Browse by Theme: Reviewed 2021

Climate change has already impacted on innumerable communities, exposing them to increasing hazards and making them more vulnerable; and we can expect this to become more marked, and for some communities catastrophic, in coming years. In order to plan effective adaptation actions, scientific climate change analysis is vital for broad context. However, at the local level, the most relevant information and knowledge often already exists or can be generated through local stakeholders’ own analysis. Local knowledge also has a credible authority for informing and influencing policy. So this Handbook, which presents a new participatory methodology for Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis, is very timely. Its focus on the community level is sharp and salutary. It stresses that communities are not homogeneous.

In 2006, a particularly severe drought hit the Greater Horn of Africa, plunging some 11 million people into crisis. The pastoral areas on the Ethiopia–Kenya–Somalia border were badly affected, with livestock losses of up to 70% and the mass migration of pastoralists out of drought-affected areas. This HPG Policy Brief argues that such catastrophic effects can be averted if pastoralist livelihoods are supported with timely and appropriate livelihoods-based interventions.

This review recognises that addressing pastoralists’ political marginalisation, adopting appropriate cross-border approaches and improving donors’ policies to drought management is only part of broader efforts to address pastoralists’ vulnerability in the Horn of Africa (HoA), which may include efforts to improve access to markets, support viable economic alternatives, enable sustainable resource management to arrest or limit environmental degradation and so on. However, for the purpose of this analysis, this review is limited to the literature that discusses the above three key focus areas in relation to pastoralists’ vulnerability. In addition, this review recognises that pastoralists are a highly diversified group with widely different needs, backgrounds and levels of vulnerability. While there are pastoralists who are relatively wealthy and still able to profitably engage in pastoralism, in recent years an increasing number of pastoralist groups across the HoA have been confronted with a series of livelihoods shocks and have suffered from the progressive weakening of their livelihood systems and increased levels of vulnerability and food insecurity.

CARE has pioneered an approach that meets the need for microfinance at the very bottom rung of the world's economic ladder. CARE Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) empower women to pool their savings – with no outside capital – and then make loans to each other to start small businesses or pay for important life expenses. Read more about our VSLA approach, along with other best practices at work in Africa, in CARE's most recent report: "Microfinance in Africa: Bringing Financial Services to Africa's Poor."

CARE has pioneered an approach that meets the need for microfinance at the very bottom rung of the world's economic ladder. CARE Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) empower women to pool their savings – with no outside capital – and then make loans to each other to start small businesses or pay for important life expenses. Read more about our VSLA approach, along with other best practices at work in Africa, in CARE's most recent report: "Microfinance in Africa: Bringing Financial Services to Africa's Poor."

This mapping study is one of a series of five reports commissioned by the NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project.

It is written by an independent consultant and does not necessarily represent the individual views of the project consortium member.

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform is a three year consortium project funded by DFID.

Member agencies are ActionAid, CAFOD, CARE, International Council of Voluntary Agencies, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and Save the Children.

The consortium was formed to set up and run the project. This project was established to support the effective engagement of international, national and local humanitarian non-governmental agencies (NGOs) in reform efforts.

It promotes an integrated approach across policy-relevant research and operational learning to explore what works and does not work in reform informed by the operational experience of NGOs on the ground.

The project aims to strengthen the NGO voice in policy debates and field processes related humanitarian reform.

This mapping study is one of a series of five reports commissioned by the NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project.

It is written by an independent consultant and does not necessarily represent the individual views of the project consortium member.

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform is a three year consortium project funded by DFID.

Member agencies are ActionAid, CAFOD, CARE, International Council of Voluntary Agencies, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and Save the Children.

The consortium was formed to set up and run the project. This project was established to support the effective engagement of international, national and local humanitarian non-governmental agencies (NGOs) in reform efforts.

It promotes an integrated approach across policy-relevant research and operational learning to explore what works and does not work in reform informed by the operational experience of NGOs on the ground.

The project aims to strengthen the NGO voice in policy debates and field processes related humanitarian reform.