Sustainable livelihood approach for assessing community resilience to climate change: case studies from Sudan

Community based sustainable livelihood (SL) and environmental management (EM) measures have already been implemented in rural communities of Sudan. These measures aim to build resilience to the stresses of drought and climate variability, as well as increase adaptive capacity to future climate change. Research methods are being applied in Sudan case studies to evaluate the performance of these SL and EM measures based on the production of a SL conceptual framework.

The SL assessment is designed to establish the understanding and impacts of projects that have been implemented to secure local livelihoods and capture the perceptions of adaptive capacity in the process. It relies on three major processes: a) a range of data collection methods, b) a combination of qualitative and quantitative indicators, and c) the application of a resultant SL model or framework.

The following steps for assessment of sustainable livelihoods are proposed by the authors:

• identify key informants
• key informants identify stakeholder groups and institutions
• identification and analysis of livelihood systems
• consultation with stakeholder groups and revision of SL indicators
• determine perception of indicators
• determine status of livelihood assets
• analyse data outcomes
• validate results and group consultation.

The authors comment that primary results indicate the usefulness of the assessment tool in understanding SL measures’ impact in increasing community resilience.