Browsing by Author "Brock, K."
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- Implementing a sustainable livelihoods framework for policy-directed research: Reflections from practice in MaliBrock, K. (Institute of Development Studies University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, 1999)This paper has two objectives. The first is to discuss the experience of carrying out research in a village in Mali as part of a multi-country, comparative research programme on the theme of Sustainable Livelihoods. The second is to place that field-level experience in the broader context of the relationship between research and policy, particularly in terms of the exchange and flow of information between different stakeholders in the development policy process. The process of using the Sustainable Livelihoods framework for planning and implementing and inquiry, and analyzing the information this generated, raised a range of questions. On one hand, there were methodological lessons and practical issues: what is the best way to represent complexity? How can the multiple views of different actor groups be incorporated in to such a representation? How can such a learning process be effectively managed within the boundaries of available resources? On the other hand, there were more abstract considerations: what, and who, is this research for? How could this process of research best be transformed into something which usefully serves the needs of the poor, or supports environmentally sustainable practices? These reflections on how a particular piece of research was carried out resonated with some of the current debates about methodological complimentarily, incorporating the needs and perceptions of the poor into anti-poverty policies, and the centrality of institutions, both to livelihoods and policymaking. There is in turn a common thread in many of these debates; how to best occupy the space between top-down and bottom-up, between macro and micro. The framework for research and analysis described here provided opportunities to bridge this gap.
- Sustainable rural livelihoods in MaliBrock, K.; Coulibaly, N. (Institute of Development Studies, 1999)This report describes research on Sustainable Rural Livelihoods which was carried out in two villages in Mali, selected to represent the rain fed cereal and cotton producing regions. The research was carried out using an analytic framework which places an emphasis on the institutional arrangements through which people gain differentiated access to the bundle of capitals (natural, physical, human, economic and social) necessary to construct a livelihood. Livelihoods are seen to be composed of three strategies: agriculture, livelihood diversification and migration. The results highlight the importance of migration and livelihood diversification in allowing households to pursue particular paths of agricultural intensification, and show that access to diversification activities is differentiated by age, gender and household structure. Local perceptions of sustainability were used to rank households as more and less sustainable. The research shows how different types of household use the ranges of capitals available to them to construct a livelihood, and what barriers exist for the less well off. These village level findings are located within a picture of changing rural development policy at the national level.