Waste pickers in Dhaka

This booklet is concerned with waste pickers in Dhaka and explores their livelihoods using the DFID Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA). It is based on a period of fieldwork and presents much of the livelihood information gathered as well as discussing the effectiveness of the SLA in this urban context. The booklet is divided into two main sections: À Key Findings: presents the livelihood-related findings for waste pickers and draws a number of conclusions about the nature, vulnerability and sustainability of their livelihoods. The performance of the SLA tool is also discussed in this section. À Field Notes: describes the fieldwork methodology and highlights some of the lessons learned and pitfalls encountered during research. This section describes a number of the participatory techniques employed, and raises general issues about research with illiterate, underprivileged children.