This article explores the conceptual links between literacy and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) by exploring Reflect, an approach to adult education and development that connects literacy education with community action. Whilst the focus of Reflect tends to remain on literacy conceived within a wider framework of communication and power, it argues that it can also be a thread woven through the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) and a guiding tool to systematise thinking about the location of literacy in people’s daily lives. If the relevant entry points are found, it can help ensure that any intervention will be more effective in enabling participants to become protagonists in their own lives.