Waste Pickers in Dhaka: Using the sustainable livelihoods approach

Waste pickers in Dhaka make their living by selling recyclable items collected from dumped waste. Most are children living on the streets or in slums where they have little access to infrastructure, a low status in society and an uncertain future. This book is based on a period of fieldwork in Dhaka which explored their livelihoods using the DFID Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA). It presents much of the livelihood information gathered, and discusses the effectiveness of the SLA in this urban context. The book also raises a number of methodological issues relating to research with mostly illiterate, underprivileged children.