There is an increasing awareness that enormous change is on-going in the arid lands. the next ten years will be a period of transition and new opportunities, as families who struggle to make ends meet, continue to try to educate and feed their children and search for jobs in the rural towns. Future aspirations are being shaped by the on-going changes. in the aftermath of the drought and famine of 2011, capturing and understanding these changes was a starting point in efforts to work differently and better. The Red Cross, OXFAM and save the Children agreed to undertake a research study that would take a snapshot of changes affecting people’s lives today, but also look at how, over time, those changes may transform their lives.
This research had us speaking with people in Shinile and Jijiga (ethiopia), Togdheer (somaliland) and Turkana (Kenya), about their current situation and their hopes for the future. Fundamental questions looked at the changes in the dry lands, what we expect to see ten years from now and what our role is in supporting people to achieve their desired future. aspirations themselves may not translate into plans or reality, but they do indicate a direction that people intend to take. The research findings show certain common elements of the direction towards a better future in the different research locations, including:
• across the board, education was listed as the number one method to reach one’s aspirations; either for the interviewees themselves, or for their children and grandchildren. Parents – no matter where they live – hope for their children to be educated and to get jobs.
• almost universally, youth and children (accounting for around 60 per cent of the research population), including those from pastoral settlements, aspired for non-traditional business or professional futures. the younger the children the more likely they were to want to be a professional.
• the more settled and urban the people, particularly those over 30 years of age, the more they look towards commerce for their future and better income opportunities. Urban populations account for 20 to 35 per cent of the populations in the research areas.
• the roles of men and women are changing. the current generation is willing to adapt and transform their roles in order to achieve a bigger aim: educating their children to open the doors of opportunities and ensure that their kin are taken care of. Women are increasingly willing to take on professional careers or manage businesses, changing their traditional roles taking care of the house and the family.
• Livestock remain important, but the rangeland is expanding. Families expect to continue to exploit both traditional and non-traditional opportunities, in the same way a traditional pastoralist exploits the different natural resources and seasons available to him. seizing a new opportunity – education, commerce, or a home in town, can occur concurrently with traditional activities such as a rural home, keeping animals or tending farms.
• the existing kinship and strong feeling of belonging underpin the social fabric of the pastoralist societies throughout the dry lands, thinking in terms of rural-urban divides may be inappropriate. We should look at a complex future where collective action seeks to exploit new opportunities, while protecting the patrimony and cultural heritage through a strategy of mutual assistance.
• drought was rarely mentioned as a challenge to future plans – even though these are considered chronically drought prone communities. the responses differ from what might be expected from these pastoral communities, but it reinforces the importance of giving people a voice, particularly when discussing their future.
