PhD thesis Title Page Final _Richard Juma - Victoria University ...

understanding influences on poverty and identifying where interventions
can best be made to help poor people reduce poverty. The framework has
been applied widely by development agencies, donors, and other
organizations in formulating policies, informing strategic thinking and
guiding participatory planning (Ashley and Carney 1999: 10).
Ellis’ (2000: 30) framework is presented here as Figure 3. This is a version
of the ‘assets-mediating process-activities’ framework. The framework
identifies entry points and critical processes, and assists with prioritising
catalysts for change. Readers may think that it is difficult for such a
diagram to capture the dynamics of livelihood systems that, in practice,
involve numerable feedback mechanisms and complex interactions
between components. Here, the diagram is used as a pragmatic heuristic
device to organise ideas into manageable categories. Dynamic interactions
are therefore under emphasised and boldly implied, rather than stated in
the framework.
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