Non-governmental organizations and natural resources management in Africa"s pastoral sector : where to go from here? -- a synthesis document

Based on information from three project assessment reports (covering Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mali) and a workshop, this report provides an overview of African pastoralism and examines NGO experiences in the pastoral sector, both good and bad. One underlying theme that unites the assessments and workshop activities is that NGOs can play an increasingly important role in the pastoral sector, given recent retrenchments by governments and most major donors; this is particularly true in the area of advocacy and awareness raising. However, NGOs -- while maintaining their enthusiasm for pastoral rights -- must strengthen their technical and analytic capacity to more objectively assess pastoral issues and evaluate where opportunities for refining systems exist or alternative courses of action may be appropriate. Research and technical analysis of how pastoralists can adapt organizationally to meet the ecological and political challenges to their environment remain a priority. Annexes to the report contain extracts from the documents referenced, as well as case study presentations by NGOs for the workshop, along with a bibliography.