RESEARCH ARTICLE Promoting sustainable livelihoods: An approach to postdisaster reconstruction Surya Gyawali 1 | Sudarshan Raj Tiwari 1 | Sushil Bahadur Bajracharya 1 | Hans Narve Skotte 2 1 Institute of Engineering (IoE), Tribhuvan University, Lalitpur, Nepal 2 Department of Architecture and Planning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway Correspondence Associate Professor Surya Gyawali, Institute of Engineering (IoE), Tribhuvan University, Lalitpur, Nepal. Email: gyawalisurya@ioe.edu.np Abstract Disasters are widely accepted as “windows of opportunity” to withstand strongly for other shocks and stresses. There are no “one‐size‐fit‐to‐all” postdisaster reconstruc- tion approaches; it depends upon the context. Recently, livelihood strategies are con- sidered as a layer of resilience and applied as a postdisaster reconstruction approach for promoting sustainable livelihoods. The purpose of the paper is to explore how earthquake‐affected rural communities have promoted their livelihoods through postdisaster reconstruction. The paper examines how the strategy of livelihoods can be linked to postdisaster reconstruction approaches for promoting sustainable liveli- hoods and help to achieve rural development objectives. The study adopted semistructured interview methods in three postdisaster reconstructed settlements of Nepal. The face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with key stakeholders and investigated the livelihood interventions considered for postdisaster reconstruction approaches. The study established that postdisaster activities such as the relief, recovery, and reconstruction should be linked with livelihood provisioning, livelihood protection, and livelihood promotion. Measuring the change in terms of sustainable livelihoods the disaster is complex and has to be considered as a long‐term goal of postdisaster recovery. Nepal is on the process of postdisaster reconstruction. The postdisaster reconstruction experiences over 4 years that have identified good prac- tices such as reconstruction settlement should be linked to formerly existing liveli- hoods and promote gender equity through improving their economic situation, sustainable use of natural resources, and community participation in the reconstruc- tion and livelihood interventions process, which are highly relevant for the further postdisaster recovery process. KEYWORDS disaster risk reduction, livelihood promotion, postdisaster reconstruction, sustainable livelihoods 1 | INTRODUCTION On April 25, 2015, Nepal was struck by a disastrous earthquake of magnitude 7.6 in Richter scale, followed by many more aftershocks. It was one of the most terrible calamities in recent history, affecting 31 of the country's 75 districts (National Planning Commission [NPC], 2015a). The earthquake claimed 9,000 human lives, cased injury to 22,300 people, and displaced over 100,000 people, and approximately 8 million people have been affected. In addition to this, physical, social, and economic infrastructures have been substantially Received: 29 January 2019 Revised: 19 September 2019 Accepted: 5 October 2019 DOI: 10.1002/sd.2013 Sustainable Development. 2019;1–8. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sd 1