Promoting Best Practices on Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in the ESCWA Region
In December 2009, ESCWA organized an Expert Group Meeting on Adopting the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach for Promoting Rural Development in the ESCWA Region. The meeting, which was attended by 32 experts from various countries of the region, aimed to allow participants to better understand the importance of livelihood approaches to rural development, to assess its comparative advantage with regard to other approaches as well as to assess obstacles to its adoption and implementation. During the meeting, participants were able to exchange experiences on viable options for promoting SLA and to propose recommendations in support of adopting this approach for sustainable rural development in the region. Among the recommendations made was the need to maintain the communication flow, to validate SLA guidelines that focus on practical aspects and to produce an informative guide that would highlight practical applications of SLA to promote rural development in the ESCWA region.