Sustainable livelihoods in India

What does livelihoods mean? According to Dr Sankar Dutta, in this article for India Development Review, "Livelihoods refers to the means of making a living, or simply a way of life, which includes all aspects of a person’s life. It consists of economic activities embedded in a society that is governed by social, political as well as cultural processes." According to him, to work on livelihoods, you need to address all processes, because if you focus just on the economics of living, change will not happen.

A report, published by AVPN, echoes what Dr Dutta says that. According to that, "Sustainable livelihoods is an approach to eradicating poverty that applies environmental, economic, and social equity principles to access and consumption of resources. A livelihood can be said to be sustainable if it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks."

According to this article written about the AVPN report, here is what the landscape of sustainable livelihoods in India looks like:

• Productivity is low in the agricultural sector: Though agriculture employs 64 percent of the total rural workforce, it produces only 39 percent of the total monetary rural output.
• Non-agricultural activities are increasing, but worker productivity is not: Sectors like services and construction are growing, but worker productivity is not increasing.
• Artisans are unable to scale their enterprises: Artisans are unable to tap into new markets and take their businesses to scale.
• India faces a severe shortage of skilled labour: The skilled labour ecosystem is constrained by inadequate training infrastructure, out-of-date curricula, and other limitations.
• The government recognises the need for entrepreneurship: The Report of the Expert Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship recommends focusing on young and innovative technology firms, upcoming manufacturing businesses, and innovator companies.

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In order to begin to make sector function more efficiently, this article lays out some best practices that donors and philanthropists interested in livelihoods can focus on.

• Support strategic organisation building
• Organise periodic gatherings for reflection
• Promote dialogue at higher levels, while engaging at the grassroot level
• Integrate farm and non-farm solutions
• Provide holistic and intensive early stage support
• Undertake grant rating and performance linked payouts

Given the dynamic and constantly evolving nature of the sustainable livelihoods sector, we need more information on what organisations need and better communication between implementing agencies and their donor partners. This would then allow work in work in the space to progress in a more effective and sustainable manner. @

For more information on the sector, what practioners are doing and how donors are thinking, you can look through this section on India Development Review.