Relationship Between Livelihood Capitals and Livelihood Strategies of Dalit

The Dalits of Nepal are living with a lack of opportunities, and the high-level poverty within Dalit communities shows that capabilities or livelihood of Dalits have not been adequately increased in quantity and quality. In the absence of capabilities, they have been adopting unsecured livelihood strategies. In this context, this study aims to find out the relationship between livelihood capitals and livelihood strategies adopted by the Dalit communities of Kusma municipality, Parbat, Nepal. The study was based on survey research design, and 390 respondents were selected by using stratified random sampling method. The relationship between the livelihood strategies and livelihood capitals are found positive, statistically significant and of moderate level strength with livelihood strategies. Access to capitals determine the livelihood strategies of the Dalit community. However, there is no rule and degree of relationship between the livelihood capitals and livelihood strategies. Likely, the agency and structure of the society dominate the capabilities of the Dalit households. Therefore, even though they have good knowledge, skills, income and physical capital, they are not well supported to choose livelihood strategies. Similarly, livelihood strategies do not contribute to livelihood outcomes as well.