The Integrated Capabilities Framework: Exploring Multiculturalism and Human Well-Being in Participatory Settings

Abstract

In this chapter, Clark and Hodgett develop a framework and methodology for investigating human well-being in multicultural settings. They consider the various insights that the capability, livelihoods and chronic poverty approaches can offer before building on them to develop an ‘Integrated Capability Approach’ (ICF) that seeks to combine their virtues. Like the capability approach, the ICF is a flexible framework that can be applied to different issues through a variety of participatory methods. The ICF is used to develop a series of open-ended fieldwork questions partly inspired by Clark’s studies of human values. These questions are designed to explore the values, expectations and actual experiences of different people and ethnic groups. To illustrate one way of making the approach operational, the fieldwork questions are applied through 15 ethnographic interviews conducted in Canada. Although no attempt is made to draw policy conclusions (given the limited number of interviews), the fieldwork results do illustrate several unique features of the ICF that help make it a highly effective tool for guiding policy and practice. Amongst other things, the ICF embraces multidimensionality, allows for cultural diversity and difference, recognizes that well-being is a dynamic process and encourages more pragmatic and efficient policy responses.