Livelihoods and job opportunities

Creating Livelihoods & Job Opportunities

We believe that economic inclusion and job creation – ensuring that people have and can take advantage of opportunities to earn a living – leads to poverty eradication.

Sustainable incomes are vital for building empowered communities, and the Socio-Economic Empowerment with Dignity and Sustainability (SEEDS) program places an emphasis on improving livelihoods and incomes for vulnerable families.

Creating job opportunities and strengthening access to sustainable incomes is an important facet in the combat against poverty and is vital to building truly empowered, and resilient communities.

The SEEDS and DREAM programmes implemented in Asia employed several strategies to create jobs and promote livelihoods for the marginalized communities in the region.

Family development plan

Using the Family Development Plan (FDP) as a tool to determine and promote potential livelihood avenues for marginalized groups, the target families are supported to develop and nurture their income sources with guidance and facilitation from the programme.

Families engage in on-farm and off-farm income generation activities while laying out strategies for the growth of their Income Generating Activities (IGAs).

Micro entrepreneurship

Promoting micro entrepreneurship at the grassroots is vital for creating sustainable incomes. Families receive support to create business development plans, assess market opportunities, and build linkages with service providers, which enable them to run successful micro businesses.

Microenterprises established through our interventions have created direct and indirect jobs not only for our beneficiaries, but others in the community as well.

Production Groups & CBOs

Group IGAs and Production Groups have played an important role in promoting job creation and income generation. Target families receive the opportunity to obtain assistance from Small Group members to implement their IGAs through labour exchange programmes.

We focus on building the capacity of Community Based Organisations (CBOs), helping them to obtain government cooperative registration to promote entrepreneurship and for them to have access to larger investments of capital.

The right to decent work

We work according to the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 8 on decent work for all. In particular, we work to ensure that companies and authorities take responsibility and fulfill the rights of employees.

2019 Tanzania Project trip Tangen High School

Young people need income

In many developing countries, more than half of the population is under 25 years of age. Education, vocational training and job opportunities are crucial for a new generation to emerge from poverty.

Transferring vocational and trade skills

Our interventions impart trade skills and knowledge to marginalized families. As a result of the skills received, target families are able to improve their existing income avenues while venturing into alternative income generation activities.

Target groups receive skills in trades such as agriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry, handicraft-making, tailoring and food and beverage production.

Vocational training for youth

Youth from marginalized communities benefit from vocational training, allowing them to access job opportunities or start their own microenterprises. The FDP has been a useful tool to identify youth who are interested in pursuing vocational and technical education.

Based on the intervention, youth have the opportunity to follow formal Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) courses. Giving access to formal TVET or to learn on the job by working with skilled experts (informal TVET). Helping unemployed youth to secure jobs or venture into self-employment and boost family incomes.

Developing linkages

Long-term business linkages are crucial to creating sustainable incomes, and SF seeks to establish market linkages between community structures and service providers. Communities benefit from increased synergies and technical expertise.

Linkages with service providers such as government institutions, private sector actors (retailers, dealers) and development actors enable communities to draw on resources and technical support.

Community structures such as Small Groups and co-operatives collectively negotiate with market actors such as suppliers and buyers for better buy-sell terms.

Connecting communities to the market economy

Strengthening value chains helps to integrate small-scale rural producers with market actors and improves product quality and the ability to earn higher prices for their produce, creating sustainable sources of income.

Market-based planning
Linkages with market actors allow community structures to tailor their produce to the needs of the market. Production groups prepare production plans together with forward and backward market actors, whereby market information such as demand, quality, price, time, and input availability are made accessible. The information is critical for producers to produce demand-driven products that have higher profitability.

Improving access to finance
To improve access to finance for beneficiaries who have received trade and vocational skills, group savings and credit schemes are promoted within Small Groups and adolescent networks (SAMVAD and Shonglap). The availability of credit facilities at low interest rates (determined by the communities themselves) allows impoverished families to obtain loans to develop their livelihoods. Our interventions also creates linkages with co-operatives and financial service providers.