Participatory rangeland management for women’s empowerment in Ethiopia

Participatory rangeland management (PRM) was piloted by NGOs in Ethiopia from 2010 onwards in a bid to improve the security of tenure and good governance of rangelands, to allow more inclusive participation of pastoralists in land-related decisions and to improve rangeland productivity. As part of the participatory process, it also sought women’s empowerment. The article “Participatory rangeland management: a vehicle for pastoralist women’s empowerment in Ethiopia” (2023) by Fiona Flintan and Bedasa Eba, published in Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice 13: 23 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-023-00286-4), is based on a review of PRM implementation in Oromia and Afar Regions. This showed that women generally participated equally with men in the PRM process. Community members believed that PRM improved women’s roles in rangeland management leadership and decision-making processes and their access to rangeland resources. Tha authors consider the implications of the results for pastoralist women, using a conceptualised women’s empowerment framework for the analysis.

Posted on 22 October 2023 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Gender & Youth, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure