The Vulnerability Context: Is There Something Wrong with This Picture?

FAO International Workshop on Food Security in Complex Emergencies: Building Policy Frameworks to Address Longer-Term Programming Challenges, Tivoli, 23-25 September 2003

This paper presents a livelihoods model, explores the characteristics of complex emergencies, and places a central focus on the role of violence as the defining characteristic of a range of disasters categorised as complex emergencies. The nature of violence and its implications for humanitarian relief workers are briefly reviewed. The paper analyses the challenges facing livelihoods specialists working to analyse the impact of complex emergencies on livelihoods systems using presently available sustainable livelihoods frameworks. It explores the relationships between violence and (1) assets; (2) processes, institutions, and policies; and (3) outcomes. The paper concludes that sustainable livelihoods frameworks need to be modified in order to increase their utility and relevance in complex emergencies, specifically by shifting focus from sustainable livelihoods to resilient livelihoods.