Income-Generating Activities - Action Against Hunger

Field handbook • Scientific and Technical Department
Income Generating Activities: Any type of activity that enables a person or a household
to generate revenue. Incomes generating activities are important in terms of
creating sustainability and improving accessibility to basic food and non-food products.
Indicator: A measurement that shows the changes or the results of an observed activity.
(Euronaid, 2002).
Informal economy: Part of the economic activity that is not seen in statistical or fiscal
records.
Livelihood: The combination of all activities carried out in relation to the available resources
that allow a family to cover their needs, to continue surviving and to develop.
Logical framework: The logical framework is a tool for programme planning. It presents,
in a matrix form, the relationship between the programme’s overall objective,
the specific objectives, the expected results and the activities. For each of
these, the following must be specified: objectively verifiable indicators, sources
of verification and assumptions or external factors. The inputs (costs and resources)
are also included. The LFA serves as a basis for the proposal.
Micro business: Small business with limited production systems, financial sources and
labour. The production is often small-scale and can be industrial, agricultural or
service oriented.
Micro credit: Small loans given to people with scarce resources and without access to
commercial banks. In general these funds are directed towards financing activities
of self-employment that encourage the economic self-sufficiency of the vulnerable
population.
Micro finance: Sector dedicated to offering financial services to the vulnerable population,
including credit, savings and other services such as leasing.
Monitoring: Monitoring is the continual process of data collection and analysis, which
should take place as the project is being implemented. It is based on indicators
that are collected regularly. The actual progress is compared to the planned outcomes
and activities, in order to identify necessary remedial actions.
Moral hazard: Refers to situations in which one side of the market cannot recognise
the type or the quality of the goods of the other.
Participative Approach: All methodologies that are based on the participation of the
local population. With this focus the aim is to promote work with the population,
in this way we can identify the priorities and problems of the population and propose
suitable solutions.
Process of de-capitalisation: Occurs when the coping strategies, or adaptation strategies,
put into practice by vulnerable families bring about a loss of productive assets
and for that reason threaten the productive capacity of the family.
INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES: A KEY CONCEPT IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURTIY
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