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Chasing the secret of sustainable development: How can the United Nations break the curse of poverty?
When it comes to the issue of sustainable development, the concept of "sustainable livelihoods" is gaining traction, especially at the intersection of development and environmental research. Particularly working with those who are vulnerable, including low-income people and Aboriginal communities, the concept offers a way to build a sustainable future that aims to eliminate wealth inequality within households. Yet, behind all this, how can the United Nations use this framework to break the curse of poverty?
Sustainable Livelihoods not only explores specific manifestations of poverty, but also focuses on vulnerability and social exclusion. The term emphasizes the ability of an individual to continue to provide for one's own livelihood, while "sustainability" also involves the ability to cope with external shocks or stresses and to recover after suffering trauma. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework provides a structure for more comprehensive poverty alleviation action.
A sustainable livelihoods approach focuses on finding solutions to problems in vulnerable communities, creating development opportunities that are people-centred, participatory and dynamic. This is a bridge that connects the environment and humans to coexist harmoniously.
Historical background
The term sustainable livelihoods was first proposed in rural settings and was further revised by the Brundtland Commission. Authors Gibson-Graham, Cameron, and Healy emphasize the measurement of well-being and how to improve one's well-being in order to better survive.
Brundtland Council
The concept of sustainable livelihoods was first proposed by the Brundtland Commission in 1992. The concept was further expanded at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development that year, advocating the realization of sustainable livelihoods as a broad goal of poverty eradication. In 1992, Robert Chalmers and Gordon Conway proposed the following comprehensive definition of sustainable rural livelihoods:
Livelihoods include the capabilities, assets (storages, resources, rights and access) and activities required for living; sustainable livelihoods are able to cope with and recover from stresses and shocks, maintain or enhance their capabilities and assets, and provide Provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for the next generation; and contribute net benefits to other livelihoods locally and globally.
Concept development
Derived from the theory of sustainable development, the sustainable livelihoods approach combines collective concern for the environment and economic resources with individual concerns.
Individual well-being
In their analysis of various 24-hour clocks, Gibson-Graham et al. synthesized five categories of general well-being: material, occupational, social, community, and physical. While the effects of overall interventions are difficult to measure, quantitative data on qualitative phenomena such as well-being are equally difficult to collect.
Sustainable Livelihoods Approach Model
There are several organizations integrating sustainable livelihoods approaches into their poverty alleviation efforts, and their models for adapting sustainable livelihoods approaches are discussed here.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are goals for a sustainable world by 2030 adopted by the United Nations in 2015. These goals target various issues such as poverty. Each SDG has specific secondary goals and is comprehensively promoted at the national, community and individual levels. The United Nations publishes progress reports every year indicating the progress of each SDG.
Smart Community Development Framework (SCDF)
SCDF aims to identify problems in vulnerable communities and propose solutions for sustainable livelihoods. Its main purpose is to identify the needs of each community and target socially specific solutions to combat that community's vulnerabilities, particularly poverty. The framework focuses on empowering communities to take ownership of their problems and actively participate in overcoming challenges.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
The United Nations Development Program uses a sustainable livelihoods approach to development, assessing different types of capital to deliver interventions. UNDP identifies five key capitals: human, social, natural, physical and financial. Individual access to these assets determines how UNDP designs programs to directly or indirectly contribute to development.
CARE
CARE focuses on emergency relief management and long-term development plans. In 1994, CARE developed the Household Livelihood Security Framework to better monitor, evaluate and track their work. CARE's Sustainable Livelihoods Framework application moves away from sectional approaches and focuses on holistic development techniques.
DFID
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) focuses on eradicating extreme poverty and providing foreign aid. DFID uses the sustainable livelihoods framework to focus comprehensively on activities directly related to improving individual livelihoods, and incorporates people-centered, multi-layered, sustainable and dynamic demands into its measures.
Ultimately, these efforts are exploring how to find a balance between inequality and poverty, and continue to work toward a more sustainable future. But with this push, can we really ensure that the ideal of “leaving no one behind” is realized?
