Jameel Observatory researcher Samuel Derbyshire recently co-edited a special issue of Disasters exploring causes, experiences and effective responses to protracted crises across Africa.
The special issue challenges some of the enduring assumptions that have shaped discussions of crises on the continent and the ways in which these assumptions continue to shape policy and practice today.
Shedding light on pastoralist and smallholder farmer responses to complex, intersecting and unpredictable negative phenomena, the contributions call for new ways of working with drylands livelihoods at a time of substantial geopolitical, environmental, economic and technological change.
Reflecting in the editorial on the contributions, Derbyshire and Jobbins drew attention to the risk that emerges from these changing global dynamics of further marginalising drylands populations or subjecting them to new forms of top-down intervention designed to serve instrumental ends.
They also suggest that the pressures of reduced budgets and rising human need create sufficient incentives for the development and humanitarian system to try something new, arguing that truly localised approaches that support the agency, leadership and decision-making power of local organisations, networks and communities likely offer reduced implementation costs compared to international agencies.
Each contribution and case study in this special issue offers ideas for advancing such localised approaches.
The evidence and arguments presented demonstrate that, even amid new and complex risks, the current moment also offers opportunities for change.
There are many avenues through which drylands policy and practice can evolve, supported by an increasingly rich body of evidence and concrete recommendations.
The challenge, now, they say, “is translating these insights into action. Advocacy and policy that meets this challenge must be grounded in local realities while strategically targeting the points in wider systems where meaningful change can be achieved.”
Read the articles in the special issue:
Derbyshire, S.F. and Jobbins, G. 2026. Editorial: resilience in protracted crises: navigating uncertainty in the drylands. Disasters 50(1): e70042
Ba, B., Affognon, H., and Flintan, F. 2026. From conflict to collaboration: how local natural resource management conventions foster peacebuilding between farmers and herders in central Mali. Disasters, 50(1): e70043
Derbyshire, S.F., Jensen, N.D., Mutua, J.Y., Mohamed, T.S., Mukwaya, P.R., Roba, G.M., Njambi-Szlapka, S., Thomas, S., Tsitati, G. and Duncan, A.J. 2026. Anticipatory action and pastoralism in Africa: A synthesis of current challenges, opportunities, and priorities. Disasters, 50(1): e70026
Hassan, R., Derbyshire, S.F., Stites, E., and Scoones, I. 2026. Rethinking vulnerability and humanitarian assistance in the pastoral drylands: insights from northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. Disasters 50(1): e70033
Mohamed, T.S. 2026. Institutional and policy networks in disaster management in the Horn of Africa: insights from Kenya. Disasters 50(1): e70031
Salau Rogei, D. 2026. Entwined economies of violence: understanding borderland conflict and resource politics in northern Kenya. Disasters, 50(1): e70040
Wachira, J., Taye, M., Balfour, N. and Tadicha, H. 2026. The mixed resilience outcomes of water interventions in the pastoral drylands of the Horn of Africa. Disasters, 50(1): e70027
Wiggins, S., Yayaji Ahmed, B., Akullo, B., Barry, B., Dudu, J., Eronmhonsele, J., Kiwala, Y., Ogisi, D., Onokerhoraye, A., Opio, J., Patel, N., and Sulieman, H.. 2026. Food prices and food crises since 2020: evidence from Mali, northeast Nigeria, Sudan, and northern Uganda. Disasters, 50(1): e70037