Identifying poor household livelihood strategies is crucial to challenge poverty and insure livelihood security in the poor country’s urban areas like Addis Ababa. The aim of this study is to identify the main livelihood strategies followed by the majority of the urban poor and its contribution to their livelihood security. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, primary data collected from 394 household survey samples is analyzed quantitatively triangulated with an in-depth interview data using urban livelihoods framework. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques are used to choose study areas and observation units respectively. The study identified seven main livelihood strategies pursued by poor households. The research result showed that the dominant proportion (56%) of the poor households  make a living out of casual labour or pursue informal livelihood earnings as main sources of livelihood strategies. These are followed by wage employment in the city and pensions and remittances. Poor households in the study community are found leading a life of insecurity. Improving the availability of key assets (human asset formation) of the poor to increase employability in better paying jobs and supporting an easy access to credits to help engage in better paying business might be a way-out of poverty.

Keywords: Urban Poor Households, Livelihood Strategy, Livelihood Outcomes, Livelihoods Security.