Cross-Border Interaction Spurs Innovation and Hope Among Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Women of Ethiopia and Kenya

Abstract

On the Ground • African pastoralists endure poverty, drought, and hunger. Women are especially marginalized because they are illiterate, unskilled, disempowered, and engaged in daily drudgery. • Such women, however, are capable of remarkable, sustained achievements in collective action, livelihood diversification, micro-finance, and community-based wealth generation. • Women can be profoundly inspired by successful peers. After careful training and mentoring, inspired women can then start new initiatives. • Husbands can be supportive of women’s empowerment because household welfare improves. Men sometimes join—and occasionally help lead—collective-action efforts. • Women’s empowerment should be a major focus in pastoral development projects because of the positive community synergisms women create.