A rights-based approach for sustainable livelihoods

[Extract] Development discourses have evolved through the addition of new concepts to specify and improve development practice. ‘Human rights’ is one of the concepts which emerged in development discourses in the late 1990s. The link between development and human rights has developed in the name of a ‘human rights-based approach to development’, more commonly in the shortened form, a ‘rights-based approach’ (RBA). The objective of this chapter is to explore the potential contributions of a RBA to advancing sustainable livelihoods. This chapter examines the relationship between a RBA and a sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) and the implications of that relationship for livelihood-related strategies and outcomes. It is structured in three parts: 1) Part 1 is dedicated to a refection on RBA in relation to its emergence, theoretical background, key features, operational implications and major critiques, 2) Part 2 explores how a RBA and a SLA supplement each other based on the similarities and differences between the two, 3) Part 3 describes ongoing attempts to incorporate a RBA into strategies for sustainable livelihoods drawing on a case study.

© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Fiona Nunan, Clare Barnes, and Sukanya Krishnamurthy; individual chapters, the contributors