DEC-20306 Rural Households and Livelihood Strategies

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

RSO-20806 Agricultural and Rural Development: Sociological Perspectives; DEC-20806 Introduction to Development Economics.

Continuation courses:

SDC-21306 Methods, Techniques and Data Analysis for Field Research; DEC-53306 Economics and Policy of Agricultural Development; SCD-30306 Sociological and Anthropological Perspectives on Development.

Contents:

Decisions made by rural households to secure their livelihood are central to understanding many of the key issues of international development studies. The aim of this course is to increase the awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches for analysing these decisions and the factors that must be taken into account for a real understanding of livelihood strategies, acknowledging the interactions within and between rural households and with agrarian policies. In particular, the course is designed to enhance the understanding of the complementarity of (micro)economic and sociological / anthropological approaches to rural households and their livelihood strategies. These different perspectives of households and their livelihoods have implications and consequences for the formulation of policy and for the empirical research undertaken to support policy-making. These implications will also be discussed during the course.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to explain, apply and evaluate different theoretical perspectives to rural household behaviour and livelihood strategies. This means that students are expected to be able to:
- explain and apply microeconomic theory, sociological/anthropological approaches and policy-based perspectives for analysing rural household behaviour and livelihood strategies, and evaluate their usefulness and limitations;
- explain why and how gender-differentiated access to assets and division of labour shape household production, consumption, labour decisions and livelihood strategies;
- analyse how rural households decide upon income diversification (esp. migration) as a livelihood strategy, taking into account gender relations, meanings of mobility and connectivity, and market imperfections, and explain how migration may affect farm production;
- use farm household economics and sociological/anthropological theoretical perspectives on livelihoods and resources to analyse degradation and conservation of natural resources (esp. land and water) in relation to livelihoods;
- analyse why risk aversion affects rural household production decisions and how risk and vulnerability transform and shape livelihood strategies;
- make an integrated analysis of the concepts, theories and perspectives discussed during the entire course;
- work together in a multidisciplinary group and prepare, present and defend a jointly prepared brief report.

Activities:

First week: Lectures on rural household economics and rural livelihood analysis. Weeks 2-4: a) Lectures and b) group assignments, prepared in groups of 4-5 students with different disciplinary backgrounds, on 5 themes: gender, migration, land, water, and risk & vulnerability; 5 workshops to discuss group reports.

Examination:

Based on:
(1) three weekly written tests with open questions at the end of the first 3 weeks (15% each), and a final written test with open questions at end of the fourth week (25%);
(2) group reports on 5 assignments, one group presentation, and participation of the group and the student in the 5 workshops (30%).
A minimum mark of 5.5 is needed for (1) the average mark of the four tests, and (2) the average mark for the assignments & workshops

Literature:

Selected chapters from:
- Ellis, F. (1993). Peasant Economics: Farm Households in Agrarian Development. Second edition. Cambridge; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
- De Janvry A. and E. Sadoulet (2016) . Development Economics – Theory and Practice. London & New York: Routledge
- Scoones, I. (2015). Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development. Rugby, UK: Practical Action
and selected articles and papers