USAID General Publications Resources to Strengthen Adaptive Management for Livelihoods Programming in Emergency Settings
Adaptive management (AM) acknowledges that there is often uncertainty around the best approach for addressing livelihoods challenges. Market systems and emergency contexts (in which markets operate) are constantly changing; adaptive management allows a program to adjust in response to those changes. However, humanitarian organizations have not embraced adaptive approaches as readily as the development sector, often due to the belief that the need for change is a failure of the initial needs assessment or not a reflection of good practice (ALNAP, p32). This brief focuses on how existing tools can be used for livelihoods and markets work in emergencies and complements Brief 1 in the series. While these tools can be used for adaptive management across many sectors, the guidance here focuses on how they can be used for livelihoods and markets applications in emergencies.