Policy, poverty and livelihoods in Southern Africa

Recent research has investigated public policy impacts on sustainable natural resource use and poverty in cross-border dryland regions in three southern African countries. This research encompassed new ways of thinking about social and environmental change, and developed innovative methods for dealing with these integrated issues. The research was funded by the UK Department for International Development who are key research users and practitioners in the development process.

Research with Rachel Slater at the Overseas Development Institute has investigated natural-resource based livelihoods in urban areas. Natural resources make significant, though often hidden, contributions to the livelihoods of the urban poor. Greater appreciation of the ways in which natural resources support the urban poor offers spaces of opportunity for urban policy-makers and planners to think more creatively and innovatively about options for urban development policy. The research, funded by DFID, aimed to uncover some of these 'hidden' livelihoods as they are manifested in cities in Southern Africa and draw broader conclusions, applicable outside Southern Africa, about when and where policy interventions might be appropriate.