A book launch for the Social Protection for Inclusive Development in Afar Region, Ethiopia: Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa was held at UCL on December 6th 2023. Watch the video below for the entire presentation and panel discussion.
The session was chaired by Dr Lulsegged Abebe, an expert on peace and security, an independent researcher, consultant, and PENHA Board of Trustees chair and former senior staff member for International Alert. Prof Michael Walls, DPU Director and Professor of Development Politics and Economy at the Development Planning Unit, Faculty of the Built Environment (UCL) made also the keynote remarks.
Dr Michael Walls, a Professor of Development Politics and Economy at UCL’s Bartlett Development Planning, gave a brief introduction to the theme of the evening’s meeting, which is part of a series organised by his department. He highlighted his long relationship with PENHA’s research and advocacy, including travelling with PENHA to Somaliland. He has also travelled to other countries in the Horn as part of his work. ‘We hear much about the challenges confronting those who live in that region, and those challenges are only too real
but it’s important also that we remember the wealth of human cultural and natural resources. For it is surely there that we must look to secure the livelihoods and well-being of the tens of millions of people who live there.’
Professor Walls pointed out that pastoralism has been the dominant livelihood strategy in the geographical areas of his specialism. However, that region is increasingly threatened by climate change and successive droughts over several seasons have brought many Somalis to the brink of famine. This crisis has been added to by cataclysmic floods, while political fragmentation and conflict are ever-present, compounding the fragility of livelihoods. He highlighted the timeliness of this discussion against the backdrop of the COP 28 conference being held at that time in Dubai, where many of these same issues were under active discussion, marking the global urgency for measures that provide ‘effective support for social protection as customer systems experience increasing stresses from cumulative crises.’
Dr Lulsegged Abebe, the Chair of PENHA’s Board of Trustees and the evening’s chair, then welcomed all the people in the room and those attending online in Europe and the Horn region. He paid tributes to two of PENHA’s stalwart supporters and former Trustees who had passed away. Nicole Kenton had been integral to the editing and layout of the SPIDA book and had directly contributed to two of the chapters. She had been involved with PENHA for over two decades. Kees Maxey had passed away only a few months before Nicole. He had been involved with PENHA in various essential and critical roles since the organisation’s very inception.
Dr Abebe pointed out the challenges facing pastoralists as they attempted to maintain their culture and way of life. Government policy has often been to make them sedentary, there are insufficient veterinary services, and climate change has led to challenges as rains have continually failed. The expansion of the agricultural sector has triggered conflict between farmers and pastoralists. The SPIDA book, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-WOTRO), looks for an inclusive way to support development through Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP). The research project brought together several renowned multidisciplinary academics and researchers from Ethiopia and Britain who undertook extensive field research in the Afar region of Ethiopia and shed light on several indigenous coping mechanisms among pastoralists in the face of natural and man-made calamities. For instance, the customary system called media plays a significant role in promoting mutual assistance in times of drought and conflict through the enactment of a set of rules called Adaa (customary law). For example, these laws enable the Afars, like many other pastoral groups in Ethiopia, to support vulnerable households through the provision of lactating cows (hantila) and restocking livestock (irbu). Social protection is therefore not just in the form of cash, as pastoralists often prefer to receive food items as ‘this reduces their exposure to the risk of inflation and unfavourable currency fluctuations’. Dr Abebe highlighted how the indigenous examples highlighted here should be replicated throughout Ethiopia and ultimately are a model for several other governments to adopt.
See below the list of panellists along with the ppt used during their presentations.
- Dr Zeremariam Fre, Principal Investigator and author, Associate Professor (Teaching), Development Planning Unit (DPU), UCL
- To access his ppt for Towards an Inclusive Social Protection Among Pastoralist Communities in the Horn of Africa
- Dr Bereket Tsegay, Speaker and co-author, Senior Research and Policy Analyst at PENHA and a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
- To access his ppt for Social Protection for Resilient Pastoral Systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): What Next?
- Dr Angela Raven-Roberts, Speaker and contributing author, An independent consultant and researcher and affiliate at the Department of Education, University of Oxford
- To access her ppt for Covid 19 & The ‘Big Pause”- what we are learning for preparedness and resilience.
- E John Wibberley PhD, NSch, FRAgS, FIAgrM, Panelist, Professor of Comparative Agriculture & Rural Extension at The University of Reading and The Royal Agricultural University Cirencester, and immediate past-Chairman of TAAI (Tropical Agriculture Association International) & chairs Farming Community Network (FCN) in Devon, England
Professor John Wibberley opened by stressing the timely importance of the SPIDA book. He highlighted the scope of the research, with contributions by 17 authors who are either from the Horn region or have worked extensively there. He called for lessons learned from the research in Afar to be spread out to a wider canvas across Africa to support the chronically poor. Professor Wibberley highlighted the challenges of creating a dependency among recipients and what to do if the support is withdrawn or reduced – it needs to supplement rather than supplant income. Thus, any schemes must be sustainable, and who would like to see a follow-on research project exploring further the mutual assistance options touched on in the study. He called for better resource management and entrepreneurship teaching, such as done with small-scale dairying in Kenya. There should also be regional or national talks about public-private community partnerships and exploring the role of social enterprises and community interest companies. Getting these right is crucial to ensuring development benefits those it needs to be targeted. He closed by stating that the research in the SPIDA book must be made affordable and accessible to the widest possible readership to have the widest adoption and benefit to affected communities.
The SPIDA project that led to the book’s publication was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and connected with the INCLUDE Network.
