This brief article forms an excerpt from a paper chronicling Khanya-aicdd’s experience of using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. It was developed for the ESRC-funded Seminar Series on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach held in October 2008. In March/ April 2009, Khanya-aicdd will host a subsequent seminar on Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches (SLAs) and Community-Driven Development (CDD) which will draw on the expertise of a range of researchers and practitioners, particularly from the Southern and Eastern Africa region. One of the central and distinctive features of the SLA is the aim of putting people at the centre of development and CDD is one practical means of doing this, but evidence of improved development outcomes is sparse.