Policies, institutions and processes

The Policies, Institutions and Processes (PIPs) element of the livelihoods framework covers the complex social, economic and political context within which people pursue their livelihoods strategies.

Policies, institutions and processes include the inter-related issues of:

• Social relations: the way in which gender, ethnicity, culture, history, religion and kinship affect the livelihoods of different groups with a community
• Social and political organisation: decision-making processes, civic bodies, social rules and norms, democracy, leadership, power and authority, rent-seeking behaviour
• Governance: the form and quality of government systems including structure, power, efficiency and effectiveness, rights and representation
• Service delivery: the effectiveness and responsiveness of state and private sector agencies engaged in delivery of services such as education, health, water and sanitation
•  Resource access institutions: the social norms, customs and behaviours (or ‘rules of the game’) that define people’s access to resources
•  Policy and policy processes: the processes by which policy and legislation is determined and implemented and their effects on people’s livelihoods

PIPs operate at global, national, regional, district and local levels. Key to understanding their impact on local livelihoods is an analysis of the operation, or absence, of links between micro, meso and macro levels.

Given its complexity, there are have been several attempts to ‘unpack the PIPs box’ to improve understanding of the institutional context, including exploring the links between rights-based and livelihoods approaches, and trying to sharpen our comprehension of the role of governance in sustainable livelihoods. Different organisations have found their own ways to understand the PIPs box and apply that understanding to their policy and programmes: some include political capital as an additional asset; some put gender at the centre of the framework; others argue that an in-depth understanding of market systems is key to successful livelihoods support.

With the movement of development aid ‘upstream’ to focus on direct budget support, country-led development strategies, macro-economic growth and governance, livelihoods approaches can play an important role in ‘ground-truthing’ - ensuring that policies, institutions and processes are informed by, and directly linked to, the complex reality of poor people’s lives.