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ABSTRACT
To address the livelihood problems faced by the poor and vulnerable in Northern Province of Zambia, a novel collective action approach called livelihoods enhancement groups (LEGs) was used as a platform for facilitating research on development initiatives to generate change. Using focus group discussions and key informant interviews, this article assesses the potential of using the LEGs approach in generating change. The livelihood changes observed arose with the LEG as a platform through which different knowledge nodes interacted. Livelihood areas that LEGs affected included crop production, livestock production, nutrition, and access to credit.
Afin de discuter des problèmes de subsistance auxquels sont confrontées les personnes pauvres et vulnérables dans la Province Septentrionale de la Zambie, une nouvelle approche d'action collective appelée Livelihoods Enhancement Groups, ou LEGs, (Groupes d'amélioration des moyens de subsistance) a été utilisée en tant que plateforme de recherche sur des initiatives de développement visant à générer du changement. Basé sur des groupes de discussion thématique et des entretiens avec des informateurs clés, cet article évalue le potentiel de cette approche pour générer du changement. Les changements observés dans les moyens de substitution ont augmenté avec l'approche LEG en tant que plateforme d'interactions entre différents noyaux de connaissance. Les domaines de subsistance impactés incluent la production agricole, l'élevage du bétail, la nutrition et l'accès au crédit.
Para abordar los problemas vinculados a los medios de vida enfrentados por la población empobrecida y vulnerable de la Provincia del Norte de Zambia, se impulsó un novedoso enfoque de acción colectiva llamado “grupos destinados al mejoramiento de los medios de vida” (leg por sus siglas en inglés); se trata de una plataforma encaminada a facilitar la investigación de aquellas iniciativas de desarrollo orientadas a generar cambios. A partir de discusiones realizadas en varios grupos de enfoque y de entrevistas con informantes clave, el presente artículo evalúa la posibilidad de usar el enfoque de leg para promover la generación de cambios. En este sentido, se constata que los cambios que tuvieron lugar en los medios de vida surgieron tras el uso de los leg como plataforma en la que interactuaron diversos nodos de información. Éstos incidieron en varias áreas vinculadas a los medios de vida, por ejemplo, la producción de cultivos, la cría de ganado, la nutrición y el acceso a créditos.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Kelvin Mulungu is a member of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA. He previously worked at HarvestPlus Zambia.
Elias Madzudzo was formerly a member of the WorldFish Center, Lusaka, Zambia.
Samuel Adjei-Nsiah is a member of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Tamale, Ghana.
Mulani Akatama works for CIFOR Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
Notes
1 The “fish pond fishing, cassava and agricultural trade zone” covers the north and central part of Luwingu and is situated on the highland at 1200 m and 1500 m above sea level. The “west/east cassava, ground nuts and rice zone” lies to the west and east of the district, and the “lake fishing, cassava and irrigated vegetable zone” slopes towards the flat land which ranges from 1200 m to 900 m above sea level (Ngoleka Citation2013).
2 While we agree with the general assessment of the Evidence for Development report, we also note that the report does not seem to have considered non-timber forest products as part of the livelihoods assessment.
3 Personal communication with the SHA programme manager.
4 At the time of the survey, K6.5 = US$1.