Livelihood thinking dates back to the work of Robert Chambers in the mid-1980s. In realisingthat conventional development concepts did not yield the desired effects and that humankind wasadditionally facing an enormous population pressure, Chambers developed the idea ofœSustainable Livelihoods? with the intention to enhance the efficiency of developmentcooperation. His concepts constitute the basics for the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA), as it was developed by the British Department for International Development (DFID). Startingfrom 1997, DFID integrated the approach in its program for development cooperation.
The following paper outlines the origins, objectives, strategies and outcomes of theSustainable Livelihoods Approach.