Destitution in Ethiopia’s Northeast Highlands: conceptual paper

The Sustainable Livelihoods approach in looking at destitution

How can destitution best be analysed? How can the sustainable livelihoods approach be used to open up the causal processes and the nature of destitution?

This paper was prepared for discussion at planning workshops in Ethiopia for Save the Children.It proposes a framework for the analysis of destitution based on a concept of ‘unsustainable livelihoods’.In this framework, livelihood outcomes are distinguished into three categories: sustainable (having some resilience to shocks), vulnerable (to shocks), and unsustainable (requiring external assistance even in the absence of shocks). It then applies this analysis to the situation in Ethiopia’s Northeastern Highlands.

The advantages of this approach include that:

Unlike conventional methods for sub-categorising poverty, it draws attention to ‘access to’ rather than ‘ownership of’ key productive assets; and to the environment of livelihood resources.
It allows that destitution arises from low and deteriorating stocks of - and access to - all types of assets and resources (including natural, physical, human, social and financial capital) at community as well as household levels; and from institutional barriers constraining access to resources.

In operational terms, the approach implies:

A fuller, more nuanced, dynamic assessment of conflicting reports of falling or rising poverty levels in the region.
A closer examination of the causes of destitution, hence moving away from the often crude Malthusian terms in which it is currently conceptualised.

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Destitution in Ethiopia’s Northeast Highlands: conceptual paper