Assessing livelihood for improvement: Samanalawewa reservoir environs, Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper explores household (HH)-level livelihood dynamics and determinants since construction of the Samanalawewa Hydroelectricity Reservoir (SHER) in the Samanalawewa watershed, Sri Lanka. The research is based on data from a structured questionnaire survey of 201 randomly selected households (HHs) in upstream and downstream areas. Livelihood dynamics at two separate points in time (1988 and 2008) were assessed based on a sustainable livelihood framework (SLF). Impact of livelihood determinants on livelihood was analysed using factor and regression analysis techniques, followed by an optimisation procedure to suggest requirements in selected significant determinants to improve the livelihood of various categories of farm HH. In both upstream and downstream areas, livelihood assets, viz. physical, social and human capital, increased significantly, while access to natural and financial capital decreased significantly and slightly, respectively, during last two decades. The factor analysis extracted six factors in the upstream area and seven in the downstream area. The derived regression models show that nine variables in the upstream area and ten in the downstream area are major determinants of HH livelihood. Based on optimisation results, policy implications are discussed in relation to needed improvements in livelihood determinants to improve overall livelihood of HHs.

Keywords:

• farm households
• livelihood assessment
• determinants
• optimisation

Acknowledgements

Financial support is acknowledged from the Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education (IRQUE) – a World Bank Project implemented by Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, academic and partial scholarships provided by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) for the first author's doctoral studies. Thanks are also due to Professor Shivakoti for suggestions and literature support on livelihood assessment, to Dr. Schmidt-Vogt and Dr. Samarakoon for discussion during the course of the study. We sincerely appreciate constructive comments of the editor and reviewers, which helped to improve the quality of the manuscript.