PASTORALISTS ARE AN EXCLUDED MAJORITY WHEN IT COMES TO MOST OF THE POLICY AND SERVICE DELIVERY PROCESSES IN THE EASTERN AFRICAN REGION; THEIR WAY OF LIFE HAS LONG LACKED SUPPORT FROM HIGHER LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT.

Yet the environment on which their traditional lifestyle is based is changing rapidly. Many pastoralists live in drought-prone areas where resources are scarce and unstable, rendering their production systems inherently vulnerable. This leads to poverty in these communities.

This situation is exacerbated by inappropriate policies and development interventions aimed at promoting viable land use and livelihood systems, many of which have in fact undermined the communities’ existing institutions and strategies to respond to environmental adversity.

Pastoralists need and value information pertaining to their shifting way of life, and information will be central to positive change in these communities.

To this end Panos Eastern Africa’s work with pastoralists aims at generating and disseminating information on pastoralist issues, in order to address the persistent information gap in the mainstream media and in government.

Panos’ work in pastoralist communities, mainly in Ethiopia but also in Karamoja, Uganda, is geared towards informed and empowered pastoralist men and women capable of demanding their rights and benefitting from development.