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

本研究项目旨在调查埃塞俄比亚边缘地区家庭的生计策略。它侧重于在选定研究领域普遍存在的体制安排，这些安排调解资源权利和家庭能力，为实现可持续生计铺平道路。本研究的基本假设是基于这样的假设，即埃塞俄比亚农村地区的自然资源退化和贫困问题从根本上说是制度失败的问题（就产权界定不充分和治理问题而言），这些问题限制了农村家庭有效地引导其资产(自然、人力、物质、金融/经济、社会/政治资本)对提高可持续生计的捐赠。预计研究结果将使决策者和包括非政府组织在内的发展机构对微观和宏观政策、权利和农村生计的可持续性之间的联系更加敏感。实证研究将采用一种创新的方法，将探索性定性评价方法与调查方法和分析叙事方法相结合。这将有助于对农村家庭可用的生计资产进行全面的分析评估，并了解围绕地方一级机构、相关参与者及其策略的“现实生活游戏”。正是这些制度安排塑造了农村家庭的生计机会。因此，该研究项目一方面将有助于加深对边缘地区农村生计的了解，以及由此产生的个人、家庭和社区因应内部和外部体制安排的应对和适应战略。另一方面，它将有助于新制度经济学和可持续生计框架的理论和概念辩论。

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.