.4: Choosing among entry points for interventions

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Entry Points for Interventions: Choosing among five basic options for effective poverty reduction measures

The essential step: Proceed from holistic exploration to focused intervention

Poverty reduction with a livelihood focus means basically the following:

1. To apply a holistic approach for the analysis of a poverty context with all concerned stakeholders
2. To validate the result for formulating one or several evidence-based development hypothesis for the design of effective and focused poverty reduction measures
3. To monitor and evaluate the impacts of the poverty reduction measure on the background of the holistic perception of people's livelihood acquired in the analysis.

A well-founded development hypothesis remains the kingpin of programme or project development.

The livelihood framework as platform for choosing options for poverty reduction

The illustration above demonstrates how a livelihood framework provides a platform for a clearer distinction between five alternative options or entry points for interventions for poverty relevant development measures. On an abstract level these options are:

1. Promoting and implementing poverty oriented policies (pro-poor growth, favourable labour markets, etc.).
2. Initiating pro-poor institutional change (e.g., increased organisational efficiency and effectiveness of public and private service providers, political participation, etc.).
3. Improving coping capacities of poor people, enhancing their capabilities for pursuing more sustainable livelihood strategies (e.g., negotiations skills, education, crop insurance, etc.).
4. Facilitating access to existing opportunities for people constrained in their access to such opportunities (e.g., access to credit systems, markets, new technologies, etc).
5. Reducing exposure to risks by tackling them directly and thus reducing poor people's vulnerabilities (e.g., vulnerabilities resulting from natural hazards such as floods, or caused by seasonal price fluctuations).

In actual development practice, an engagement in one of the five options may call for complementary support in one or several fields of the other four options. For example, access to micro-credit (option 4) might first require establishing adequate lending rules on the side of the banks (2), supplemented by empowering small farmers to handle credits (3) and, on top of that, changing re-financing policies of the national bank of the country (1).