EU-US Experience Sharing/ Dialogue forum for stakeholders on food security/Agriculture dev 6-7 December 2012, Dire Dawa CARE International

1. Experience & Lesson learned : Regional
Resilience Enhancement Against Drought
(RREAD ) Program
EU-US Experience Sharing/ Dialogue forum for
stakeholders on food security/Agriculture dev
6-7 December 2012, Dire Dawa
CARE International

2. I. Program description
1. Objective:
- Community structures & local government bodies are able to
implement appropriate emergency preparedness plans
- Local & national actors are engaged to manage the natural
resource base to mitigate drought & other crises
- Livestock based livelihoods are supported to become more
resilient to drought & other crises
- Learning feeds into improved policy & practice for DCM at
district, national & regional levels

3. Program description contd
2. Intervention location - Southern Ethiopia & Northern Kenya
3. Funded by - Echo Drought Decision
4. Target beneficiary - Pastoralists & vulnerable groups (Children,
women & pastoralist girls) & pastoralist dropouts
5. Key approach of the program
-
Participatory approach & Cross border approach
6. Major focus of initiatives
-
Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) process &
Community lead peace initiatives
Improved rangeland management & improved access to water
Creating sustainable livelihoods income diversification opportunities

4. II. The initiatives
1. Community Managed Disaster
Risk Reduction (CMDRR) &
community lead peace initiatives
•
•
•
•
Capacity building of local government
& traditional institutions to conduct
harmonized assessment & develop
Community DRR & contingency plans
linked with local government plan
Process implemented @ community
level with participatory approach
Facilitation for adoption &
integration into district/woreda
plans
Strengthen civil & governmental
institution and the ability to promote
dialogue between conflicting ethnic
group

5. 2. Improved rangeland management & access to water (cross
2. Improved rangeland management & access to water
border Communities)
•
•
•
•
Participatory mapping of key
natural resources
Cross border community
trainings/ learning visits on NRM
NRM regimes, devised and driven
by the community users (and in
collaboration with authorities),
have considerable conflict
transformation potential.
Rehabilitation and management
of strategic water points
&training for water user
association

6. LESSONS LEARNT
•Programmes should link with both traditional and
formal governance institutions.
•Sensitisation on the importance of inclusive planning
– including social and gender diversity and different
interest groups – is crucial to joint planning
•Engage the commitment of local government by
building capacity of local institutions on issues such as
risk assessment and adaptive planning

7. 3.Creating sustainable livelihood income diversification
opportunities
•
•
•
•
training and support has been
provided to groups in livestock
products processing and
management
Savings and loans women groups
(GS&L) developed & trained in order
to enhance business skills and
enterprise activities
Economic empowerment, through
supporting engagement in more
diversified livelihood activities,
Some activities have enhanced skills
in hay preservation and meat
processing, which can then be
marketed to supplement income
from livestock

8. 2. Improved rangeland management contd

9. LESSONS LEARNT
•Improving access to markets, supporting viable economic
alternatives to diversify livelihoods away from reliance on
a single source of income and sustainable natural
resource management are vital support processes
•Hay making and storing process throughout the year
make the self help activities less vulnerable to climate
risks in times of drought since it ensures feed supply from
the process
•CARE has learned from other work in the region that, if
diversification is pursued, it requires careful planning and
risk assessment .

10. III. Best practice of the Program
•
•
•
•
•
•
The involvement of technical leaders from local (formal) government agencies &
traditional leaders supported the implementation and monitoring of community
resource management plans
Engaging both formal & non formal institutions & process can be a successful
resilience building approach
Joint introduction of regulation of grazing & water use (which makes the
availability of pasture & water for three critical months in the drought period)
-Burduras & Hardura
The initiative has huge potential to further improve the adaptive capacity of
pastoralists
Increased collaboration to preserve rangeland and land-based resources
(pasture, browse and water) has enhanced the security of fodder and water for
livestock, thus mitigating the impact of drought
Improving the strength of links between different levels of governance has
enabled productive cross border peace committee

11. Best practice continued…..
•
•
•
Strengthening and expanding the existing cross-border relations between
communities through organising meetings between cross border committees
have helped to address conflict between communities.
However , it is vital that external support to cross-border peace and natural
resource management committees is based on ‘a thorough understanding of their
roles, functions and rules, their accountability and representation, their impact on
other institutions and the underlying development vision towards which they are
working’.
Traditional/ indigenous knowledge is a key to food security: Working with
women’s group to rejuvenate old techniques i.e. provision of training with new
skills and access to financial capital, women are able to earning a profit from
preserving and selling meat.

12. IV. The Way forward
•
•
•
A need for more integrated a approach to address multiple risks with
emphasis on gender, conflict sensitivity, governance & economic security
Resilience building in the dry lands must be approached through an
institutional as well as technical lens, recognizing the need to work within socioecological systems and across the border
The several core principles to support approach that build resilience are as
follows
-Capacity to manage risks and uncertainties to inform effective decisionmaking.
-Good governance based on rights and on decentralized and participatory
decision-making with sound links between levels of governance.
-Partnerships that drive collective action.
-Local traditional knowledge with science and technology for learning and
innovation.
-Working across scales with a particular focus on socio-ecological systems.

13. Thank you