Pastoralist Development

The livelihoods, institutions and rangeland ecosystems of pastoralist peoples are often misunderstood.  We have a strong track record of working with and for pastoralist communities around the world, helping them to overcome these misunderstandings and to take ever greater control of their own efforts in development and conservation.  Some of the kinds of work we do in pastoral systems include the following.

Research

Our personnel have decades of experience carrying out environmental and social research in pastoral areas on topics such as land governance, natural resource management, resilience, and climate change adaptation.  In a recent project, we carried out a comparative assessment of alternative models of community-based rangeland management.  Some of our other research on pastoralism is highlighted here.

Participatory approaches for pastoral communities

Organizations and practitioners who try to implement participatory methodologies that have worked will with farmers, fisherfolk, or urban dwellers, often face challenges using those same methodologies in pastoral communities.  Our personnel have experience researching and implementing participatory approaches with pastoralists.  This has included helping to develop the Participatory Rangeland Management approach.

Land governance in pastoral contexts

We have expertise in supporting effective land governance in pastoral areas.  Our work here has included research on land tenure in pastoral settings, and providing support to governments for the development of policy and legislation on land and resource tenure for pastoral rangelands.  We also helped to develop approaches for land use planning in the pastoral areas of Kenya, including developing materials that are now guiding spatial planning in some of Kenya’s dryland counties.