This section of the site provides inputs about the focus of the study, research questions, the methods used in the study and the study areas.

Focus of the study | Research Questions |  Methods

The Livelihood Options study

Funded by DFID Rural Livelihoods Department, running until March 2003, and drawing on evidence from India, Bangladesh and Nepal, aims to identify how policies can be changed to support positive exits via diversification, and how to reduce the impact of negatives.

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  Thematic diagram of the Project (32KB)

Within India, it will examine: 

  • How and how far existing policies have aimed to enhance the positive options for diversification and reduce the negatives

  • How far these policies have actually impacted at village level

  • What can be done to modify existing policies, or design new ones to achieve greater impact.

Within India’s federal system, some central policies reach down to village level directly, others are adapted by the individual States, and State governments themselves design and implement policies of their own to reflect their political priorities. For these reasons, the study will be based in three States of contrasting political and administrative characteristics: Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. The study will focus not only on the ‘downward’ flows of government support, but also on people’s capacity to voice demands and to influence the type and quality of service delivered. .....more

In Nepal as previously remote parts of the country are opened up, new livelihoods options are emerging involving migration, forestry, and high-value horticulture.

The Study will ask:

  • What are these new opportunities?
  • Who is able to access them and who is excluded?
  • What have been the impacts of new initiatives in decentralization? .....more

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In Bangladesh the study will aim to understand economic mobility and the role of microfinance.

Drawing upon earlier research findings the study will:

  • Document socio-economic differentiation in 8 villages in Madhupur and Chandina, aiming to determine whether, and to what extent, the poorest of the poor are excluded (or self-excluded) from microfinance services.
  • Generate conclusions and policy prescriptions about how to better provide microfinance services for the poorest of the poor
  • Investigate and explain the conditions under which poor people are able to graduate out of endemic poverty. This will involve an analysis of the constraints that prevent them from obtaining access to new and productive opportunities in the rural economy.....more

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Focus of the Study

The study will focus on policy interventions within four broad arenas:

  • Microfinance, including credit, savings and insurance provisions;
  • Employment (and self-employment) as affected by microfinance
  • Wider questions of migratory employment.
  • Safety nets, including employment assurance and price subsidies.

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Research Questions

The types of question that the research will address in India are the following:

  • How are the poor being affected by changes taking place in the Indian rural economy?

  • How have systemic transformations (eg in trade liberalisation, the role of the state, the investment climate and the creation of infrastructure) affected rural livelihoods in the study areas?

  • How and why are the rural poor diversifying?

  • How do formal and informal institutions affect their access to opportunities?

  • How do market forces (reflecting ecological, demographic and economic variations) affect access and vulnerability?

  • How do state provisions affect access and vulnerability?

  • What influence do State and local governments have on the design and availability of these provisions?

  • Who gains and who loses from these processes?

  • How can access by the poor to these provisions be improved upon?

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Research Methods

The main methods that the study will use include:

  • a year-long study of selected villages;
  • longitudinal comparisons between earlier surveys and current situations in some villages;
  • participant observation and the collection of life-histories;
  • reviews of secondary sources;

  • key informant interviews.