Strategies for survival: the dynamics of livelihood diversity in Mali and Ethiopia

For rural families everywhere, reliance on income from farming has never been enough. A diverse range of jobs, markets and skills is often the only way to make ends meet. For the poorest, the right to collect wild fruit to trade in local markets may save them from starvation. For richer households, engaging in off-farm activities may be the key to investing against lean times ahead. With international development targets looming - in particular, the aim to halve acute poverty globally by 2015 - it is increasingly urgent to ask: what can families do to improve their livelihoods, and how can policy support them better? This Institute of Development Studies paper examines strategies for livelihood diversity (LD) in Mali and Ethiopia, raising critical questions about interventions to help families escape from poverty.