the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) has been designed by the Department for International Development (DFID) to provide an organised approach to listing, understanding and linking the main factors and influences on people’s livelihoods in order to achieve sustainable livelihoods. The framework is designed to be used as a checklist or as an analytical tool. As an analytical tool the SLF doesn’t stand alone, a number of tools should be used to identify issues of relevance. The Department for International Developments (DFID) website contains a toolbox with tools such as governance assessment, risk assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment and participatory poverty assessment technique.
The framework indicates highly dynamic, relationships between the different components. There is no one direction to follow the framework from a common starting point as it does not operate in a linear manner, nor attempt to present a mode of reality (DFID (1999) Introduction to the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheets, (http://www.livelihoods.org).
The framework should be used to analyse livelihoods, it will then indicate which type of development activity can do the most to eliminate poverty.
"They include activities such as:
- improving access to high-quality education, information technologies and training and better nutrition and health
- facilitating a more supportive and cohesive social environment
- improving access to, and management of, natural resources
- improving access to basic and facilitating infrastructure
- improving access to financial resources, and
- establishing a policy and institutional environment that supports multiple livelihood strategies and promotes equitable access to competitive markets for all.
These six areas of activity relate to the five types of capital identified in DFID's SL framework and to the area of the framework termed A Policy, Institutions and Processes
Institutions are of concern because of their linkages to household livelihood strategies and outcomes, for instance, in providing access to assets, sources of income, reducing vulnerability, and mitigating adverse consequences of economic policies, civil strife and other external shocks. There is, therefore, a clear connection between this research and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach developed by UNDP, DFID and others, that has recently gained great recognition and enthusiasm.6 More specifically, we address the part of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (Figure 1) that links livelihood assets with policies, institutions, and processes - PIP