Family Livelihood

Poverty is a multidimensional situation where the poor lack adequate food, shelter, education and health services, employment, and experience violence and powerlessness (World Bank, 2001).

It is caused by multiple factors which may include lack of education, lack of material assets, ill health, and exclusion from socio-political networks and decision-making (Bird, 2007).

The persistence of absolute poverty for extended duration or chronic poverty (Moore et al., 2008) has significant implication for the creation and perpetuation of an intergenerational transmission of poverty (Bird, 2007).

Poor households lack income, savings, and assets which they could invest to generate more income.

Parents and guardians are primarily responsible to the wellbeing and security of their children by fulfilling their children’s physical, psychological and social needs.

However, families living in extreme poverty are unable to ensure the health growth and development of their children.

Family poverty and family disintegration are the underlining and primary factors pushing children to leave their homes for street life (UNICEF, 2000; Hassen and Mañus, 2018).

Family breakdown is also prevalent among poor families (Gobena, 1994 cited in Endris and Sitota 2019).

The Problem

Economically poor families are unable to ensure family food and nutrition security, health, investment in education and training of children, and access proper shelter and clothing.

  • Secondary School Attendance Ratio among is as low as 6% in the poorest household in contrast to 36% in the wealthiest households.
  • Teenage pregnancy is common among poorest household and teenagers with a lowest educational achievement (DHS, 2016).
  • Unwanted pregnancy among teenagers may result in abortion or abandoning of babies.

Therefore, children and youth living in poor households may be exposed to street life and engage in begging, street vending, and involve in social evils such as prostitution and crimes.

Street children experience is characterized by misery deprivation, exploitation, violence and abuse on daily bases (Anja, 2018).

Objectives

In order to prevent children/youth in poor families from going on the street, YLF incorporated “Vulnerable Family Livelihood Improvement Program” (Ye-FLIP).

The main objective of Ye-FLIP is to support economically challenged families and their children/youth to achieve sustainable livelihood and stop them from street life.

The program is designed to break the cycle of poverty or intergenerational impoverishment by building the capacity of poor families and their children.

With improved livelihood, families could enhance household food security and nutrition and send their children to school.

The program will promote employability through building capacities through various technical and soft skills.

Target groups

  • The Ye-FLIP targets poor households with children (also youth) vulnerable to street life.
  • The three distinct target groups including:
  • Parents or caregivers
  • Children and youth
  • Poor maternal mothers (from Ye-Mariam Aras Program)

Livelihood options

V-FLIP follows two broad strategies for job creation/livelihood generation for targeted vulnerable families including the youth in such households.

Capacity strengthening of the target beneficiaries in terms of their access to productive resources so that they can engage in new economic activities and/or expand pre-existing self-employment activities.

Increasing the employability of targeted youth/ HHs through training (soft and hard skills) and creating/promoting demand from employers’ side.

Self-employment activities

Target groups may identify potential economic activities that they want to pursue.

The project needs to assess the viability of potential economic activities.