Social interfaces and the assessment of sustainable development: case study in four Andean communities in central west Argentina

RODRÍGUEZ BILELLA, PABLO

Saarbrücken Castle y BZK Kirkel, Alemania

Conferencia; Improving the Quality of Sustainable Development Projects; 2006

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This paper introduces the key characteristic of a social interface analysis for the analysis of sustainable development interventions. Firstly, the paper indicates some of the epistemological complexities in monitoring and assessing sustainable development. Secondly, the notion of sustainable livelihoods is introduced as the basis of an approach more interested in the agency of households and communities and their potential, competence, capacities and strengths, rather than their weaknesses and needs. Thirdly, the social interface analysis is explicitly introduced, and its articulation with a livelihood approach explored. Fourthly, as the social interface analysis implies that theory is grounded on empirical investigation, the paper introduces an ongoing investigation carried out in four Andean communities in Central West Argentina. There, an explicit social interface analysis is being used in order to assess the impact of an external community-based development intervention. Finally, the key points of the paper are briefly stated, and some reflections are made about how livelihood research should overcome some of its shortcomings.