This article by Jameel Observatory researcher Tahira Mohamed contributes to the debate on dryland livelihood trajectories and the implications for development planning, particularly around resilience building in pastoral areas.
The upheavals caused by political, economic, and environmental changes in society cause widespread disruption to pastoral livelihoods, leading some observers to assume that pastoralism is ending and that new livelihoods must be considered.
Despite the challenges posed by turbulent production in an unstable setting of variable rainfall, drought, and unequal access to resources, pastoralism persists and thrives.
Drawing on earlier work, on the livelihoods of Waso Borana pastoralists in Isiolo, northern Kenya, this article assesses the persistence of pastoral livelihoods despite far-reaching social, political, economic, and technological change over the last 45 years.
The study found that pastoralism persists due to the “adaptable livelihood” practices built on relational, redistribution, and mutual support in the form of “moral economies.”
These moral economies remain central to how pastoralists survived over 45 years and have been changing and adapting to new settings.
Two things further stand out from this research.
First, pastoralism persists amid uncertainty and variability in the drylands. In more remote settings, characterized by insecurity and scant access to resources, pastoralists survive by combining customary redistribution and pooling of labour and other resources, such as jointly hiring water trucks and collectively scouting for pasture. Young herders have maintained their connections to pastoralism by utilizing market and transport services.
Pastoralists near urban centres have taken advantage of the emerging institutions, including the market, transport technology, development NGOs, and religious institutions for newer forms of redistribution through Harambee and women’s savings clubs. Female pastoralists have demonstrated their ability to own livestock and invest in savings and credit cooperatives.
Second, Borana society of the 1970s functioned with intense social interactions based on territorial and clan-based social organization, many motivated by shared norms of reciprocity. Such norms, values, and social relations remain central to the lives and livelihoods of contemporary Borana pastoralists. Today’s pastoralists engage in distant relationships with hired herders, Meru farmers, neighbours, or savings club members, underscoring the norms and values of social solidarity and reciprocity to survive in uncertain pastoral economies.
Pastoralism remains predominant, but more people share the land, with emerging competing land use such as mega road corridors, conservancies, and private farming. In that case, resources are more divided than four decades ago, and pastoralists can potentially be displaced from the prime grazing zones. Although differentiation occurred due to different capacities and access to resources, including livestock, labour, technology, and the market among various social groups, recovery is possible on the back of multiple relationships.
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Read the article: Mohamed, T.S. 2026. Adaptable livelihoods and the persistence of pastoralism: A longitudinal study of pastoral livelihood transformation in northern Kenya, Isiolo. Development Policy Review 44(1): e70058