Women pastoralists’ empowerment

CELEP collaborated with WISP (World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism), IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in bringing out a briefing note (4pp) on Women pastoralists’ empowerment: supporting positive change. Examples come from around the world, including Eastern Africa, of how pastoral women regard their own empowerment and how this can be supported.

Summary: Interventions that attempt to support gender equity and pastoral women’s empowerment need to start with pastoral women themselves. Empowerment is more sustainable and facilitating when it comes from within. Women’s place and role in the pastoral unit and community needs to be understood and acknowledged. What empowerment means for pastoral women should influence how this is supported and achieved. The right institutional framework and supporting mechanisms are vital to support women’s empowerment.

A longer study on empowering women in pastoralist societies worldwide was published by WISP in 2008 (137pp)

Posted on 19 October 2014 in CELEP Documents, Pastoralism, Gender & Youth