This cluster of activities examines how the rural and urban poor can engage successfully with global, regional and local markets in response to changing governance, organisation and economic conditions. It aims to answer a range of research questions, including:
- What livelihood strategies and options are available to households to upgrade their position in existing value chains and achieve higher rates of return?
- How can government create an enabling environment to allow poor people to pursue different livelihoods strategies (for example, by supoprting internal migration and developing social protection policies)?
- How do natural resource-dependent households sustain their livelihoods when resources are under pressure?
- How will climate change affect the constraints and opportunities for poor households in the South?
Much of the work addressing this interest has been focused at the micro-economic level, on the poor household as the unit of analysis.
