Trade-offs in the exploration of Sustainable Livelihoods: Experience from a micro-credit intervention in Nigeria

摘要

The paper discusses the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) as implemented by a Catholic Church development organisation (Diocesan Development Services; DDS) in Nigeria, including the trade-offs involved and the meaning of 'success' with this process. SLA sets out to assess the ability of a social unit to enhance its assets and capabilities in the face of shocks and stresses over time and could be said to be a practical framework for evidence-based intervention. DDS implemented an SLA to help provide the basis for changes planned to an existing intervention, namely micro-credit. Given the challenges involved in SLA, DDS decided upon a number of trade-offs to balance the significant cost in resource against what it was looking for from the process. The first driver was a perceived need from DDS to provide quality evidence to help plan changes to its micro-credit scheme. The evidence gained from the SLA was also intended to help provide credibility when approaching major donors for support with the scheme. Secondly there was a desire to use the SLA as a means to identify and work with a group of households in an area where DDS had little prior experience on the assumption that these households could form the basis for a wider involvement with the community.