Die Rolle von Institutionen auf der lokalen Ebene für die Förderung nachhaltiger Lebensgrundlagen in ländlichen Räumen Äthiopiens

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This research project aims at investigating households' livelihood strategies in marginal areas at Ethiopia. It focuses on institutional arrangements that prevail in selected study areas which mediate resource entitlements and household capabilities to pave the way towards sustainable livelihoods. The basic hypothesis of this research is based on the assumption that the problems of natural resource degradation and poverty in rural Ethiopia are fundamentally problems of institutional failures (both in terms of inadequately defined property rights and problems of governance) that have constrained the capabilities of rural households to effectivily channel their asset (natural, human, physical, financial/economic, sozial/political capital) endowments towards enhancing sustainable livelihoods. The results are expected to sensitise policy makers and development agents, including NGOs, about the linkage between micro and macro policies, entitlements and sustainability of rural livelihoods. The empirical study will employ an innovative approach combining explorative qualitative appraisal methods with survey approaches and the methodology of analytical narratives. This will allow a thorough analytical assessment of the livelihood assets available to rural households, and of understanding 'real life games' around local-level institutions, the involved actors and their strategies. It is these institutional arrangements which shape the livelihood opportunities of rural households. The research project will thus contribute, on the one hand, to deepening the understanding of rural livelihoods in marginal areas and the resulting coping and adaptive strategies of individuals, households and communities, in response to internal and external instititional arrangements. On the other hand, it will contribute to the theoretical and conceptual debates in new institutional economics and the sustainable livelihoods framework.