Sustainable Livelihoods Enhancement and Diversification (SLED)

i. Draw up an inventory of all the activities which different individuals and groups have planned.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Brainstorm the different skills, knowledge and capacities which each of these activities is likely to
require, paying particular attention to the activities planned by poorer and more vulnerable groups.
Based on the experience of the facilitation team, review the strengths and skills of the different groups
and individuals planning each activity.
Compare the skills available for groups and individuals with those required for the activities and
identify where there are gaps.
v. Consider how these gaps can be addressed. Identify possible service providers, sources of training
and skills provision that could play a role. Remember to consider the option of getting private service
providers to carry out functions which individuals and groups are not able to do themselves and
consider what resources could be used to pay for such services.
vi.
vii.
viii.
Organise meetings with the individuals and groups concerned and repeat the process with them, get
them to identify skills and knowledge that they are likely to require, encouraging them to consider the
points identified by the facilitation team and compare them with the strengths and skills which they
have identified for themselves.
Focus on the gaps between the two sets of capacities and discuss how and where these gaps can be
addressed. Make suggestions based on the experience and knowledge of the facilitation team.
Encourage SLED individuals and groups to incorporate capacity-building in their activity plans and
seek out means of implementing capacity-building activities.
3.3 Building an enabling environment
A key part of the role of the SLED facilitation team during the Doing Phase will be to work to create an
“enabling environment” which is supportive of the livelihood changes being undertaken by people in the
communities where they work. The extent to which that support is actually available and accessible for those
groups when they need it depends on what we can call the Enabling Environment.
The enabling environment is complex and can be interpreted in many different ways. But in practical terms,
we can think of two key elements in the enabling environment that are of central importance to SLED
facilitators and people who are trying to undertake changes in their livelihoods. These are enabling
agencies (see Box 6) and service providers (see Box 7).
Shaping this environment for SLED participants, and transforming disabling influences into enabling and
supportive factors is extremely challenging for coastal managers and SLED facilitators. Failure to address
these issues will limit the effectiveness of SLED activities (and as a result often limit the effectiveness of
Box 6: Who are enabling agencies?
Enabling agencies are the people, institutions, or sets of rules, customs and laws, which set out how
society works, and how service providers deliver their services.
Some enabling agencies are quite easy to identify. They include: the politicians and political leaders who
set out policies for the country; political representatives who vote for new laws and who decide how state
resources are distributed; and the judiciary and law enforcement agencies who enforce the laws. They can
also include more local level decision-makers: local administrators who decide whether or not to implement
certain programmes.
However, some enabling agencies are more difficult to identify. They are the “powers-that-be” or people
with influence that determine the “rules of the game” (which are often very different from the laws and
regulations that are formally in force). They may be the political and economic elite, religious or cultural
leaders, or local elites that exercise influence and power in their areas or communities.
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