RADAR • KENYA DROUGHT

PASTORALISTS SUFFER DESPITE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS USED TO PROTECT THEM

As World Water Day is celebrated every year on 22 March, the lives of pastoralists in Kenya and Ethiopia are threatened by drought and climate change. The strategy to combat these challenges may lie in the wisdom of local communities and their capacity for resilience

BY TAHIRA SHARIFF MOHAMED & IAN SCOONES | INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, BRIGHTON

ACROSS THE arid landscape of northern Kenya, road signs announce projects to create ‘resilience’ among pastoralist communities. This is a region where frequent droughts, animal disease, insecurity and structural exclusion affect pastoral livelihoods.

External funds of hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the past few decades on projects encouraging pastoralists to ‘modernise’ their production or get out of keeping livestock. These projects include livestock breed improvement and insurance, reseeding pastures, creating fodder banks, upgrading market facilities, as well as investments in water resources and roads, and an array of ‘alternative livelihood’ projects.

The value of this approach is questioned amid one of the most severe droughts of the past century in northern Kenya. Over 2.5 million livestock have already perished for lack of food and water, and human lives are threatened. At least 4.5 million people are in need of external assistance. Decades of investment in ‘resilience’ clearly haven’t been working. Are there other ways of supporting pastoralists’ ability to respond to droughts and other shocks?

We have been studying over the past four years (Mohamed 2022), how Borana pastoralists in Isiolo County in northern Kenya manage drought, conflict and other uncertainties. The area has suffered recurrent droughts, alongside locust and animal disease outbreaks.

Pastoralist livelihoods are increasingly vulnerable. The land is being encroached on from all sides by neighbouring groups and conservation
areas are expanded. Building resilience from below, drawing on local practices and networks has become increasingly essential.

Our research reveals the importance of local networks of mutual support, solidarity and redistribution that enable pastoralists to adapt to changing circumstances. These types of ‘moral economy’ practices could be the basis for drought preparedness and response, instead of
a deluge of external interventions.

Top-down projects

There are three main reasons why existing projects are failing to protect populations from drought and other shocks.

Misplaced narratives: behind these interventions is the idea that pastoralism is outdated and that alternatives to livestock keeping must be found. Since the colonial era, controlling livestock movements and settling pastoralists have been central to policy prescriptions, encouraging pastoralists to change their ways especially during and after major droughts.

They argue that pastoralists would do better if they settled in one place and farmed. The biases against pastoralism are very evident in education programmes, water investments for farming, and livelihood diversification outside the pastoral economy.

Yet, despite the drought and the loss of animals, pastoralism can make the best use of highly variable dry-land environments, where alternative ways to make a living are extremely limited. Supporting rather than abandoning pastoral systems makes much more sense.

Poor project design: too often, projects don’t fit the local context. Fancy new livestock markets promoted by donors are frequently in the wrong place, while dispersed bush markets are more accessible and cheaper to use. Many boreholes function for a while, but repairs are costly and so they fall into disrepair. Roads go to the wrong places, diverting trade from transport-relevant destinations.

However, not all development efforts are wasted. The new highway from Isiolo to the Ethiopian border has reduced travel times dramatically, allowing hay to be successfully transported for hungry livestock across the region. Maintained government boreholes, with solar pump facilities, have been essential for keeping animals alive during the drought.

Nevertheless, the idea that resilience can be generated through a technical or financial fix is prevalent, and in many cases, failed interventions are repeated with new branding.

Ignoring the social context: there has been an emphasis on decentralised activities led by county governments. Committees have been established by a plethora of projects, too often implementing an externally designed activity or feeding information upwards, creating a lot of confusion.

Such projects seldom engage with the social context, involving local networks or mobilising local expertise and experience. Frequently the projects fold as soon as the funds dry up.

Resilience from below

In the dry lands, drought is part of normal life in a highly variable environment. Climate change is making matters worse, as droughts are more prolonged and the pattern of rainfall changes. Shrinking access to land and water due to encroachment from other land uses makes drought impacts harsher, but herders have a long-established repertoire of drought responses—not just passive coping.

Pastoralists’ practices combine livestock movement, sharing and distribution of animals through loans, splitting herds and flocks, supplementary feeding and watering, careful herding, negotiating access to farmland or conservation areas, selective marketing of animals, and diversification to other income sources to support the herd or flock. Rather than creating new resilience projects separate from local practices, why not build on these responses?

Pastoralism can be seen as a critical infrastructure, where high-reliability professionals ensure that the system doesn’t collapse. Such professionals connect herders through social networks, i.e. with motorbike transporters, those who offer credit, and local specialists such as healers and forecasters. They transform uncertain conditions into a more stable, reliable supply of goods and services, helping to avert disasters.