Livelihoods, poverty, and development

This chapter explores the relationships between development, poverty, and livelihoods in rural Africa. It argues that although poverty is a global socioeconomic issue, the nature and persistence of Africa’s poverty, especially in rural areas, poses a great challenge to global poverty alleviation efforts. It presents the livelihood framework, which looks at poverty from the perspective of the poor, including how people make a living and build their worlds. The framework also challenges us to consider the specific context of poverty intervention and not to think of rural livelihoods only in terms of agricultural and natural resource-based strategies. Rather, it pushes us to take into account poor people’s capital assets, income sources, and labor markets. The chapter explores livelihood diversification as a pathway for poverty reduction and economic growth in regions and the policy implication of this way of thinking about rural poverty.