Sustainable Livelihood Approach

The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) is the foundational framework which VCI will apply in this
strategy. This means that this approach will be used in planning new development activities and in assessing the contribution that existing activities have made to sustain livelihoods.

The SLA is a way to improve the understanding of the livelihoods of poor people. It draws on the main factors that affect poor people’s livelihoods and the typical relationships between these factors. The SLA
approach places people, particularly rural poor people, at the centre of a web of inter-related influences

Vision Corp Initiative Strategic Plan October 2022 7 that affect how these people create a livelihood for themselves and their households. Closest to the people at the centre of the framework are the resources and livelihood assets that they have access to and use.

These can include natural resources, technologies, their skills, knowledge and capacity, their health, access
to education, sources of credit, or their networks of social support. The extent of their access to these assets
is strongly influenced by their vulnerability context, which takes into account trends (for example,
economic, political, and technological), shocks (for example, epidemics, natural disasters, and civil strife) and
seasonality (for example, prices, production, and employment opportunities). Access is also influenced by
the prevailing social, institutional and political environment, which affects the ways in which people
combine and use their assets to achieve their goals. These are their livelihood strategies. SLA has seven
guiding principles2 and they will be used while implementing this approach in VCI’s programming.