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Moving Up, Moving Out

This project expands on initial research on the impacts of livestock commercialization in pastoralist areas of Africa (Report: Livestock Exports from the Horn of Africa). It uses this research to explain how a mix of demographic trends, shifts in livestock ownership, and declining access to rangeland led to both a growing livestock export trade and increasing levels of destitution and humanitarian assistance.

Mind the Gap Commercialization, Livelihoods and Wealth Disparity in Pastoralist Areas
By Yacob Aklilu, Andy Catley | December 2010

This was a follow up study to earlier regional analysis for the IGAD-FAO Livestock Policy Initiative that examined the benefits of livestock exports by pastoralist wealth group. Mind the Gap focuses on the Borana and Somali areas of Ethiopia, and describes the growing formal trade in meat and animals from pastoralist areas, destined for export markets.

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Moving Up or Out? A Rapid Livelihoods and Conflict Analysis in Mieso-Mulu Woreda, Shinile Zone, Somali Region, Ethiopia
By Andy Catley, Alula Iyasu | April 2010

The pastoralists of Shinile Zone in the Somali Region of Ethiopia experience multiple livelihoods challenges and various types of conflict. Among international NGOs in the area, there is increasing interest...

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Catley, A. and Aklilu, Y. (2013). Moving Up or Moving Out? Commercialization, Growth and Destitution in Pastoralist Areas. In: Catley, A., Lind, J. and Scoones, I. (eds.), Pastoralism and Development in Africa: Dynamic Change at the Margins (pp. 85-97). Routledge, Abingdon and New York. Available here.