A Double-edged Sword: Livelihoods in emergencies guidance and tools for improved programming

This document aims to help economic development practitioners who design economic strengthening projects with the particular aim of improving child wellbeing and for others whose aim is poverty alleviation more broadly.

The guidance presented is based on the understanding that: 1. Household economic welfare and child wellbeing are correlated (Campbell et al., 2010; Akwara et al., 2010); 2. Early intervention in the lives of children improves their outcomes (US Government, 2010; Alderman, 2012), and 3. Improving child wellbeing reduces the likelihood they will live in poverty throughout their lives, thereby interrupting the transmission of poverty from one generation to the next (PEPFAR, 2012). Adherence to this guidance will therefore enable practitioners to protect children and expand their projects’ impacts by incorporating child-level indicators into their M&E systems.

It is intended for project directors, team leaders and chiefs of party who design and implement programs, and M&E professionals who design and implement M&E systems for these programs.