Pastoral, national & international approaches to humanitarian action

Resilience is an inherent component of pastoral systems but must be adequately supported through effective national and international policies and programmes. However, evidence provided by pastoralists and organisations working with them suggests that international and national humanitarian assistance is rarely provided in ways that are truly helpful for pastoralist communities to protect their livelihoods. The synthesis report “Under one tree”? Exploring pastoral, national and international approaches to humanitarian action” (2024, 13pp), by Elizabeth Stites and colleagues, explores how humanitarian action – early warning, anticipatory action, emergency response – can be more attuned to the needs, perspectives and approaches of pastoralist communities in the dryland areas of the Greater Horn of Africa and the Sudano-Sahel. The main message is that there are multiple disconnects between the priorities of pastoralists as compared to national and international actors. These disconnects affect the success or failure of humanitarian action in the drylands.

Two of the three case studies are in Eastern Africa: i) in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia exploring local and cross-border networks and the repertoire of knowledge and practices critical for pastoralism; and ii) in the Karamoja region of Uganda and the Turkana region of Kenya exploring the type of knowledge and resources pastoralists rely on to respond to shocks and uncertainty and the ways in which national and international programmes intersect or conflict with local livelihoods and institutions.

The report was published by Feinstein International Center of Tufts University in Phase 1 of the current 3-year project “Early warning systems and humanitarian responses”.

Posted on 19 November 2024 in Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition