Abstract
Sustainable Livelihood Analysis (SLA) has since the 1990s become the dominant
approach to the implementation of development interventions by a number of major international agencies. It is defined in terms of the ability of a social unit to enhance its assets and capabilities in the face of shocks and stresses over time. SLA first seeks to identify the important assets in livelihood, their trends over time and space as well as the nature and impacts of shocks and stresses (environmental, economic and social) upon these assets. Following this, and after taking cognisance of the wider context (e.g. political, legal, economic, institutions, infrastructure etc.), interventions are designed to address any vulnerability of enhance livelihoods perhaps by diversification of income streams. Thus SLA could be said to be a practical framework for evidence
- based in tervention and has much logic resting behind it, especially in a world undergoing rapid change and where resources to support development interventions are inevitably limited. However, putting SLA into practice is not as easy as it may so often appear, and there are many overlaps with the
problems long
- reported of making policy in general more evidence
- based. Surprisingly there are relatively few reported attempts to take a more critical stance as to the feasibility of SLA and its ability to help deliver re
al change for people in the developing world.