Session Description
Despite decades of experience and increasingly sophisticated safeguard frameworks, many large-scale infrastructure projects continue to struggle to restore the livelihoods of project affected people. As climate change, economic uncertainty, and political economy headwinds increase the vulnerability of affected people, effective livelihood restoration is more critical than ever.
This session asks whether Impact Assessment (IA) has fully incorporated lessons of the past or whether valuable experience has been forgotten. Participants will examine how livelihood restoration has evolved, where progress has been made, where recurring shortcomings remain, and which lessons deserve renewed attention to make Livelihood Restoration Programs (LRPs) more adaptive, development-oriented, and grounded in meaningful participation, local knowledge, and community institutions.
Using an engaging PechaKucha format, presenters will share case studies highlighting both successes and challenges. They will explore how IA can better capture changing baseline conditions and evolving social risks by placing traditional, cultural, and local knowledge, together with community institutions, at the center of impact assessment and monitoring. Discussion will examine how this strengthens the understanding of vulnerabilities, changing market conditions, community institutions, and other factors that shape resilient livelihoods.
By connecting past experience with emerging challenges, the session seeks to identify key principles to make IA more participatory, locally grounded, and adaptive to emerging risks, enabling projects to deliver sustainable livelihood outcomes in a rapidly changing world.
Session Summary
Using PechaKucha format, this session will explore how livelihood restoration programs under infrastructure projects can better integrate local knowledge, meaningful participation, and community institutions to deliver sustainable, resilient livelihood outcomes.
Session Chair
Satoshi Ishihara
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
China
Session Co-chair
Rafael Noronha
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
China