Jameel Observatory Regional Engagment Lead Tahira Mohamed co-authored an article making the case for a new ‘resilience from below’ approach to building resilience in the pastoral drylands.
Writing in the Journal of Development Studies, the authors argue that past approaches based on project-style interventions have not worked, but a ‘resilience from below’ approach offers an alternative. Comparing the approaches, the authors highlight how ‘resilience’ must be framed as emergent, relational and processual rather than simply as an externally-defined, planned response; how ‘crises’ and ‘disasters’ should be seen less as singular events but part of a normal unfolding of uncertain conditions; how local knowledges and institutions are central to building resilience based on trust, rather than a reliance on planned projects; and how resilience building is always differentiated according to axes of gender and generation, yet often emerges through collective responses rooted in local moral economies and social solidarities.
The authors conclude by noting that adoption of such approaches “will require some major reversals in development practice and the abandonment of the classic, expensive, top-down, externally driven project style. In a new approach, for example, external support may simply offer flexible funds for small-scale, local efforts for resilience building.” Furthermore, “development support organisations will have to shift from being involved in implementation and delivery to being focused more on networking between local resilience building experiences, encouraging the sharing of experience and learning lessons. This will require new responsibilities and accountabilities, along with new forms of expertise, partnership and collaboration.”
Download the article: Hassan, R., Mohamed, T.S., Scoones, I., Wachira, J., and Wario, H.T. 2026. Resilience from below: Rethinking development in northern Kenya’s pastoral drylands. Journal of Development Studies