Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods. A Critical Review of Assistance in Post-Conflict Situations

This document reports on a 2003 workshop by the Institute for Security Studies regarding the Sustainable Livelihoods approach in post-conflict regions. It identifies a 'deadly triad' of conflict, HIV/AIDS, and food insecurity in Africa and argues that sustainable peace requires broad-based economic recovery rather than elite-focused policies. It highlights the operational challenges for aid agencies, including the need for local beneficiary involvement and the integration of humanitarian aid with long-term development, while noting that aid is inherently political.

• African populations face a 'deadly triad' of interrelated burdens consisting of chronic food insecurity, HIV/AIDS, and conflict. These are compounded by disease, massive displacement, and a reduced capacity for governance and basic service provision, creating endemic threats to livelihoods. The document notes that non-traditional security threats now expose more people to risk than direct or indirect deaths from armed conflict.
• For peace to be sustained in post-conflict recovery, economic policies must avoid favoring a narrow elite and instead promote broad-based recovery that improves human development indicators and incomes for the majority, particularly the poor. Failure to do so risks a 'negative' peace and an underdevelopment-conflict cycle, as peace and development are viewed as mutually dependent.
• Aid agencies encounter three primary operational challenges when attempting to address the root causes of conflict during post-conflict transitions: the need to link development and peace initiatives to address material conditions and empower peaceful resolution; the necessity of incorporating local beneficiaries in project planning and implementation; and the requirement for flexible, long-term frameworks to sustain peace.
• Humanitarian aid is inherently political and can potentially challenge the status quo or, if mismanaged, become a source of conflict and food insecurity in Africa. Effective response requires removing fixed boundaries between humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, and development cooperation, though this is complicated by the destruction of institutions during war and subsequent coordination difficulties between NGOs, donors, and governments.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (n.d.). Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods. A Critical Review of Assistance in Post-Conflict Situations. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-102-supporting-sustainable-livelihoods.-a-critical-review-of-assistance-in-post-conflict-situations

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods. A Critical Review of Assistance in Post-Conflict Situations. n.d. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-102-supporting-sustainable-livelihoods.-a-critical-review-of-assistance-in-post-conflict-situations.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods. A Critical Review of Assistance in Post-Conflict Situations |url=https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-102-supporting-sustainable-livelihoods.-a-critical-review-of-assistance-in-post-conflict-situations |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudiesndsupporting, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods. A Critical Review of Assistance in Post-Conflict Situations}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-102-supporting-sustainable-livelihoods.-a-critical-review-of-assistance-in-post-conflict-situations}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }