Strengthening Core Livelihood Competencies: A Study on Bodo Tribal Community in Udalguri, Assam

Development practitioners have long been confident in their argument that a community’s livelihood system can be easily strengthened based on its core livelihood competencies, and that this can be achieved without significant challenges, as people are generally averse to taking on new challenges or risks. This implies that if there is sufficient scope to improve existing livelihoods through suitable interventions, it should be explored without introducing new livelihood activities. This has been re-established in this case, where the livelihood system of the Bodo Tribal Community in Udalguri district, Assam, has been enhanced by introducing small innovations and adopting improved practices in their core livelihoods, such as agriculture and livestock rearing. Convergence with the government’s flagship programmes has provided an added advantage in terms of investment. This piloted experiment has revealed some interesting dimensions of livelihood innovations for the benefit of practitioners, academics and policymakers.