Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa was a three-year collaborative project carried out by research partners in Mozambique, South Africa, UK and Zimbabwe, funded by the UK Department for International Development.

Few would deny the importance of the ideals of the 'sustainable livelihoods approach' - poverty reduction, reducing livelihood vulnerability, improving environmental sustainability, and participatory approaches are all seen as 'good things' for development. How, in practice, can these ideals be realised? The sustainable livelihoods approach requires new ways of thinking about institutional and organisational arrangements for development, as well as understanding how poor people can gain access to natural resources and influence policy processes so that their concerns are realised.

Through case studies in Zambezia (Mozambique), the Eastern Cape Wild Coast (South Africa) and the lowveld area of south-east Zimbabwe, this Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa programme examined the challenges of institutional, organisational and policy reform around land, water and wild resources in southern Africa.