In an essay included in a book by the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, Jameel Observatory researcher Tahira Mohamed explores synergies and disconnects between formal social protection systems and locally-led collective solidarity and networks as they seek to enhance the resilience of pastoralist communities to climate changes.
Resilience building initiatives have lately emerged as a tool for improving vulnerability to climate crises and food insecurity in rural communities.
Social assistance through cash transfers and livestock insurance has become a favoured resilience intervention with evidence showing that social assistance improves household well-being, reduces stress, improves access to food, affords some income to offset difficulties and reduces poverty.
In this essay, Mohamed draws on qualitative research data from Kenya’s Hunger Safety Net Programmes (HSNP) and Livestock Insurance Programme (KLIP) and with data from customary redistributive practices (moral economies), to explores how social protection and livestock insurance intersect with local solidarity in pastoral drylands, questioning whether external interventions can align with pastoralists’ networks to enhance community resilience.
She concludes that social protection and insurance in pastoral areas both address short-term food crises but, partly due to disconnects between formal programs and community realities, they fail to enhance sustainable food security in the longer term.
“As the Horn of Africa faces climate change, conflict, and structural problems, effectively aligning external and local assistance is crucial to building resilience rather than continuing competing emergency responses. Insurance and social protection must extend beyond emergency assistance to support existing networked solidarity and relationships for long-term food security. Social protection should leverage public-private partnerships while centering the role of everyday community practices. Future research needs to examine how formal protection affects informal assistance and how both systems can effectively enhance their resilience strengthening capacities.”
More:
Download the chapter: Mohamed, T.S. 2026. Resilient livelihoods: Social protection and collective solidarity for climate change adaptation in East Africa’s drylands. IN: J. Jain & R. Kariuki (eds). 2026. Climate change is a human problem: Finding the missing voices of climate resilience. Nairobi: Busara Center for Behavioral Economics: 66-69.
Download the full book: Jain, J. and Kariuki, R. 2026. Climate change is a human problem: Finding the missing voices of climate resilience. Nairobi: Busara Center for Behavioral Economics.