What do Sustainable Livelihoods mean?

Sustainable livelihoods refer to people’s capacity to generate and maintain their means of living, enhance their own well-being, as well as that of future generations. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from crisis, disasters, and economic stress, maintaining its capabilities and assets without compromising the natural resources for the future. Large-scale disasters and crisis, in addition to human and material losses, often destroy or undermine livelihoods and put into question the future of the survivors. A disaster deepens economic and social vulnerabilities, and can contribute to undermine the capacity to overcome adverse situations in the future.

Sustainable livelihoods increase the resilience of people and communities, reducing their vulnerability to disasters, food insecurity and poverty, while contributing to their empowerment, personal dignity and safer and more resilient communities. Sustainable livelihoods are one of the key components to enhance resilience and a determinant factor for the promotion of social inclusion.

Why provide Livelihoods support?

In order to facilitate to vulnerable individuals and communities in need, alternatives of means of living, development of personal capabilities and access to opportunities.

By ensuring that vulnerable households have sustainable means of living, their incomes, their self esteem, their possession of assets and their social participation will increase significantly over time.

Livelihoods support generates a positive impact in the empowerment of individuals, making it possible to make them leaders of their own development, ensuring self-sufficiency and breaking with dependency dynamics.