Socioeconomic profile of sustainable livelihood program participants : evidence from a household survey

The Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is a livelihood assistance program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development targeting working-age members of poor households. We draw insights on the socio-economic profile of target beneficiaries of SLP using survey data covering 2,160 households with a member that participated in SLP during the survey period of August 2018 to March 2019. The survey was conducted as part of an experimental impact evaluation of enhancements in the SLP process. We present a descriptive analysis of the data after giving an overview of SLP and the design of the evaluation. We find that sample households are largely poor or near-poor, and on average derive most of their income from salaries and wages. Sample households also have limited formal borrowing and savings. Furthermore, female spouses who are not in the labor force or are employed but underemployed comprise the majority of potential beneficiaries. These findings suggest that SLP attracts economically inactive or underemployed female members of poor households seeking self-employment to augment household income while maintaining time to perform housework.