Planning for Freedoms: The Contribution of Sen’s Capability Approach to Development Practice

how is the process of intervention affecting dimensions of well-being, such as possibly belonging to social networks and political empowerment? Planning for freedoms is a framework for planning, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes which aims at focusing on people’s capabilities to achieve the things they value. The framework is based on Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach. This approach is people centered and is concerned with what people value, their aspirations and their freedom to achieve them. While people are perceived as drivers of change, the Capability Approach aims at strengthening the enabling environment for the realisation of people’s aspirations. This briefing on the Capability Approach outlines some basic elements of the framework and its contributions to development practice.