Afar

WIBD Consult
Tel. (011) 663- 95 75

(091) 121- 12 58
E-mail: wibdconsult@ethionet.et
October 2005
Addis Ababa
Table of Contents
Abbreviations and Acronyms ...........................................................................iv

Executive Summary............................................................................................v
1. Background..................................................................................................1
2. Objectives of PRSA .....................................................................................2
3. Methodology used .......................................................................................2
3.1 Participatory Methodologies ..................................................................................3
3.2 Household Survey .................................................................................................3
4. Socio-Political Institutions in Afar .............................................................5
4.1 Traditional Leadership Systems.............................................................................5
4.1.1 “Kedo Aba”, The Clan Representative ............................................................6
4.1.2 The “Dala Aba", The Lineage Leaders............................................................7
4.1.3 "Fei’ma Aba", The Youth Group Leader..........................................................7
4.1.4 "Edola", The Council of Elders ........................................................................8
4.2 Religious Institutions..............................................................................................8
4.3 Functions of the Traditional Institutions..................................................................9
4.3.1 Water Resources Management ......................................................................9
4.3.2 Range Management .......................................................................................9
4.3.3 Herd Management ........................................................................................10
4.3.4 Conflict Management....................................................................................10
4.3.4.1 Customary Laws .......................................................................10
4.3.4.2 Resolving Murder Related Conflicts .............................................12
4.3.4.3 Adultery Acts ................................................................................13
4.4 Harmony between the Traditional and Government Institutions ...........................14
4.5 Traditional Practices and Women Rights .............................................................15
4.5.1 Traditional Practices Affecting Women .........................................................15
4.5.2 Marriage System...........................................................................................18
4.5.3 Women’s Rights in the Society .....................................................................20
4.6 Mutual Support System in Afar Community .........................................................21
5. Social Equity and Exclusion ........................................................................23
5.1 Social Equity........................................................................................................23
5.2 Social Exclusion ..................................................................................................23
6. Gender Situation Analysis ...........................................................................25
6.1 Agro-pastoral System ..........................................................................................25
6.1.1 Gender Division of Labour ............................................................................25
6.1.1.1 Productive Activities .....................................................................25
6.1.1.2 Reproductive Activities .................................................................27
6.1.1.3 Social Activities ............................................................................29
6.1.2 Access and Control Profile............................................................................31
6.1.2.1 Accesses to Resources................................................................31
6.1.2.2 Accesses to Benefits ....................................................................32
6.1.2.3 Control over Resources................................................................33
6.1.2.4 Control over Benefits....................................................................35
Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities ii
6.1.3 Gender Position and Decision Making ..........................................................36

6.2 Pastoral System ..................................................................................................38
6.2.1 Gender Division of Labour ............................................................................38
6.2.1.1 Productive Activities .....................................................................38
6.2.1.2 Reproductive Activities .................................................................39
6.2.1.3 Social/community Activities ..........................................................41
6.2.2 Access and Control Profile............................................................................42
6.2.2.1 Accesses to Resources................................................................42
6.2.2.2 Accesses to Benefits ....................................................................44
6.2.2.3 Control over Resources................................................................45
6.2.2.4 Control over Benefits....................................................................47
6.2.3 Gender Position and Decision Making ..........................................................48
7. Compatibility of Development Policies with Pastoral Livelihood
Strategies..................................................................................................49
7.1 Land Tenure ........................................................................................................49
7.2 Sedentrization .....................................................................................................50
7.3 Rangeland Management .....................................................................................51
7.4 Forest Resource Management ............................................................................53
7.5 Water Resources Management ...........................................................................54
7.6 Extension System................................................................................................57
7.7 Public Services....................................................................................................58
7.7.1 Education .....................................................................................................58
7.7.2 Primary Health Care .....................................................................................59
7.7.3 Transport and Communications ....................................................................60
7.8 Marketing of Livestock and Livestock Products ...................................................60
7.9 Cooperatives, Saving and Credit Associations ....................................................61
8. Changes in Pastoral Livelihood...................................................................62
8.1 Positive Changes.................................................................................................62
8.2 Negative Changes ...............................................................................................64
9. Community-Livestock Mobility ....................................................................67
9.1 Regular Mobility...................................................................................................69
9.2 Drought Year Mobility ..........................................................................................70
9.3 Can Mobility be Stopped?....................................................................................71
10. Pastoral Information and Communication System ..................................73
10.1 Information Communication System ..................................................................73
10.2 Source and Reliability of Information .................................................................73
11. Indigenous Knowledge...............................................................................75
11.1 Human Disease Treatment................................................................................75
11.2 Animal Disease Treatment ................................................................................77
11.3 Handicrafts and Fire Making ..............................................................................78
11.4 Making Ponds/Shallow Wells.............................................................................78
12. Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Livelihood and Household Economy .........79
12.1 Agro-Pastoral Livelihood....................................................................................79
12.1.1 Wealth Classification of the Households .....................................................79
10.1.2 Sources of Income......................................................................................82
10.1.3 Expenditure ................................................................................................82
12.1.4 Coping with Food Insecurity........................................................................83
WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities iii
12.2 Pastoral Livelihood...................................................................................85

12.2.1 Wealth Classification of the Households .....................................................85
12.2.2 Sources of Income......................................................................................86
12.2.3 Expenditure ................................................................................................87
12.2.4 Coping with Food Insecurity........................................................................88
12.3 Vulnerability Analysis.........................................................................................89
13. Past Experiences on Improving the Socio-Economic Situations of
Women ....................................................................................................92
13.1 At Community Level ..........................................................................................92
13.2 At Government Level.........................................................................................92
13.3 Associations Working for Women ......................................................................93
13.4 Experience of WDC and MOTs on Gender and Development ...........................93
13.4.1 Gaps of WDC and MOTs in Promoting Gender and Development..............94
14. Small Scale Enterprise Development for Women ....................................95
14.1 Priority of Intervention........................................................................................95
14.2 Current Capacity of Women to Engage in Small Scale Income Generation
Activities ....................................................................................................................97
14.3 Challenges of Women to Engage in Income Generation Activities.....................97
14.4 External Supports Required for Women’s Grouping/ Association ......................97
14.5 Experiences of Urban Pastoralists.....................................................................98
14.6 NGOs: Current Activities and Needs of Action Faime ......................................100
15. Technology Development for Women Development .............................101
16. Gender Awareness creation Mechanisms ..............................................102
17. Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................103
17.1 Conclusions.....................................................................................................103
17.2 Recommendations...........................................................................................105
19. Annexes .....................................................................................................107

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities iv
Abbreviations and Acronyms
ATVET Agricultural, Technical, Vocational and Educational Training

FGM Female Genital Mutilation
EPRDF Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front
FPCU Federal Project Coordination Unit
FGD Focus Group Discussions
FMD Foot and Mouth Disease
HIV/AIDS Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome
MOT Mobile Outreach Team
MST Mobile Support Team
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
PCD Participatory Community Dialogue
PLA Participatory Learning Action
PRSA Participatory Research and Social Analysis
PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal
PA Pastoral Association
PCDP Pastoral Community Development Project
SSI Semi-Structured Interview
TOR Terms of Reference
WDC Woreda Development Committee
WIBD Wael International Business and Development Consultant

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities v
Executive Summary
The Participatory Research and Social Analysis (PRSA) with special emphasis to
gender is the study commissioned by the Federal Project Coordination Unit
(FPCU) of the Pastoral Community Development Project (PCDP), funded by the
World Bank. The purposes of the study were to conduct household income and
expenditure survey, analyze the food economy of pastoral and agro-pastoral
production systems, identify community-livestock movement patterns, analyze
gender division of labour and decision making in pastoral households, and
identify potential roles of traditional institutions in the pastoral community
development.
Based on these objectives, the study was conducted in three regions, namely
Oromia, Afar, and Somali. In each region, one Woreda was selected. In each
Woreda, the study was conducted in three pastoral communities. Moreover,
participatory method of information gathering was made through dialogues by
organizing conferences at woreda and regional level. This report presents the
findings of the PRSA in Afar Regional State based mainly on the study
conducted in Gulina Woreda.
Participatory research methods such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA),
Participatory Community Dialogue (PCD), and household survey were applied
using standard data collection tools. The findings of the PRSA could be
summarized below.
(i) The Role of Traditional Institutions

• Afar pastoral communities have indigenous institutions that govern the
behaviour of each individual member. The traditional institutions are
organized to serve the social, economic, security and development
needs of its members. The institution leaders have the responsibilities
of decision-making and enforcement of resource use rules using
traditional political authority. This authority is hereditary based on clan
ties. Each clan has a clan leader (Kedo Aba), lineage (Dala Aba or
sometimes called Dabala Aba), youth leaders (Fei’ma Aba) and elders'
councils. The traditional leaders reinforce co-operation and social
solidarity between clans through shared rituals, resource sharing and
the practice of paternalistic cross-cousin marriage called Absuma.
Traditional rangeland management system does not exist.
• In Afar, religion has high value and even dominates the enforcement of
traditional rules and regulations. It is so important in that, without the
consent of the religious leaders, it would be difficult to think of cultural
changes in the Afar pastoral community. The “Kadis” and “Shekas”
implement Islamic religious rules and regulations and teach the faith.
The religious leaders have the authority in the cases of marriage and
divorce decisions.

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities vi
• Traditional leaders work in harmony with the government system at

woreda level. They often play advisory roles. The traditional leaders
can play pivotal roles to bring about social changes through continued
dialogue at different levels in a participatory manner.
(ii) Mutual Support Mechanisms

• Mutual help is common among the Afar pastoral communities as the
ecology in which they live compel individuals to cooperate expecting
some kind of reciprocity. The traditional mutual support system is
locally known as Hatota, which is practiced through clan ties. Mutual
co-operation is practiced at different levels, namely at nucleus family
(Ko budda), the household level (Inik budda), the village (Ganda
Budda), which consists of different households tracing descent from
the same clan, and the local community levels.
• The poor households are entitled to get clan assistance mostly in kind.
Orphans are put under the care of close relatives. Sharing of food
items, milk, equipments, and clothes to support each other during
normal, drought and hazardous situations among the family members,
households, community and Afar society is common. The religion also
demands those who have livestock to give for the poor. This is
practiced every year.
(iii) Women’s Right in Traditional Institutions

• The traditional systems encourage the use of traditional practices,
which are often harmful and undermine women’s right. The harmful
traditional practices currently in use in Afar region include the worst
form of Female Genital Mutilation known scientifically as infibulations
and Kenter keltii in its local name, early marriage, marriage by
inheritance and cross-cousin marriage (Absuma), polygamous
marriage, wife beating, wife abandonment, Uvelocotomy, milk teeth
extraction, etc
• Afar traditional institution does not allow women to participate in
community issues in which men are dominating. Women are not
allowed to attend public meetings with men. Some key informants
describe that it is due to the Islamic religion that women are culturally
assigned to perform mainly household chores such as food
preparation, constructing afar house (arri) collecting fire wood, milking
cows, fetching water from far places, looking after children, making
utensils from local materials such as grass, hide and skin and herding
cattle, etc. whereas men are responsible for all outdoor tasks such as
livestock herding, watering, medicating, performing certain societal
activities like burial, taking sick people to near by health services, and
the like. According to some religious leaders, however, such

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities vii
overburdening of women with limited rights of property ownership is

against the Islamic rules.
• Women lack equal right to inheritance of property with men. According

to the Afar culture, after the death of her husband, a woman is obliged
to get married to her husband’s brother and any appropriate relatives
of husband. If she got married out of her husband’s relatives the
person who gets married to her pays 12 cattle to the family of her
deceased husband. If a husband dies and does not have child, the wife
gets only one-eighth of the property. It was also indicated that the Afar
women can only inherit half of what their brothers are inheriting.
• In the case of divorce, sharing of livestock of a wife in Afar society is
based on rules of the Islamic religion. Usually she takes only her own
properties, and livestock given to her before divorce. As claimed by
religious leaders, a woman is entitled to part of her family’s inheritance
and one–fourth of the matrimonial property upon divorce.
(iv) Social Exclusion

• In Afar, no clan is excluded from resource use or social affairs, on the
basis of personal or family background. There is no discrimination on
the basis of ethnicity or religious affiliation but the manner women and
girls are handled tantamount to discrimination. Moreover, there is
exclusion of someone based on violation of rules and regulation or
cultural norms of the society. The exclusion involves denying access to
mutual support of the system and isolation rather than sanction against
resources use. It is the responsibility of the clan to control behaviour of
individuals since privately committed mistakes or crimes can have
repercussions on the clan in the form of revenge by other clans.
(v) Knowledge and Perceptions of Pastoralists on Development Policies

• Rangeland is a communal property of the clan within its boundary. It is
accessible for use by every Afar. But land put under cultivation by
agro-pastoral communities is considered as private property.
Ownership of the cropland can be certified.
• Rangeland productivity and hence its carrying capacity declined. On
the other hand, there has been no improvement was attempted by the
community or the government.
• Water resources are also communally used. There are also private
eelas but the use is based on the mutual support system. Water for
home use is fetched from far distance, although ground water is said to
be easily found.

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities viii
• Education and health services are well recognized and demanded by

the pastoral communities. But there is limited access to these services.
There are very few health posts and primary schools in some of the
woredas while most of the kebeles do not have one. Because of the
household demand for children’s labour in general and herding
particular, the school enrolment rate is still low need for children’s
labour for herding, the school enrolment rate is still low. Girls are left to
attend school until they are ready to get married and currently due to
the support given to girls education, their enrolment has increased.
Proximities of schools is the second most important factor hindering
enrolment. The mobile communities do not get access to these
facilities. Combination of permanent and mobile schools as well as
establishment of the public services at major concentration areas
where the mobile communities stay for longer period should be
considered as relevant development interventions.
• Livestock marketing is crucial for the livelihood of the pastoral
communities. Unfortunately, there is no market centre for livestock,
livestock products, and other commodities in some of the woreds as
such as Gulina. As a result, hides and skin are not sold, whereas
small-scale sales of milk, goats, and sheep are made by moving from
door to door in woreda towns such as Kalawan in Gulina, and very
marginal sales of butter are practiced. For instance, the communities at
Gulina town should travel for one and a half days to reach the market
centers (about 30 km) located at Teru and Yalo Woredas. Grain for
consumption is purchased from Zobil and Kobo markets in Amhara
region and Tigray region. Road accessibility is a major constraint for
promotion of market in the remote woredas. Cooperative, credit and
saving services should be promoted to participate in marketing
functions.
(vi) Major Changes in the Last Decade in the Pastoral Communities

• The major positive changes are establishment of physical structures at
Woreda towns such as schools, clinics or health posts, road
connections, reduced conflict with people of the neighbouring region,
etc.
• The most significant negative change is drought, which killed several
livestock and worsened the food security situations of the pastoral
communities. Other natural causes of disaster include earthquake,
flood, livestock disease, and insect pests such as desert locusts.
(vii) Community - Livestock Mobility

• The regular mobility of the community and livestock takes place within
their kebeles, and Woredas. Drought year mobility can be as far as

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities ix
crossing boundaries of other regions or international boundaries. The

PRSA participants recognize the negative impacts associated with
mobility on the host communities as well as themselves. The major
reason for mobility is shortage of pasture. Investment in feed resources
including means of watering and irrigation facilities are possible actions
needed for reducing mobility. Stopping mobility is not possible.
(viii) Pastoral Information and Communication Systems

• Afar society has its own information communication system, locally
called Dagu system. The Dagu involves exchange of information
about daily life and general situations they observe, listen, or see on
their ways or from their areas of residence or from markets. A person
who is on a long journey, going to market place, coming back from
workshops, seminars, conferences, moving on mobile herding, etc. is
obliged to tell any information he/she comes across to the other
community members. The system ensures security and well being of
the society.
(ix) Indigenous Knowledge and Innovations

• Men and women often have very different skills, which is pretty much
attributable to their respective gender division of labour and gender
roles, and knowledge the combination which creates a knowledge
system specific to local conditions, needs, and priorities. The socio-
cultural roles and relationships are part of this knowledge system
including the use, preservation and adaptation of the system. The
knowledge and practices that are very much common among the Afar
pastoral communities include identification and treatment of human
and livestock disease, water management, handcrafts, etc.
(x) Agro-Pastoral Livelihood

• Agro-pastoral system is a response to declining livestock holding size
per household. The agro-pastoral communities are generally poor. For
instance, 51% of the households in Fokisa community of Gulina
woreda are poor or destitute. The livestock holding of the rich
households (12% of all households in the study area) today is as much
as what a poor household had ten years ago.
• The decline in the livestock asset basis forced the pastoral
communities to look for alternative means of earning including crop
production. The need for income diversification by involving in activities
such as livestock and crop production, wage, and petty trades.

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities x
• Mutual support system, wild food, food aid, reduced meal time and
frequency are means of coping with food insecurity.
(xi) Pastoral Livelihood

• Livestock is the most important sources of livelihood of the pastoral
communities. Their herd size is larger than that of the agro-
pastoralists. However, the number of poor households is increasing.
Most of the poor are female headed households.
• The poor also receives larger proportion of its ration through food aid
or social support system. The rich also earns as much as 10% of its
annual consumption needs. This is often due to the impact of drought,
which not only affected livestock number but also livestock productivity.
As a result, the pastoral communities are pressing for income
diversification.
(xii) Gender Situation

• The labour division in both agro-pastoral and pastoral communities
indicates that women and girls perform most of the productive and
reproductive activities. On the other hand men and boys perform some
of the productive activities and most of the community affairs. This
clearly shows the existence of imbalanced workload on women and
girls.
• Access to resources and benefits such as livestock and livestock
products, land, means of gaining information (radio), private savings
and the benefits gained from the resources is not equitable among the
gender classes. The men have more access to the household
resources and benefits.
• Men also have the largest share of controlling resources and benefits.
This means that access to and control over resources and benefits on
the one hand and workload on the other hand are inversely related
among the gender groups.
• Women have very low share in decision making authority.
(xiii) Supports Required for Associations/Organizations Working on

Gender
• There is not much of work on gender in the Afar pastoral woredas. The
existing institutions lack gender focal persons. Those available have
inadequate skill in promoting gender and development. Assigning
appropriate person at Woreda level, particularly at the Woreda
Women' s Affairs Office is of paramount importance. Building the

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities xi
capacity of government structures in the Woredas would help

promotion of gender issues.
• Provision of office facilities such as computers, photocopy machines,
electric generator, and transport services are required for Women
Affairs Offices of the Woredas.
(xiv) Small Scale Enterprises for Women

• Small-scale irrigation scheme development is the first priority of the
community to enable production of crops and fodder production. This
will be the major source of income diversification. Provision of credit
services for promotion of petty trades is also among the major means
of income diversification and empowering the different gender groups.
Another priority area is supply of potable water supply and pasture
development. Grain mill establishment and hollow block production by
the different gender groups is another area of potential income
generation activity in Afar region.
(xv) Gender Awareness Creation Mechanisms

• The Officers of the Women’s Affairs Desks are not capacitated in
gender mainstreaming and gender problems in general as they did not
receive adequate training on the issue. Therefore, building the
capacity of the office and the line offices is of paramount importance in
the improvement of women’s socio-economic status. Moreover,
technical experts who can oversee and advise the implementation of
activities are needed. All efforts related to gender relations should be
handled in a participatory manner involving traditional leaders.

Social Analysis and Indigenous Livelihood Strategies in Afar Pastoral Communities 1
1. Background
Pastoral Community Development Project (PCDP) is a World Bank Funded project
with the aim of establishing effective models of public service delivery, investment
and disaster management in the arid and semi-arid Ethiopian lowlands that address
the pastoral communities'priority needs, improve their livelihoods and reduce their
vulnerability. The project interventions are designed to empower communities to
better manage local development with the aim of increasing, stabilizing and
diversifying incomes, improving infrastructure, and increasing access to public
services. The effort is also supported through policy reforms, investment in health,
education, veterinary services and applied research.
One of the guiding principles of PCDP is based on the assumption that pastoral
livelihoods can be improved by strengthening the self-management capacities of
indigenous institutions found within communities, giving them control of decisions
and resources during all stages of the local project cycle. Participatory Learning and
Action (PLA) is one of the methodologies designed to create the capacities of the
communities to induce attitudes and behavior changes, empowering people of
different social groups to analyze, share and communicate the realities of their lives
and conditions. The PLA includes participatory rural appraisal in which skilled
facilitators to make the people analyze their circumstances and decide on ways of
their development.
It was within this framework that the Federal Project Coordination Unit (FPCU)
recruited WIBD Consult in order to conduct participatory Research and Social
Analysis (PRSA) with special emphasis to gender issues in pastoral communities of
Ethiopia in three regions; namely Oromia, Afar, and Somali.
Three pastoral Woredas were selected for the study in the three regions.
Accordingly, Dire, Gulina, and Gode Woredas were selected from Oromia, Afar, and
Somali regions respectively. Community and Woreda level PRSA were conducted
in the three Woredas to select the communities where the study should be
conducted and to identify the social groups with whom the PRSA will be done.
During the inception studies, tools and approaches of the study were established.
This report is based on the PRSA study conducted in Afar Regional State. The
report is based on detailed PRSA studies at three communities in Gulina woreda,
and woreda and regional conferences that helped to generate the necessary data as
per guiding objectives and established instruments of the study.
The document is organized into seventeen chapters. Chapters 1 to 3 introduce the
background, the objectives and the methodology followed. Chapter 4 deals with the
traditional institutions and their roles while chapter 5 explores the equity and
discriminations among social groups. Analysis of gender relations and women' s
situations in the pastoral area is dealt with in chapter 6. Chapter 7 presents the
knowledge and perceptions of the pastoral communities regarding development
policies. A briefly description of major changes during the last decade, as perceived
by the pastoral communities is given in Chapter 8. Chapters 9, 10 and 11 discuss
about mobility, information and communication and indigenous knowledge of the

communities, respectively. Analysis of the pastoral economy and livelihood is the

topic of chapter 12 while Chapters 13 to 17 deal with past experiences on gender
development, small scale enterprise for women development, technology issues,
and gender awareness creation mechanisms respectively. Conclusions and
recommendations are given in the last chapter.
2. Objectives of PRSA
The development objective of the study was to inform the policy makers, donors,
and development practitioners on areas and strategies of improving sustainable
livelihoods of the pastoral communities in Ethiopia and reducing their vulnerability to
any disasters. The specific objectives of the study were:
• To identify sustainable livelihood improvement mechanisms with emphasis to
gender and other vulnerable groups,
• To find compatibility of the project design with social organizations and
livelihood strategies of people in pastoral areas,
• To identify social differentiations within the pastoral communities especially in
terms of economic and vulnerability,
• To stimulate the participation of very poor and disadvantaged members of
population with particular attention to women, and
• To identify the potential role of traditional institutions.
3. Methodology
The study was conducted in Afar Regional State where the detailed participatory
research was conducted in Gulina woreda. Within the Woreda, three pastoral
communities, namely Kalewan, Darayitu and Fokisa, were selected. The first two are
pure pastoral communities while Fokisa is an agro-pastoral. The selection process
was reported in the inception report submitted to the Federal PCDP Office.
Accordingly, a series of data collection techniques were used. These include:
I. Participatory research approach including Focus Group Discussion, Public
Dialogue, etc.
II. Household survey
III. Discussion with key informants at different line Offices and NGOs.
Moreover, woreda level and regional level PRSA were conducted to generate
general information broadly applicable to the Afar society. The Consulting team
facilitated the fieldwork and conferences at community, Woreda and regional levels
with the help of the regional PCDP and Woreda PCDP project staff, and the Woreda
Development Committee.

3.1 Participatory Methodologies

The PRSA involved participatory methodologies, such as Focus Group Discussions
(FGD), semi-structured interview, case studies, mobility mapping, wealth ranking,
ranking and scoring, proportionate pilling, Harvard Framework of Gender Analysis,
Venn-diagram, Community Dialogue.
Focus group discussions combined with semi-structured interviews were held with
four social groups namely, elders and traditional leaders, women, youth and adult
pastoralists, and Kebele administrations in each community. Case studies were also
conducted with some women, non-pastoral activity operators, and some selected
pastoralists. Mobility mapping was used to understand the pastoral community' s
movement pattern within and outside of their community. Wealth ranking was used
to identify wealth classes among the community.
Proportionate pilling method was used in order to determine the proportions of
various factors from the total cases. Proportionate pilling was used in gender
division of labor, household economy, income and expenditures, wealth classes, etc.
Daily routine calendar was used to assess the gender division of labor. Harvard
frameworks such as activity profile and access to and control over resources and
benefits were used to analyze gender relations. Venn-diagram was used in order to
identify institutions in the communities. Community dialogue (conference) was used
as a means of creating awareness on pastoral community development issues and
existing gender relations. Moreover, the dialogue helped to generate data on
broader community perspectives.
Moreover, key informants from the government offices and NGOs operating in the
Woreda provided necessary information related to their capacities, and the extent to
which the gender awareness creation activities have been performed and the
existing gaps. Finally, digital documentation of the whole process was made using
video and digital camera.
3.2 Household Survey

The household survey was conducted in the three sample communities of Kalewan,
Fokisa, and Derayitu. A total of 104 households were randomly selected from four
wealth groups, namely rich, medium, the poor and the destitute at a proportion of 15,
39, 28, and 18% respectively. The sampling was made from the list of pastoralists in
different wealth groups, which was prepared by the Woreda PCDP with the help of
key informants from the respective pastoral communities. The sample also covered
both female headed and male headed households whereby 41% of the households
interviewed were female headed (Table 3.1).
The heads of the households were interviewed by the mobile outreach team staffs
that are also responsible for the implementation of the PCDP in the Woreda. The
enumerators were trained on the survey tools and questionnaire. Structured
questionnaire was used for the survey.

Table 3.1: Sample Size for Household Survey by Community, Sex and Wealth Group
Darayitu Kalewan Fokisa Total
Wealth Community Community Community
Group Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Total
Rich 3 1 8 0 3 1 14 2 16
Medium 11 3 7 7 9 3 27 13 40
Poor 3 3 10 2 3 8 16 13 29
Destitute 3 3 0 6 1 6 4 15 19
Total 20 10 25 15 16 18 61 43 104
Source: Own Sampling (May, 2005)

4. Socio-Political Institutions in Afar

Afar is an ethnic group of population biologically self-perpetuated, sharing
fundamental cultural values, realizing themselves in overt utility cultural forms, with
peculiar identity distinguishable from others. Afar people speak a language, which
belongs to the Cushitic family of languages spoken in Ethiopia. Hierarchically, Afar
society is structured into clans and sub-clans. According to the key informants and
group discussions held in Gulina Woreda of the Afar Regional State, the major clans
are “Assayemara” and “Adohemera”. These two clans are again sub-divided into
many different clans. It was also indicated that the number of Afar clans is not
exactly known but expected to be more than one hundred.
Afar as an ethnic group inhabits in the vast rangelands of northeastern Ethiopia,
eastern Eritrea and in Djibouti (Simonsene, 1999). The distribution of Afar in
different countries also makes it difficult to know the exact number of the clans.
The composition of the sub-clans of male and female pastoralists in the area
depends on the marriage arrangement. The sub-clans that the female headed and
male headed respondents belong to is the function of the traditional marriage
arrangement since the clan/sub clan arrangement is often intermingled.
It appears from the analysis that the communities are formed by distinct clans and
sub-clans who live together in harmony. Each of the clan is highly organized and
cohesive in terms of maintaining social order, defense, and cooperation in social
support and distribution of wealth to the needy members of the clan.
4.1 Traditional Leadership Systems

During the Imperial regime, it was Fitawurari Bute, the landlord at the time, was
responsible for administering land in the district and collecting tax. He appropriated a
higher proportion of the tax collected. A small proportion was transferred to the
emperor. He provided legal and administrative services for the community in return
to taxes.
But the Afar pastoralists have indigenous institutions that govern the behavior of
each individual member of the clan. The Afar clans are organized under traditional
contemporary lines to address their social and economic interests. The clans are
organized in terms of descent corporations based on membership in corporate
groups, which are defined by descent and marriage. The traditional organizations
are important regarding a mutual support of economic, social and settling disputes.
The Afar pastoral communities developed social organizations that enhance
decision-making and enforcement of resource use rules through traditional political
authority. This authority is based on clan ties with the structure of clan leader (Kedo
Aba) and lineage (Dala Aba or sometimes called Dabala Aba), youth leaders (Fei’ma
Aba) and elders'council. The traditional leaders reinforce cooperation and social
solidarity between clans through shared rituals, resource sharing and the practice of
paternalistic cross-cousin marriage called Absuma. The clan based social

organization plays pivotal roles for smooth functioning of the pastoral livelihoods
and, fosters peaceful resource sharing between and within clans. There are different
units that have their own roles within the clan leadership. The major structures
defined by the positions are discussed below.
4.1.1 “Kedo Aba”, The Clan Representative

The Afar clans are represented by "Kedo Aba", i.e clan leader, that is responsible for
any social, economic and political matters of its clan. Each clan has its own Kedo
Aba. The Kedo Aba is responsible for the reconciliation of his clan members with
others in the cases of any disputes or conflict. Kedo Aba makes decisions on
matters like settlement of disputes within his clan, use and management of
rangeland, water and other natural resources and conflict resolutions (among clans).
Dispute settlement between clan members and other clans, detecting of theft and
criminals, coordination of contributions to households/individuals who need
assistance and support in social and economic aspects, etc. are the responsibility of
the Kedo Aba. Kedo Aba is supported by other leaders like Dala Aba (Dabala Aba),
Edolla (the elders council), Fei’ma (youth group) and religious leaders (the Kadi and
Sheka). They also mobilize the clan to defend the community in case of conflicts
including conflicts on natural resources such as grazing area and water points.
The overall responsibilities of Kedo Aba are to settle disputes, which would arise
between his clan members and others, segregate members from other clans,
advising clan members and representing them.
In general, the Kedo Aba performs the following major duties:
Deals with big clan affairs,
Immigrants and people coming to share resources should contact him and get
permission,
Handle conflicts at clan level or conflict with other clans,
Handle murder cases together with elders and religious leaders. However, the
trial of murder cases should start before the burial of the body, otherwise,
there will be difficulties of finding evidences,
In the earlier days, the Kedo Aba used to have special place and some
mechanisms of punishing criminals, and
Used to collect tax.
The authority vested on the Kedo Aba is transferred on the basis of hereditary
relationships. Poorly performing Kedo Aba shall be replaced by capable clan
member who can inherit or elected otherwise. Depending on his strength and
capability in decision-making, one of the brothers or any nearest can be appointed
as Kedo Aba.

4.1.2 The “Dala Aba", The Lineage Leaders

Dala Aba (some times called Dabala Aba) is a position in the traditional leadership at
village level. Dala Aba is responsible for settling disputes among individuals and
groups within his clan, processes marriage arrangements, coordinates members of
the clan for development interventions and implements decisions made by Kedo
Aba. Dala Aba investigates crimes like theft, committing adultery, murdering,
beating, insulting, etc. within the clan at local community level. Dala Aba makes
decisions that should be implemented at sub-clan level. If some one does not want
to accept decisions made by Dala Aba, he/she can appeal to Kedo Aba and the
decision made by Kedo Aba is the final.
Similar to the Kedo Aba, the Dala Aba is an inheritable position. When Dala Aba is
weak and incapable of leading his sub-clan, a capable person from the same sub-
clan could replace him through either inheritance or election.
4.1.3 "Fei’ma Aba", The Youth Group Leader

Fei’ma is a youth group organized in each of the clans and forms a defense force of
the community. Membership to Fei’ma starts when the children are at least 10 years
old. Fei’ma is the unit that is responsible for the execution or enforcement of
sanctions passed by Kedo Aba or Dala Aba. It protects and follows up the
implementation of customary laws, the Afar values, and traditional practices. The
Fei’ma group strengthens the authorities of Kedo Aba and Dala Aba, and also
responsible for the performance of funeral ceremonies, development of ponds and
shallow wells that can be used for livestock and human use. The Fei' ma Aba has
also the right to comment on the decisions made either to ease or make stronger on
the basis of crimes committed. However, changing the decision is at the discretion of
the deciding body.
Defending the clan from external invaders, performance of slaughtering livestock
during festivals, taking messages to distant places, etc. are the responsibilities of the
Fei’ma group. When any problem is reported, Fei' ma arrives quickly and takes
actions based on the existing traditional rules and regulations. It is a kind of special
force with multiple roles. Fei'ma Aba brings criminals to justice. This group is also
responsible for looking after lost livestock or raided by other ethnic groups bordering
their pastoral communities. When Fei' ma groups follow and get alleged criminals,
they should inform the Kedo Aba. Kedo Aba should convince family of the alleged
criminal to be handed over. The consequence of handing over criminals without the
consent of his family may be serious. Both male and female ascendants of the
criminal should be informed.
In general, without the existence of the Fei’ma group, it would be difficult to enforce
decisions, protect customary laws and also effectively administer the internal affairs
of the Afar society. Fei’ma youth group is lead by Fei’ma Aba who is one of the
senior leaders while there are two other assistants to him with specified
responsibilities. Fei’ma Aba usually comes to power as early as 15 years of age and
could be in power as far as he can lead the Fei’ma youth group.

4.1.4 "Edola", The Council of Elders

The council of elders, locally called as "Edola" is a body that is constituted in a given
community as need arises. Structurally, it falls below the Dala Aba. The Kedo Aba,
Dala Aba, and Edola have decisive roles in resolving disputes between clans, and
individuals, other ethnic groups, strengthening the clan, segregate own clan
members from other clan' s, advising the clan and sub-clan members regarding their
safety and well-being. Most of the decisions pertinent to arbitration and settlement
of disputes on social and economic issues, management of rangeland and natural
resources, abiding to customary laws (known as Madda), Islamic religious practices
and Afar pastoral way of life are managed, protected and lead by the Afar clan
representatives, leaders and council of elders.
The clan representatives and leaders of the different traditional institutions in Afar
are apparently men. In the context of leadership of the traditional institutions, women
are absolutely marginalized. Despite being involved in the leadership, community
members also involve as members of the traditional institutions. The opinion of the
respondents on membership issue was included in the household survey.
Accordingly, 72% of all respondents indicated that they belong as members to a
traditional institution, which could be at higher or lower level in the structure. Gender
based disaggregated data shows that 86% of the male respondents feel that they
are members whereas only 52% of the sample female headed households feel like
members. The most important reason for not being members is associated with
denial of women to involve in the traditional institutions (90% of the cases). The
other reasons revolve around young old dichotomy that gives rise to conflict of
values between the age groups.
4.2 Religious Institutions

The Afar society follows Islamic faith of belief. Religion has high value and even
dominates the enforcement of traditional rules and regulations. It is so important in
that, without the consent from the religious leaders, it would be difficult to think of
cultural changes in the Afar pastoral community. There are "Kadis" and "Shekas"
who are leaders of the society from the religious perspectives. “Kadis” and “Shekas”
implement Islamic religion rules and regulations and teach the faith. In the structure
of traditional leadership, religious leaders can be at any ladder. The teaching of
Islamic religion, and practices such as taking care of the wretched, providing the
poor with basic needs, and supporting one who lost his property due to drought and
disaster, etc. are performed by “Kadis”. "Kadis" are also responsible for marriage
and divorce approval, making decisions on property sharing of husband and wife
when divorced, collecting contributions from individuals, in kind or in cash that could
be given to the poor members of the clan, processing reconciliation at household,
clan and community levels.
The lowest organizational structure where “Shekas” and “Kadis” perform their
functions starts with each clan/pastoral community. Apparently, most of the religious

services are performed at clan and community level and the higher level is at
Woreda/district level where the Woreda Kadi performs religious services.
In general, the "Kadis" perform the following functions:

• Teach religious education
• Lead religious marriage and divorce ceremonies
• Bless people
Whereas the "Shekas" perform the following:
• Reconcile people
• Make binding decisions that have no appeal
4.3 Functions of the Traditional Institutions

4.3.1 Water Resources Management
There are two most important sources of water in Afar. The first one is well (eela)
which is owned by group of community members who are closely related and live in
the same vicinity. The owners are the ones who excavated it. But people can
negotiate with the owners and share the resource or pay for clan leaders to get
permission of access. The use at group level is based on first come first served.
There are no strict rules and regulations governing use. Individuals also have wells
of their own, which is administered according to the traditional rules.
Afar is also endowed with many rivers coming from the high lands of Amhara region,
especially during rainy seasons. As a result, access to water is relatively easy.
However, some animals like camel do not drink running water coming from the
highlands with full of soils, other materials and impurities. The herders dig the soil in
the river basin (sands) and wait for some minutes until the water comes out and fills
small hand-dug pond. This water is relatively clean and used by both human beings
and livestock. Digging ponds on flood catchments is not well known in the area
except the few ponds being constructed by PCDP. Water harvesting or digging holes
in the river basins is more of individualistic and temporary rather than something
planned for sustainable use.
Mobile pastoralists coming from other places should contact the Kedo Aba to get
permission to use the wells. After arrival, the "guest" pastoralists appoint contact
persons who ensure peaceful resource sharing. These persons are contacted for
any disagreement or issues arising in relation to resource use and management by
the "guest" pastoralists.
4.3.2 Range Management

In the earlier days, when the Afar used to own and administer land at clan level,
there was effective indigenous rangeland management system. For instance, there

was grazing reserve for dry season and sick and weak animals. There were also
settlement patterns, especially for outsiders coming to utilize resource. The clan land
was exclusively owned and used by the clan. Neighboring community negotiates to
share the resource.
During the previous regimes, Afar land was divided under different administrative
regions. After the establishment of the regional state of Afar, they developed sense
of unity and resource sharing beyond the clan boundary, which previously required
bargaining with the host community. The changing of rules was meant to peacefully
share the resources. But this resulted in abandonment of the practice of reserving
grasses for period of scarcity. The formal institution has not fully controlled resource
management.
4.3.3 Herd Management

Herd management in Afar involves division of animals into species. Big animals such
as camel and cattle are basically trekked to distant places for feed. Capable persons
search for water and pasture and then move with the livestock. It is the young boys
who trek the animals, whereas the elderly people follow them to negotiate with the
host community for resources use. Young girls follow their brothers to prepare food.
The decision on who should move with the animals is a matter of tradition rather
than rules.
Herd management is based on labour division, which is governed by traditional rules
in which men and boys herd cattle, camel and shots whereas girls take part in
herding goats and lactating animals. Women are also responsible for livestock
management lactating cows and cows.
4.3.4 Conflict Management
4.3.4.1 Customary Laws

Afar society has its own customary laws and rules inherited from ancestors to
encourage peaceful co-existence and discourage mischievous acts and violence.
Some of the articles are more specific while some are general. Most of the
customary laws of Afar were not written but passed over to the following generations
orally. The society maintains social laws and security of its members by making
references to these laws. Conflict management is usually through arbitration and
settlement of disputes on social and economic issues. These rules also help the
society to manage rangelands and other natural resources.
Theft is discouraged among the Afar pastoralists. Disguising the physical
appearance of stolen animals by making different marks on the bodies is a serious
offense. Hence, the guilty person will be forced to pay fine. Depending on the extent
of the violation of societal rules and crimes committed, the convicted is made to pay
livestock, or in cash. For instance, stealing animals of different species is subject to
different verdict based on different articles in Afar rules. The rules governing the
issues differ according to the species and type and magnitude of the damage made
to the animal. The amount of animals and cash payment depends on the nature of

violation or crime committed. Table 4.1 shows some of the specification of the
punishment enforced by the customary laws of the Afar society. A very high crime
such as murdering a person costs life of a prominent opponent clan member’s life if
negotiations fail1. This creates unrest in the community and migration of the
murdering clan into other places. If negotiations are successfully made, up to 100
camels (for man) and 50 camels (for woman) may be paid to the victimized clan.
Since there is clan protection or social security, the clan members contribute the
livestock needed to settle the dispute. The fine levied for killing a man is equivalent
to killing of two women, this is a clear indicator of how women are undermined and
attached a low value irrespective of the fact that are pivotal to sustain community
and the household.
Theft is not allowed in the society. Whether stolen goods or animals are found and
returned or not, the offense of attempting theft is punishable in Afar society. The
higher the values of animals stolen, the higher is the fine.
Customary laws of Afar society stated in Table 4.1 are enforced and implemented at
household, clan and community levels. Customary laws of Afar are very much
similar all over the regional state with minor differences from Woreda to Woreda or
from zone to zone. Decisions made on each of the crimes and the amount of
punishment to be paid is determined by Kedo Aba, Dala Aba and Edola (councils of
elders) at their respective positions. Individuals and groups committing crimes are
forced to pay punishments determined by the Kedo Aba, Dala Aba and Edola,.
Those who refuse to pay the set amount of punishment are ostracized, deprived of
their social and economic rights and benefits within their clan and the society.
Fei’ma Aba enforces the decisions made by clan leaders and representatives at
different levels.
1
If the murder is made intentionally, the victimized clan may refuse reconciliation. In such an event, a well
known person from the murderer’s clan is killed in retaliation and such retaliation is made secretly.

Table 4.1: Nature of the Crime and Punishment for Each Crime
Crime Amount to be Paid for each
Type of Crime
Category the Crime committed
Theft Stealing a camel 9 cattle and 4 goats
Stolen camel returned to the owner 4 goats
Stealing a cow 3 cows
Stolen cow returned to the owner 4 goats
3 goats (1 each from big,
Stealing goat/sheep
medium and mall goat)
Stolen goat/sheep returned to the owner Birr 20.00
Stealing a donkey 1 heifer or Birr 300.00
Injury in Beating a camel and if hurt 9 goats and Birr 20.00
conflict Beating a person and if bleeding 30 goats
Beating a person but no bleeding 5 goats and Birr 6.00
Person’s one hand broken 5 camels
Person’s one eye damaged 7 camels
Person’s tooth broken 1 heifer and 10 goats
Person’s thumb broken 5 cows
Person’s small finger broken 1 camel or 4 cows
Light injuries during quarrel Birr 60.00
Murder Intentional murder, if reconciled 50-100 camels
Accidental murder, if reconciled 30 camels
Intentional murder, if not reconciled Revenge
Adultery Committing adultery with someone’s wife 4 cattle
Found, red-handed, in committing
4 cattle, 5 goats and Birr 10.00
adultery with someone’s wife
Raping unmarried girl 12 cattle
Committing adultery with someone’s wife
Birr 360.00
by force
Source: PRSA Fieldwork in Gulina Woreda (May, 2005)
4.3.4.2 Resolving Murder Related Conflicts

If two people quarrel and blood shade follows, the first step is to slaughter a goat.
After some days, the guilty person will be forced to slaughter a sheep while the
victim is under constant care of traditional healers. The medicine given to a person
helps to protect him/her from infection and cure wound. If the wound is serious,
he/she should be taken to the nearest health care center.
In case the wound leaves permanent scar or disabilities on the body of the victim,
the guilty will be forced to pay a head of cattle. For minor injury that does not cause
any blood shade, certain amount of cash is paid, which is not more than one
hundred Birr.

In Afar culture, physical clashes as well as murder are discouraged largely.

However, different factors can cause murder both inter and intra clans. When a
person commits murder crime, the immediate action taken by clan leaders is to put
the family of the murderer under clan protection. The family will be given the name
"Megilo", meaning people who are scared. They are made to move away from that
locality to avoid any possibility of contact with their ‘enemy’ to avoid revenge. Fei'
ma
(the youth) will protect this family from any possible retaliatory attacks. The process
of reconciliation starts after one year by elders. As this is a difficult task, mostly
religious leaders will be the main actors in bringing the two groups together for
negotiation. After intense and lengthy discussions, date is fixed to settle the issue.
Both families will gather at a certain place and camel is slaughtered. The process
ends by brining the two together and compensating the victim’s family.
However, in most cases, the tradition requires retaliation in the case of murder
between different clans. This perpetuates bloody conflict between the two clans. The
Afar people do have ways of investigating and imposing fines. If the murder is
unplanned and takes place unexpectedly, thirty heads of cattle may be paid to settle
the matter. If it is planned and intentional, fifty to hundred heads of cattle should be
paid. However, most of the time, this type of murder will trigger another murder as
revenge. Murder of intra and inter clan is also treated differently. It is intra clan
conflict that could easily be resolved peacefully than the inter clan conflict.
4.3.4.3 Adultery Acts

It is forbidden to attempt forced contact with wives of other pastoralists. If such an
act is disclosed or observed with evidences, the person committing such a rude
action will be fined. Attempting to make sexual intercourse with unmarried girls is a
very serious crime of adultery. The fine posed is accordingly high. This is one of the
reasons the Afar give to justify female circumcision and cutting and stitching the
female genital as a mechanism designed to avoid committing sexual relation with
girls.
Rape cases are handled with specific rules as given in Table 4.1. If a woman is
raped and the man admits his deed, he will pay 180 birr. If he is caught committing
adultery, he will pay 360 birr. The husband can divorce such a wife without giving
her any thing and in such instances women are paying double price: on their pride
and property without being a culprit. The person who commits adultery with the lady
can marry her, but compensates the previous husband with 12 heads of cattle. Since
the Absuma marriage takes place without the will of the girls, beautiful girls are liable
to using this strategy marry men of their wishes.

4.4 Harmony between the Traditional and Government Institutions

Similar to the establishment of formerly known peasant Association (PA) and
currently known Kebele Administration (KA) in the highland of Ethiopia, Kebele
administrations are formed at grassroots level in pastoral communities of Afar. The
organizational structure, functions, principles, and modes of operation of Kebele
Administrations are expected to be similar to that of the highland of Ethiopia.
However, Afar pastoral communities are organized based on their own traditional
system, which is clan based rather than geographical area. People often move from
their kebeles to places where livestock feeds are available, of course keeping the
title of belonging to the kebele.
Afar pastoralists have been administering themselves for centuries following the
traditional rules. Today the traditional and religious institutions function parallel
although religious rules are more observed than the traditional ones. The
government bureaucracy has not penetrated fully. The existing Kebeles operate with
the cooperation and support from the traditional leadership. For example, if a person
commits a crime and he is wanted by the government, his clan should be convinced
to handover him to the government.
In militia recruitment, Kedo Aba do have roles to play. The administrators of each
Kebele perform their duties and responsibilities based on Afar traditional practices,
customary laws and government guidelines and directives. The kebele chairman,
who is usually Kedo Aba, Dala Aba or Fei’ma Aba, is the coordinator and facilitator
for the creation of smooth relationship between Afar pastoral community traditional
way of life and that of the KA. Form this point of view KA in Afar postural community
would have not existed and functioned without the support of and linkages to Afar
traditional institutions.
When there is epidemics or any natural as well as man made hazards, the two
systems, i.e. the traditional and the government, work in collaboration to mobilize the
community. There are also traditional leaders assigned as councilors at Woreda
level. The notion of including local leaders in the formal administration could be a
positive move if the process followed participatory approach whereby the community
delegates its representatives. The arrangement also requires a clear demarcation of
roles and responsibilities of the two institutions while working together. The role of
the woreda councilor is to mediate between government and the community to follow
the right path of development. The current roles of the traditional leaders at the
Woreda level are given below.
i The Kedo Abas are assigned to advise the Woreda administration on issues
related to community affairs;
ii Dala Aba acts as peace committee member, to handle issues related to
security;
iii Fei'ma Aba, the youth leaders, are made members of the ruling party and
serve as militia. These groups involve not only in resource management and
community affairs, but also political issues.

In general, the relationship between the traditional leadership and the government
structures is relatively smooth due to the above arrangements. Seventy nine percent
of the surveyed households indicated that the traditional and government institutions
are in harmony (Table 4.2). In terms of the role the traditional institutions play, 28%
of the sample cases feel that the role of the traditional leadership declined during the
last ten years.
Table 4.2: Pastoralists Perceptions of the Relationship between Functions of Traditional and
Formal Institutions (% of respondents)
Type of relationship Male headed Female headed Total
Harmonious 46 33 79
Not harmonious 15 6 21
Total 60 40 100
4.5 Traditional Practices and Women Rights

4.5.1 Traditional Practices Affecting Women
Involving the participants of the focus group discussions to categorize traditional
practices as harmful to women was a difficult task. Some of the participants were
arguing that their community is not practicing any thing that affects any human
being, but to help them with good health, have a decent behavior that is acceptable
to the norms and values of their society. Nonetheless, with a lot of efforts of probing
and explaining the experiences of other communities, participants of the focus
group have identified the following as harmful practices:
i. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

As part of cultural and religious commitment, the pastoral communities of the study
area are widely practicing female genital mutilation (locally known as (Ketnter Keltii)
that is of type III or infibulations. An infibulated woman is again de-infibulated to be
ready for sexual intercourse and during her wedding and re-infibulated after giving
birth to a child. This practice is performed by women and there is a feeling that
infibulations narrow the female genital organ to comfort the men. The PRSA
participants apparently recognized the repercussions of this practice on women’s
suffering upon giving birth.
Infibulations: is removal of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching or
narrowing of the vaginal opening leaving a small hole for urine and menstrual flow.
The procedure entails stitching together, using acacia thorns, of the Labia majora
after the surface has been scraped. The legs are tide together immediately after the

operation and she is immobilized for weeks until the wounds of the vulva has
closed.
De-infibulations: this is the reverse of the process of infibulations and is usually
performed ether during the consummation of marriage, for first sexual intercourse,
or before giving birth. It involves cutting through the scar of the previous operation
to enlarge the vaginal intrusion. This practice is carried out by old ladies under the
cruddiest surgical conditions with a blade or knife. In some circumstances, attempts
are made to perform the phenomenal task of breaking through the skin with the
erect penis involving too much pain and agony to all concerned.
Re infibulations: this is a process wherein a previously de-infibulated is
restructured. A re-structuring of the vulva of a woman in the immediate postnatal
period, often at her request, with the sole aim of narrowing the vaginal introits, re-
infibulations is performed after the woman has given birth.
The PRSA discussion disclosed that the reasons for the practice of female genital
mutilation are:
(i) to reduce sexual desire in the female;
(ii) to maintain chastity and virginity before marriage and fidelity during
marriage;
(iii) to increase male sexual pleasure;
(iv) identification with cultural heritage;
(v) to avoid ostracizing and stigmatization;
(vi) to promote hygiene, prevent illness; and
(vii) aesthetic appeal and religious reasons.
Most harmful traditional practices, those that are ‘surgical’ in particular, are
suspected of possible transmission of HIV/AIDS. Female genital mutilations,
Uvulectomy, tonsillectomy and milk teeth extraction, body image alteration are
practiced in Afar and these have the potential for transmission of HIV/AIDS. There
is a need, therefore, to relate the struggle against HTP with the struggle to prevent
HIV/AIDS transmission.
Some Afar women who recognized their poor positions in the society attempt to flee
to the urban areas. For them, however, prostitution is the visible means of earning
for an "urban women". Since there will be possibilities of getting pregnant in the
urban area, the pastoralist women decide to stay in the rural areas since they feel
that the type of birth attendants who do de-infibulations and re-infibulations exist
only in the rural areas. Moreover, they are also afraid of getting HIV/AIDS, which
according to them, is prevalent in the urban areas.
The participatory community dialogues at community, Woreda and regional levels
created an opportunity for pastoral men, women, youth, traditional leaders, religious
leaders, development workers and administrators to discuss on the relation

between traditional and religious rules and taboos and welfare of women. It was
underscored that everyone agrees that these traditional practices are harming the
women. Hence, there is an agreement that further dialogues can help in finding
solutions to the problem.
ii. Marriage by inheritance

A brother of a deceased or someone with close kinship inherits a widow woman.
Regardless of any consideration, the heir has a full right to marry the widow of his
brother. As a result, widowed woman is not allowed to re-marry any man of her
choice if the brother of the deceased husband is alive. The participants of the
discussion groups described inherited marriage as a mechanism of ensuring care
and support to the children of the deceased brother and are even taken as an
obligation instead. But most of them agree that the practice creates access to
properties of the deceased by the heir. Hence, inheriting the property is the major
economic motive in woman inheritance.
iii. Wife beating
Wife beating is a norm in all the communities studied. It is applied as a way of
correction and at times an expression of love. Hence, it is widely practiced in Afar
society.
iv. Cross -cuisine marriage (Absuma)
Absuma is attributable to the Afar culture and Islamic religion. This is one of the
marriage systems in Afar with serious repercussions on women' s right.
v. Uvelocotomy
vi. Milk teeth extraction - this affects the children directly and women indirectly.
Women are responsible for childcare and also catering for sick persons.
vii. Early marriage
A girl child is married as old as she is 12 years old in the region which is the highest
rate of marriage. The tradition of marrying daughters to an old man is common.
There is little awareness on the harmful consequence of early marriage such as the
problems of pregnancy and child delivery. Because of its harmful consequences,
early marriage violates the rights of children, in particular of girls, in relation to such
matters as health, survival and development, education and protection and sexual
and other forms of exploitation.
viii. Polygamous marriage
In Afar, polygamy is practiced and a man can get married to up to four wives
depending on his wealth status. This leads to imbalanced age of marriage between
the man and woman due to the cultural obligations related to Absuma.
ix. Wife abandonment
This is a practice by which husband leaves his wife as she is aged and moves to
younger wives. The abandoned woman will be resource poor as the husband is

taking or moving all the resources to the younger one/s. If the abandoned woman
does not have children then her situation is worse and easily becomes prey to
poverty. In the survey, 3 of the female headed households (7% of them) were of
this destitute group who declared food aid as their means of living, i.e. neither
pastoralists nor agro-pastoralists.
4.5.2 Marriage System

Marriage is an institutional form of relationship in which sexual relationship and
parentage legitimacy takes place (Keesing, 1981). In Afar pastoral community,
marriage defines the social position of individuals within the different families. It
establishes economic and social relationship both at the nucleus (husband, wife and
children) family level, and at clan levels.
Marriage in Afar community, like in many other parts of Ethiopia, is arranged

marriage. Marriage is not the business of the individuals but of the whole family and
even of the whole community. The family, mostly the uncle (Amii), determines time
of marriage of the girl by observing her physical appearances indicating maturity
including girl’s breast and readiness of the girl to get a child after marriage usually
associated with the beginning of her menstruation.
The marriage age for girls is 15 years while it is 18 years for men. Most households
are polygamous. Marriage ceremonies are usually held, as costly as it is the case
elsewhere. The husband is the one who benefits most of the wedlock. The wife is
a source of labor procreation of children and perpetuation of generation from which
the man has a comparative advantage marked by unequal division of labor and
unequal distribution of resources between male and female partners.
There are different types of marriages practiced by the Afar society. The most
prominent ones are discussed below.
i. Cross-cousin marriage (Absuma )
In Afar, the most common type of marriage is the cross-cousin marriage, locally
called Absuma . The Absuma marriage is a situation in which a man can get married
to his father’s sister’s daughter. If not as poplar as Absuma there are also marriage
types in which a man can get married to his mother’s brother’s daughter-called
Abidada and mother’s sister’s daughter called Mangalo.
In the case of Absuma marriage, when the girl is more than 12 years (often 14 or 15
years) of age, her father goes to his clan’s Dala Aba and tells him that his daughter
is ready to get married and the Dala Aba in turn goes to the girl'
s Absuma family and
informs them that the girl is ready to get married to her Absuma. The family who is
Absuma to the girl responds either positively to take her or negatively not to take
her. If the response is negative, it implies that the Absuma is not ready or willing to
get married to the girl and in such a case the girl could get married to any person of

her own choice with the permission of her family. If the response is positive,
preparation for the marriage proceeds. However, three conditions would be
expected to occur. These include:
• The Absuma could be a child who is not matured enough to get married to the
girl who is ready. In such a case the girl is required to wait for the boy until he
reaches puberty. The girl may wait for many years for the boy and it is the
responsibility of the family of the girl to look after her and their oath, which is
part of the Afar culture. In such a case the girl could not get married on time
and by the time the boy is grown up and ready for marriage the girl would be
overage for marriage, but the marriage will realize.
• The second condition is that the man who is Absuma and could have already
gotten married to another girl and has one or more wives. Hence, the
Absuma man who could get married to the girl could be an old person and not
of her age. In such a case the girl also does not have the right to make her
own choice of partner.
• The third condition could be that the Absuma is matured, ready to get married
and marriage takes place following normal Afar marriage procedures. This is
the most common expected situation to happen.
On the other hand, if there is no cross-cousin to marry, other relatives related by

blood to the Absuma can claim the marriage. So marriage in Afar is an important
binding force between the clans and cross-cousin unifying element of social
organization among the society.
ii. Marriage by Abduction (Kelita)
This is a type of marriage that allows a person to marry an Absuma of another

person if he does not have his own Absuma. A person who marries the Absuma of
another person has an obligation of paying at least 12 cattle to the prescribed
Absuma of the girl.
iii. Habtantuu
Habtantuu is marriage of a divorcee. It is mainly the business of the individuals

involved although the marriage is concluded following normal norms.
iv. Mereataa
This is an instance that involves marrying already married woman. It is initially

started through adultery and finally takes the form of marriage. A person who
marries another person’s wife will pay 12 or more cattle to the former husband to
heal the damaged relationship.

v. Marriage by inheritance
A brother in-law has the right to marry his sister in-law of the deceased brother.
4.5.3 Women’s Rights in the Society

The issue of women’s right as understood and scribbled in the law of the land could
be understood as eccentric in traditional communities like Afar. The community of
the study area is still cherishing old mores and pretty much convinced of the
worthiness of such mode of life no matter what it costs on women.
Imbalance in the right of women and men is highly signified in the Afar community.
In accordance to the traditional rules of punishing a criminal killing a man and a
woman is not punishable on equal terms. The punishment for killing a man is equal
to killing two women. It implies that a man worth two women.
Another critical social imbalance is inequality to dissolve a marriage. A woman
could only be legally divorced if the husband decides so, and declared the marriage
as void three times, other wise she remains married until the man decided so. It is
also possible for the wife to leave the conjugal home but her status of being in
wedlock remains intact until the final decision of dissolving the matrimonial relation
is declared by the husband for the last time. The husband has the right to cancel
the marriage any time he wishes for any reason and not forced to explain as such
and can reinstate the marriage until he heralded his last decision of voiding the
marriage three times.
There is a general belief that considers a woman as fragile that needed the support
and guidance first of her father and then of her husband, son and brother in-law as
deemed necessary. This general perception and attitude of the community
undermines women’s capacity to decide on their life and own and manage
resources. The low regard has been further exacerbated by lack of clarity on the
true religious rule, which the religious leaders claim to have protected women' s
right, leading to infringement of women’s political, economic and social rights.
Afar traditional institution does not allow women to participate in any of the roles
played by men. Women are not allowed to attend public meetings with men. Some
key informants describe that it is due to the Islamic religion that women are culturally
assigned to perform mainly household chores such as food preparation, making
houses (arri), collecting firewood, milking cows, fetching water from far places,
looking after children, making utensils from local materials such as grass, hide and
skin and herding cattle, etc. whereas men are responsible for all outdoor tasks such
as livestock herding, watering, medicating, performing certain societal activities like
burial, taking sick people to near by health services, and the like.
Women in Afar do not have equal right to inheritance of property compared to men.
According to the Afar culture, a woman is forced to marry her brother or close
relatives of her deceased husband. If she got married out of her husband’s
relatives the person who gets married to her pays 12 cattle to the family of her

deceased husband. A widowed and childless woman can only get one-eighth (1/8)
of the matrimonial property. It was also indicated that the Afar women can only
inherit half of what their brothers are inheriting.
A widowed woman who does not have a son from the deceased husband,
depending on the choice of her brother-in-law could be inherited by her brother- in-
law together with the livestock and other properties or sent back to her family with
her daughters. But if she has a son, the mother is assured of using the property as
a custodian of her son who is a minor. Nonetheless, if the son has reached a
majority age then the son will become the owner of the property but he is obliged to
ensure her basic needs.
In case of divorce, a woman does not have equal right to share livestock and other
properties from her husband. In the case of divorce, sharing of livestock of a wife in
Afar society is based on Islamic religious rules. Usually she takes only her own
properties, which she brought along from her family when got married and livestock
given to her before divorce. A significant part of the community including women
do share, that women, livestock, and children are all under the control and
ownership of the head of the household (man), who has a responsibility of guiding
and managing all. As it is claimed by religious leaders a woman is entitled to part of
her family’s inheritance and one–fourth of the matrimonial property upon divorce.
Culture and religion are the factors that complicated women’s right to property, and
that lay the ground for women’s low regard and to remain poor at all stages of their
life.
Early marriage, body decoration (mutilation), and mobility restriction all yield to
violation of women’s human rights. The low regard attached to women due to their
sexes is demeaning to women’s human right and dignity. These issues were
seriously debated at the community dialogues forums. The awareness created in
this regard is significant and worth mentioning.
4.6 Mutual Support System in Afar Community

Mutual help is common among the Afar pastoralists as the ecology in which they live
compel individuals to cooperate expecting some kind of reciprocity. The uncertain
environment makes them fragile and fearful of the future. Hence, mutual co-
operation of the community can also be viewed as a coping strategy with the
unknown future. The traditional mutual support system of the Afar pastoral
community is locally known as Hatota, which is practiced through clan ties, the most
firmly bound group structure and strongest social organization. Mutual co-operation
is part of traditional way of life of the society. Afar ancestors have lived and worked
together on mutual basis in various aspects of human activities. Cooperation was
and still is the basis of livelihood in Afar Society. It starts with the nucleus family (Ko
budda), household level (Inik budda), village (Ganda Budda), which consists of
different households tracing descent from the same clan and the local community
and Afar society as the whole.

Mutual support among the Afar people is facilitated through organizational structure
and leadership. Each clan has a Kedo Aba (the clan representative) and Dala Aba
(the lineage leader) with overall prescribed powers and functions to perform. The
poor are entitled to get clan assistance mostly in kind. Orphans are put under the
care of close relatives. According to the Afar elders, there is no beggar in their
community including in the urban centers.
Sharing of food items, milk, equipments, and clothes to support each other during
normal, drought and hazardous situations among the family members, households,
community and society levels is common and still practiced. Milking animals can be
given to people who cannot feed their families. This is called Hantisa. The support
depends on the willingness of the owner and the relationships of the two parties.
This kind of gift is not only among related people but friends can assist one another.
The clan obligation known as Idbonta is the assistance given to a destitute member
of the clan. It is similar to Busa gonofa in Borana where the clan members hold
meeting and decide on how many heads of cattle should be contributed and by
whom.
The mutual help is usually offered to the needy up on the death of relatives,
wedding, food shortage, sickness, fire hazards, house construction, death of entire
or large number of livestock, etc. Apparently, providing animals for clan members is
one of the cultural values that help individuals remain in the system. In the case of
total livestock loss, the community members contribute cattle, female camel, or
goats based on their capacity to contribute so that the affected household can
restock his livestock herd and revive from the crises. If provision of animals is not
possible, the destitute members join a well to do clan member to share milk and milk
products. However, this traditional support system has no rules and regulations, and
it is very informal and often ignores the female headed household despite their
cumbersome position as most are found in the poor/destitute wealth ranking
groupings.
The culture of using resources alone is rare and sharing is common. Grazing areas,
water points and other natural resources are communally owned and used by the
different clans of the Afar society as a whole. The system accommodates all people
through resource sharing. During mobility, transport facilities are very much needed.
For this reason, those who have camel or other pack animals assist those who do
not have. Livestock herding may also benefit from the support system (often from
extended family relations) if the family or the household faces labor shortage.
Funeral arrangements, marriage festivals, looking for lost animals, etc. are
performed at clan level as part of the mutual support system.

5. Social Equity and Exclusion

5.1 Social Equity
The members of Afar clans are basically considered equal. In terms of access to
resources and benefits, all Afar people have equal rights. But differences can occur
in terms of the capacity of making use of these resources. The impact of the gender
differentials at household level regarding resources ownership and benefits derived
thereof could be causes of social segregations when the marriage disintegrates.
A divorcee and widow are much more exposed to poverty as both are culturally
made resource less. As common property is not the rule that governs the property
relationship between couples in a traditional society like Afar, but cultural norms
endorse the sole proprietorship of husband and male (son brother in-law, etc.)
member of a family, the claim of a divorcee or a widow for equal share of
household property is at best cumbersome and futile at worse.
As a result of cultural and religious norms that deprived woman’s property

ownership rights, households headed by women are often poor and very poor in
the wealth ranking. The number of female headed households quite high.
According to the wealth ranking made by the Gulina Pastoral Development Office,
out of a total of 3327 households of the study area, 916 (27.5%) households are
headed by female. The participants of the FGDs attributed ‘Absuma’, early
marriage, and marriage by inheritance (to which many widows are declining and
forced to remain single) as underlying factors for the increased number of female
headed households.
Based on the wealth ranking survey in Gulina woreda, among a total of 558
(24.9%) very poor households the female households constitute 384 (69%), among
the 621 poor households 290 (46.7%) of them are headed by female, out of the 793
medium households, 218 (27.2%) are headed by female and 6.7% (24) out of the
total of 356 better of families are headed by female indicating that majority of
female headed households are categorized under the poor and the very poor
wealth groups.
Thus, bringing equity between male and female social groups requires investment
in human resources development so as to enhance behavioral changes in the
society and achieve a required level of transformation in development interventions.
.
5.2 Social Exclusion

In Afar, nobody is excluded from resource use or social affairs, on the basis of
personal or family background. There is no discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or
religious affiliation. However, there is exclusion from the system based on personal
behavior and gender. If someone is not acting according to rules and or cultural
norms of the society he/she will be advised to correct his/her behavior. If the
disobedience continues the society can impose sanctions to the extent of forcing
him/her out of the community. The sanctions include denying:
• Involvement in community affairs;
• Inter marriage; and
• Assistances from the clan members.
Even if he/she is denied the above rights, he/she is entitled to use communal
resources as anybody else. No discrimination in case of death of family members.
According to Afar culture before excluding someone from social activities, the
consequences or impacts on the clan will be assessed. A person excluded from the
community can involve in different criminal activities such as theft, murder and
beating of people, thereby the whole clan be held responsible. The clan is the "right"
institution to oversee the behavior of its members and held responsible for acts of its
members. For this reason, the clan members supervise the behavior of its members
rather than excluding them from social affairs as punishment.
Election to the traditional leadership position follows certain hereditary line. But when
society lacks confidence on the leadership of a person, it is possible to appoint his
close relative or a person in the same bloodline. Family background in handling
community affairs in the past will have its own impact in the election of the son into
his father's position. Malpractices, unfairness, and weakness of his ancestors
combined with his current ability to handle issues and his personal behavior will
determine whether he occupies a given position or not. The participants of PRSA
indicated that this process functioned well for small population and when the
traditional leadership system was the sole institutional arrangement for the
community. Among all sons of a person in a position, it is the elder son who is
entitled to inherit his father's position but not daughters. However, the community
also considers the talency and cleverness and any of the brothers can takeover the
position or even can be given to nephews. This practice of giving preference for
male to assume leadership positions should be understood as one of the causes for
undermining women making them develop low self-esteem and accepting
subordinate position in the hierarchies of social organizations.

6. Gender Situation Analysis

In this chapter gender disaggregated analysis of job division, access to and control
over resources and benefits, decision making power of the different gender groups
of the pastoral households and other relevant topics are discussed. In order to
assess any difference that might exist between the pastoral and agro-pastoral
households, the discussion is made separately for the two groups.
6.1 Agro-pastoral System

6.1.1 Gender Division of Labour
An activity profile is a tool that helps identification of the division of labor by way of
asking who does what, where and when? It also assists identification of the
productive, reproductive and social activities of women, men, girls and boys.
Activities of the pastoral and the agro-pastoral communities are dogmatically divided
along sex lines, as it is true in all traditional societies. As gender division of labor is
perpetuated through sex line, boys and girls assume the works of their fathers and
the mothers respectively.
Gender stereotype is a norm in the Afar society whereby the community takes a
given work type as “natural” for women. Such works are often the domestic and child
caring works. The other work types such as farming, ploughing in particular, and
control of the herd and public activities in both pastoral and agro-pastoral
communities, are considered as “natural” for men. Domestic work is considered out
of bound for men. Activities attributed to one sex are prohibited to the other and
could even assume the status of taboo, thus, ensuring conformity with these rules.
6.1.1.1 Productive Activities

The productive activities of the agro-pastoral communities include livestock
management including herding, trekking to water sources, milking, and churning of
milk, marketing activities and farming. All members of a family are involved in
productive activities, but the male members of the household (men and boys)
undertake about 60% of the productive work of the households. Women and girls
perform about 40% of the productive work of the households. This is in addition to
the high reproductive workload they should accomplish (Fig.6.1). The overall
assessment shows that men perform the largest share of the productive activities
(37%) followed by boys (24%).

Fig.6.1: Productive Job Division by Gender: Agro-pastoral
Girls
18%
Men
37%
Boys
24%
Women
21%
Livestock management in general and trekking and herding in particular are

identified as the most arduous activities of the productive task. These activities are
often performed by boys followed by their fathers or adult men in the family (Annex
Table 1). Men do not involve in barn cleaning and milk churning. Milk churning is the
duty of women (65%) and girls (35%). Barn cleaning is often the duty of young boys
and girls while women also participate (20%).
On the other hand, milking camel is not a duty of women. Other livestock production
activities are distributed among the households. Men’s role is often limited to guiding
and controlling the performance of the activities with limited involvement in physical
work of direct herding, watering, milking and looking after young and lactating
animals and other activities. Compared to the reproductive and social activities, the
productive activities are ranked as the second in terms of the workload. Most of
these livestock production related activities are performed by the boys and girls
(Table 6.1).
Table 6.1: Major Productive Activities and Workload by Gender (%)

Activity Men Women Boys Girls
Livestock management 20.0 20.6 31.7 27.8

Agricultural/farming 54 20 16 10
Marketing/ sale of items 39 22 24 15

Mean 37.7 20.9 23.9 17.6

The second important productive activity in the agro-pastoral areas is agricultural

production. More than 50% of the farming activities are performed by men. The girls
and their mothers are performing about 30% of the farming activities. Ploughing is
the sole responsibilities of men and boys while weeding and harvesting are equally
shared by all gender classes.
Marketing activities include selling of livestock, livestock products (milk and butter)
and trading for profit making and handcraft. Marketing of livestock is a responsibility
of men and boys with 55 and 45% job division respectively. Likewise, selling of
livestock product particularly butter is the responsibility of women and girls (55 and
45%, respectively). Trading for profit in the agro-pastoral communities is mostly
done by men (65%) whereas the engagement of women (15%) and the boys (20%)
is restricted to a small scale trading.
The engagement of men and women in trading is different in terms of capital

requirement and the nature and type of tradable items. Women are trading with
small items that require small capital (money), generate small profit and are using
the income for daily family consumption, while the items traded by men requires
relatively big initial capital, and generate a bigger profit. The items that men trade
are by and large useable for production purpose as well. Men are trading live
animals of bigger or small size, while women are engaged in selling consumable
items like sugar, salt, tobacco, etc. It is worth noting that the most affected one are
the girl children who are expected to carry out domestic chores in addition to their
productive role.
Handicraft is produced by both men women and girl children mainly for own use.
However, most of the handcraft is produced by females in that 70% of the handcraft
is made by either women or girls.
6.1.1.2 Reproductive Activities

The agro-pastoral communities have ranked reproductive activities as being the
heaviest of all tasks, out of which domestic chore is identified as the first among the
activities of reproductive tasks. Reproductive activities include domestic chores,
which include food preparation, fetching water and firewood, house cleaning, etc.,
care and support for children and old persons and sick members of the household,
construction and maintenances of houses and fences, and procurement of
consumables.
All activities to be performed around the homestead and in the house are the major
duties of the women and the girls. Hence, most of the reproductive tasks in general
and the domestic activities in particular are the sole responsibility of the women
(48%) and the girls (25%), while the boys and the men are mainly engaged in
activities that are performed outside of the home. The role of the boys in the

reproductive work is minimal (9%) (Fig.6.2). As discussed earlier, the women and
the girls undertake these reproductive works in addition to their workload in
productive activities.
Fig. 6.2: Reproductive Activity Division by Gender: Agro-

pastoral
Girls Men
25% 18%
Boys
9%
Women
48%
The adult male does not at all take part in such activities as domestic chores, caring
and supporting children, the elderly and the sick, while the boys though negligible is
taking part in caring for the sick and the elderly (Table 6.2).
Table 6.2: Major Reproductive Activities and workload by Gender (%)

Activities Men Women Boys Girls
Domestic chores 0 49 2 49
Care and support 0 68 8 25
Construction & maintenance 23 35 28 15
Purchase of items for household
consumption 50 40 0 10
Mean 18 48 9 25
Construction and maintenance activities are performed by all gender classes.

Construction and maintenance of houses is the duty of women (70%) and girls
(30%) whereas fencing and its maintenance is the duty of men (45%) and boys
(55%).

All but boys involve in purchasing of items needed for consumption. Women and
girls share the responsibility of purchasing food staffs and household items (80 and
20% of the workload respectively) whereas purchasing of clothes and medicine is
the sole responsibility of men.
Reproductive task being the most cumbersome, exhaustive and time consuming,
has also served as an excuse for the exclusion of women and the girls from
managing and administering public politics and self-development. It rather served
as the source of their inequality and subordination and low profile and self-esteem.
To make the situation worse, the reproductive role of women is not appreciated and
understood as something important and crucial for the well being of a family and
sustenance and perpetuation of generation.
6.1.1.3 Social Activities

Social or community activities in this context are composed of community
administration, traditional ceremonies, security, participation in development
activities and indigenous health services. All that enumerated under social activities
are performed with rigid category of gender division of labor and hence women are
by and large excluded from taking part in community management, as these are
supposedly difficult tasks for women to do. The overall assessment indicates that
community level activities are gender oriented. The male members of the household
perform about 65% of these activities i.e. men (41%) and boys (24%) whereas girls
play only small role in this regards (7% only) (Fig. 6.3).
This indicates that women and girls are nearly excluded from social or community
activities, particularly from administering the community affairs and involving in
community politics. Men and the boys are fully involved in these activities as being
their rightful duty given by birth. Women and the girls do also confirm and
understood that politics and community affairs are issues of the male community but
not theirs.

Fig.6.3: Social/ Community Activity Division by Gender: Agro-

pastoral
Girls
7%
Boys Men
24% 41%
Women
28%
Leadership, adjudicating, protection and representing the community are the

exclusive tasks of men and the boys. On the other hand, the engagement of
women and girls in social and community affairs is pretty much restricted to social
events such as ritual, festive and compassionate events and development works
which are often laborious and require a lot of energy (Table 6.3).
Apart from making women a subordinate to men their exclusion from public affairs
made their public image dwindle and forced them to stay in the shadow of politics
and perpetuated the cone-shaped representation of women in the social, economic
and political administration of the community affairs, which in effect gave rise to the
exclusion of women from social, political and economic activities at regional and
national level.
Table 6.3: Major Social/community Activities and workload by Gender (%)

Activities Men Women Boys Girls
Participation in community affairs 85 3 13 0

Participation in development activities 44 25 23 9
Participation in social events 13 53 7 27
Security related activities 23 0 78 0
Indigenous knowledge related to health 40 60 0 0
Mean 41 28 24 7

6.1.2 Access and Control Profile

Access simply means ability to use resources and its by-products for consumption or
to use it as tool to carry-out a given activity, but does not necessarily imply the
capacity to make decision over the usage of that particular resource. Access to
resources and benefits is an essential condition for improved livelihood. Resources
are important for income generation. In the agro-pastoral communities, livestock,
land and information can be considered as key resources that determine the living of
the communities. Under this section, the extent to which access to resources is
gender oriented is discussed.
6.1.2.1 Accesses to Resources
In ago-pastoral communities of Afar, men and women do not have equal access to
resources. Resources that have prestigious value are scarce to women compared to
men. As depicted in Table 6.4, men and boys do have more access to critical
resources like land and radio (where available), and livestock. Men have 39%
access to livestock in general while women and girls together access only one-third
of the livestock asset. Regarding livestock products, boys are found to have more
access and women have the least access to this resource.
Table 6.4: Gender Disaggregated Access to Resources by Agro-pastoral Communities (%)

Descriptions of resource Men Women Boys Girls
Livestock 39 21 27 13
· Camel 40 20 30 10
· Cow 35 15 30 20
· Goats 35 15 35 15
· Sheep 40 20 30 10
· Poultry 45 35 10 10
Livestock product 22.5 15 40 22.5
· Milk 15 10 50 25
· Butter 30 20 30 20
Household goods 31.5 29 23.5 16
· Household equipment 28 38 17 17
· Grain 35 20 30 15
Handcraft 15 35 20 30
Land 50 15 25 10
Radio, tape( Information) 60 0 40 0
Mean Value of Access 36.3 19.2 29.3 15.3
The use of handcrafts is often made domestically. Women and girls have more
access (65%) to this resource. The overall assessment of access to resources in the
agro-pastoral areas show that 65% of the resources is accessed by men and boys
while the girls have the least access (Fig.6.4).

Fig. 6.4: Mean Value of Access to Resources by Gender
Girls
15%
Men
37%
Boys
29%
Women
19%
6.1.2.2 Accesses to Benefits

Benefits have been defined as quality food, clothes, training and education services
and private saving. It is supposed that access to such benefits have direct
relationship with the well being of the communities. The result indicates that women
and girls do not have access to strategic resources such as training (including
training in security), and education in that they lack the knowledge required to
support themselves and serve their community as effective as men. Excluding
women and girls is as good as undermining their human rights. Access to quality
food again is rarity for women and girls, while this is critical for self´ development
and normal body maintenance and growth.
Private saving is accessible only to the adults (men and women) although the men
have more access (Table 6.5). The capacity to save is mainly dependent on access
to productive resources that could yield an income. Nonetheless, women as they
are resource poor and dependent on their husbands regardless of their tremendous
contributions to the asset building of the household, have less access to private
saving.

Table 6.5: Gender Disaggregated Access to Benefits by Agro-pastoral Communities (%)

Descriptions of resource Men Women Boys Girls
Quality food 45 15 30 10
Good clothes 20 35 25 20
Training service 30 0 70 0
Education/skill already built 30 0 70 0
Private saving 60 40 0 0
Mean Value of Access to Benefits 37 18 39 6
The overall assessment of access to benefits indicates that more than 75% is
accessed by male while the female has about one-forth of the access. The situation
is worse for girls (Fig. 6.5).
Fig. 6.5:Mean Value of Access to Benefits
Girls
6%
Men
37%
Boys
39%
Women
18%
6.1.2.3 Control over Resources

Control over resources that bring benefits to the society is a function of ownership of
those resources. Afar women as a matter of traditional norms are not allowed to own
strategic resources. As shown in Table 6.6, women do not have the right to own
strategic properties like livestock, farmland, and agricultural products but resources
(dairy products) that have less value, which by and large are used to satisfy the
basic needs of a family.
Men and women do not have equal right of inheritance. The female child inheritance
is half of what the male child is entitled to get, and a divorcee woman have a
negligible right over the common property of the matrimonial relation. Women of the

study area, if decided to leave the conjugal home, has nothing to take with except
household items which she brought along. They do not dare to claim the common
property, as the very concept of common property of the household is not the value
of the Afar communities in the context of couples.
Table 6.6: Gender Disaggregated Control over Resources (Agro-pastoral community) (%)
Descriptions Men Women Boys Girls
Livestock 80 20 0 0
· Camel 100 0 0 0
· Cow 100 0 0 0
· Goats 100 0 0 0
· Sheep 100 0 0 0
· Poultry 0 100 0 0
Livestock Products 33 67 0.0 0.0
· Milk 0 100 0 0
· Butter 0 100 0 0
· Cooking utensils 0 100 0 0
· Grain 0 100 0 0
· Handcraft 0 100 0 0
· Cash saved 100 0 0 0
· Farm tools 100 0 0 0
· House 100 0 0 0
Land 100 0 0 0
Radio, tape (information) 100 0 0 0
Knowledge (exposure, skill ) 100 0 0 0
Mean Control Over Resources 83 17 0 0
Any one who is in control of a resource is the ultimate decision-maker over the use
and allocation of resources and benefits. The power to control has its root in the
entitlement one has over the property. As it is the case with accessing resources
men and women are not equally entitled to control resources. The resources that
women are in control are used for consumption.
As already depicted, men are in control of the major resources like live animals,
information, political power, income from sales, and private saving, while women are
left with smaller things to control like milk, butter and household equipment. Control
over critical resources such as land, education, information and skill/exposure and
respect from the community and own family appears to be the exclusive reserve of
men.
The overall assessment indicates that men control 83% of the key resources while
women do have resources under their control only to a limited extent (17%). The
youth have no controlling power over the resources (Fig. 6.6).

Fig. 6.6: Control Over Key Resources in Agro-

100
10 Mean
Control
90 83 Livestock
E 80 Livestock
xt 67
70 Products
Land
e 60
nt 50 Radio, tape (
of information)
40 33 Knowledge (exposure ,skill
C )
30
o 17
20
nt
10
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Me Wome Boy Girl
Gender
6.1.2.4 Control over Benefits

Control over benefits ensures the ultimate use of the benefits to get satisfaction or
utility. There is gender deferential in controlling the benefits. Regardless of the
immense contributions of women and the girls to the wealth creation and well being
of a family in the agro-pastoral and pastoral communities, they are resource less and
powerless which contravenes with the ideals of human right principles and gross
violations of women’s human rights that are provided in the constitution of the
country. As shown in Table 6.7, women do not have control over training, education,
savings, traditional and local government leadership positions. Above all, women
have no respect in the community, while men enjoy respect and appreciation of their
community and have absolute control over leadership at all levels. Women have
more control on benefits related to food consumption

Table 6.7: Gender Disaggregated Control over Benefits of Pastoral Community

Descriptions of Resources Men Women Boys Girls
. Quality food 60 0 30 10
· Meal frequency 15 70 15 0
· Meal volume 0 80 0 20
· Eating and drinking purchased food in the town 40 0 60 0
· Good clothes 15 60 10 15
· Training service 25 0 75 0
· Education 0 0 65 35
· Private saving (saving and credit) 100 0 0 0
· Income from sales 80 20 0 0
Political power in traditional institution (strategic) 75 0 25 0
· Political power in local government (strategic) 100 0 0 0
· Respect by the family 70 10 20 0
· Respect by the community 100 0 0 0
Mean Value of Control Over Benefits 52 18 23 6
In general, men have more control over benefits (53%) followed by boys, who will
also takeover the responsibility of household leadership in the future (Fig.6.7). Girls
have the least control over benefits and they feel like dependent in the household.
Fig.6.7: Mean Value of Control Over Benefits: Agro-

pastoral
Girls
Boys 6%
23%
Men
53%
Women
18%
6.1.3 Gender Position and Decision Making
Decision making power is a direct function of the capacity of controlling resources

and benefits. The extent of the capacity of deciding over a given issue is directly

linked with the individual's status and privileges. In Afar, the people are assigned
different roles and status based on the sex and age factors. In effect, women, men,
boys, and girls are assigned different tasks to perform and responsibilities to decide
over resources and their own affairs.
Accordingly, men, women, boys and girls in the study area have different roles and
authorities in making decisions over resources and benefits. Except in the
instances that require labor for cleaning, feeding, and watering animals of girls and
boys, where they are consulted, boys and girls are mere recipients of instructions of
their parents to which they adhere. Girls and boys more often are silent observers
of decisions of any nature made in their households. As shown in Table 6.8, the
youth is rarely consulted or not involved in the decision-making processes except in
the case of livestock management in which boys can also decide, depending on the
nature of the activity to be performed.
Due to cultural and religious values, strategic decisions are the exclusive
prerogatives of men. Men are deciding on the purchase of big items i.e. resources
for the household needs or consumption. Sales of big animals (camel and cow) and
small animals (goats and sheep) and big purchases are under the discretion of
men. In some instances, men also consult women in the process of decision-
making. The consultation may or may not change the decision.
Women, on the other hand, have the authority to decide on livestock products, food
consumption, household management, and treatment of sick persons. Speaking of
women’s ability of deciding on sales of dairy products, it is worth noting that what is
to sell is a left over from family consumption. Thus, small amount of money, which
will supplement the household consumption is earned.
Table 6.8: The Role of Gender Differentiation in Decision Making: Agro-pastoral

Decision variable Men Women Boys Girls
Sales of livestock 4 1 3 1
Sales of livestock product 3 4 1 3
Purchasing of goods and livestock 4 2 2 1
Food Consumption 2 4 1 3
Livestock management 4 3 4 3
Household management 1 4 1 3
Education of children 4 3 2 1
Mobility 4 2 3 1
Treatment of sick person 3 4 2 3
Negotiation with rivals 4 1 2 1
* 1= No participation; 2= informed; 3. Consultation; 4= Full, participation
A widow cannot even decide on her property by her own but should be assisted by a
male relative of her husband or the eldest son who actually is the true owner of the
property.

6.2 Pastoral System

6.2.1 Gender Division of Labour
Similar to the situations of the agro-pastoral communities, activities that members of

the pastoral households involve in are dogmatically divided along sex lines. As
gender division of labor is perpetuated through sex lines, boys and girls assume the
works of their fathers and the mothers respectively.
Similarly, gender stereotype is a norm in the study area whereby the community
takes domestic and child rearing works as “natural” for women whereas such works
related to controlling of the herd and public activities are considered as “natural” for
men.
6.2.1.1 Productive Activities
The productive activities of the pastoral communities include livestock management

including herding, trekking to water sources, milking, and churning of milk and
marketing activities. All members of a family are involved in productive activities with
relatively even distribution of workload compared to that of the agro-pastoral
communities. The average workload distribution indicates that 50% of the work is
done by men and boys with equal share while the other 50% is done by women
(31%) and girls (19%) (Fig.11.8). Of course, this is in addition to the reproductive
roles that the women often perform.
Fig. 11.8: Productive Job Division by Gender: Pastoral
Girls Men
19% 25%
Boys
25% Women
31%
Livestock production activities in general and trekking to water point and herding in
particular are identified as the most arduous activities of the productive tasks. These
activities are often performed by boys followed by their fathers or adult men in the
family (Annex Table 2). Men and boys clean the cattle barn while women and girls

clean that of sheep and goats. Moreover, camels cannot be milked by women
whereas milk processing is the sole responsibility of the women and girls.
Other livestock production activities are distributed among the households. Basically,
the workload distribution is similar to that of the agro-pastoral system except the
farm work, which emanates from the mode of life of agro-pastoral community.
The second productive activity in the pastoral community is marketing, which

includes selling of livestock, livestock products (milk and butter) and trading for profit
making and handcraft. About 42% of the marketing activities are performed by
women (Table 6.9). Unlike the situation in the agro-pastoral communities, women
involve in marketing of livestock (25%) and both men and boys sell livestock. Only
girls do not sell livestock. On the other hand, selling of livestock products such as
milk and butter is the sole responsibility of women (60) and girls (40%).
Table 6.9: Major Productive Activities and workload by Gender (%)

Livestock management 21.8 20.0 37.7 20.5

Marketing/ sale of items 28.3 42.5 11.7 17.5
Mean 25 31 25 19
It was also indicated that the Afar women and girl children overwork since they are
busy with the different activities for longer hours a day while some of the Afar men
are not engaged in actual (manual) work other than instructing the rest of the family
members. As affirmed by discussants of the focus groups, Afar men are retiring
early from actual (manual) work as long as they have a son of ten years old to take
over herding and trekking animals. Accordingly, the boy child is heavily involved in
livestock management than all the other family members, which as a result limits the
boy child’s education opportunity. On the other hand, an Afar man is highly involved
in community affairs instead and spends much of his time on conflict resolution and
facilitation of work.
Trading for profit in the pastoral communities is mostly done by men (65%) and
women (35%). Handicraft is produced by men, women and girl children mainly for
own use. However, 75% of the handcraft related work is done by either women or
girls whereas men involve in only 25% of such work.
6.2.1.2 Reproductive Activities
The reproductive activities include all activities performed around the homestead and
in the house. Domestic chores, which include food preparation, fetching water and
fire wood, house cleaning, etc., care and support for children and old people and sick

members of the household, construction and maintenances of houses and fences,

and procurement of consumables are the major duties of women and girls (Fig. 6.9).
The women perform 55% of the reproductive activities while the girls perform as
much as 18% of the reproductive jobs. As discussed earlier, the women and the girls
undertake these reproductive works in addition to their workload in productive
activities.
Fig. 6.9: Reproductive Job Division by Gender: Pastoral
Girls Men
18% 20%
Boys
7%
Women
55%
In the pastoral communities, domestic chores, caring and supporting children, the
elderly and the sick have a feminine face in the pastoral communities. The adult
male does not at all take part in such activities, while the boys though negligible
(4%) is taking part in washing of clothes (Table 6.10).
Table 6.10: Major Reproductive Activities and workload by Gender (%)

Domestic chores 0 64 4 32
Care and support 10 67.5 2.5 20
Construction & maintenance 25 45 17.5 12.5
Purchase of items household 45.0 43.8 3.8 7.5
Mean 20 55 7 18
Construction and maintenance activities are performed by all gender classes.

Construction and maintenance of houses is the duty of women (75%) and girls
(25%) whereas fence making and its maintenance should be done by men (50%),
women (15%) and boys (35%).

All gender classes involve in purchasing of items needed for consumption. The
overall purchasing load declines from men to women, then girls and boys,
indicating that the role of boys in such activities is limited.
6.2.1.3 Social/community Activities
The community or social activities include community administration, traditional

ceremonies, security, participation in development activities and indigenous health.
The overall assessment indicates that community level activities are gender
oriented. In the pastoral communities, the social or community activities are often
performed by men (60% and boys (21%) whereas girls play only small role in this
regards (7% only) (Fig 6.10).
Fig. 6.10: Social/ Community Job Division by Gender:

Pastoral
Girls
Boys 5%
21%
Women Men
14% 60%
As shown in Table 6.11, issues of community affairs such as decision-making in

community matters, membership in community organization, leadership in local
government organization, conflict resolution, and facilitation of cooperation among
communities are all the sole responsibility of men (Annex Table 2).
This indicates that women and the girls play a marginal role in decision making
while men and the boys are pivotal in this regard. Women and girls do also confirm
and understood that politics and community affairs are issues to be reckoned by
male not women. It was, however, made clear in the discussions that women
participate in community development activities including construction works.
Apparently, this requires a lot of labour and it indicates that women are required
when high labour input is needed.

Table 6.11: Major Social/community Activities and workload by Gender (%)

Participation in community affairs 91.5 4 4 0.5
Participation in development/
constructions activities 34.5 37.1 10.7 17.6
Security related activities 32.5 0 67.5 0
Indigenous knowledge 85 15 0 0
Mean 60.9 14.0 20.6 4.5
Social or community security is the responsibility of young boys and men while the
traditional healthcare is performed by men (85%) and women (15%). The women in
the agro-pastoral areas claimed that 60% of the traditional healthcare is performed
by women. The difference could be due to the differences in accessing the different
medical plants. The agro-pastoral communities studied have some forests around
their vicinity while the pastoral communities should travel far distances to get some
of these trees. The man often moves with the livestock and perhaps had the
opportunity of accessing the trees in the pastoral communities.
6.2.2 Access and Control Profile

Access and control of resources and benefits in the pastoral communities have
similarities with that of the agro-pastoral communities except in few specifics. The
following section discusses gender disaggregated resources and benefit use and
ownership from pure pastoral community perspectives.
6.2.2.1 Accesses to Resources
In the pastoral communities such as Kalewan and Darayitu, men and women do not
have equal access to resources. Resources are categorized into livestock, livestock
products, household equipments, handcrafts, and radio which is important source of
formal information. All gender categories have access to livestock but with some
differences in the extent of the access. Men have more access to camel (50%) and
women have the least regarding camel (Table 6.12).
Access to livestock products and household equipment is nearly equitable while the
men and boys have more access to radio (60 and 30% respectively) compared to
women and girls who very occasionally (5% each) access it. Similar to that of the
agro-pastoral communities, women have more access to handcraft resources.

Table 6.12: Gender Disaggregated Access to Resources of Pastoral Community (%)

Resources and product description Men Women Boys Girls
Livestock 42.5 18.75 18.75 20
· Camel 50 0 30 20
· Cow 30 25 25 20
· Goats 45 25 10 20
· Sheep 45 25 10 20
Livestock product 20 25 25 30
· Milk 20 20 30 30
· Butter 20 30 20 30
Household goods 23.75 27.5 23.75 25
· Household equipment 22.5 30 22.5 25
· Grain 25 25 25 25
Handcraft 15 55 0 30
Radio, tape (Information) 60 5 30 5
Mean Value of Access to Resources by
Gender 32 26 20 22
The overall assessment of access to resources in the pastoral areas show that
nearly half of the resources are accessed by women and girls while the boys have
the least access (Fig.6.11).
Mfig. 6.11: Mean Value of Access to Resources by Gender
Girls
22% Men
32%
Boys
20%
Women
26%

6.2.2.2 Accesses to Benefits

Similar to that of the agro-pastoral communities, benefits that the pastoral
communities can access are defined as quality food, clothes, training and education
services and private savings. It is supposed that access to such benefits have direct
relationship with the well being of the members of the households. The result
indicates that women and girls either do not have access to strategic resources such
as training (including security aspects), and education or have very marginal access.
Access to quality food is again the minimum for women and girls.
Private saving is accessible only to men (65%) and women (35%) (Table 6.13). As
discussed already, the capacity to save is mainly dependent on access and control
of productive resources that could yield income. Nonetheless, women as they are
resource poor and dependent on their husbands regardless of their tremendous
contributions to the asset building of the household, have less access to private
savings.
Table 6.13: Gender Disaggregated Access to Benefits of Pastoral Community (%)

Resources and product description Men Women Boys Girls
Quality food 45 10 35 10
Good clothes 20 30 25 25
Training service (strategic) 90 10 0 0
Education (strategic) 15 0 60 25
Private saving 65 35 0 0
The overall assessment of access to benefits indicates that men have more access
(47%) followed by boys (24%). Girls are the least privileged in terms of access to
benefits (Fig. 6.12).

Fig. 6.12: Mean value of access to benefits
Girls
12%
Boys Men
24% 47%
Women
17%
6.2.2.3 Control over Resources

Control over resources that brings benefits to the society is a function of ownership
of those resources. Owing to the Afar culture, women do not own strategic
resources. As shown in Table 6.14, women do not have the right to own strategic
properties like livestock, except poultry. Men have full control over live animals
except poultry, which is also rare in the pastoral area. On the other hand, women
have full control over the livestock products.

Table 6.14: Gender Disaggregated Control over Resources of Pastoral Community

Livestock 80 20 0 0
· Camel 100 0 0 0
· Cow 100 0 0 0
· Goats 100 0 0 0
· Sheep 100 0 0 0
· Poultry 0 100 0 0
Animal product 27 73 0 0
· Milk 0 100 0 0
· Butter 0 100 0 0
· Cooking utensils 0 100 0 0
· Grain 0 100 0 0
· Handcraft 15 85 0 0
· Cash saved 100 0 0 0
· House 100 0 0 0
Radio, tape (Information) 100 0 0 0
Knowledge (exposure, skill ) 100 0 0 0
Mean control over resources 77 23 0 0
Women also disclose that they do not have access to information obtained from
radio programs and lack knowledge, which is important resource for decision-
making. In general, men have 77% control over resources while the women have
23%. The youth has no right to control resources (Fig. 6.13).
Fig. 6.13: Control Over Resources of Pastoral Community

100 100 Mean Control
100 Livestock
90
Extent of Control (%)
80 Animal product
77
80 Knowledge exposure
70 65 Radio, tape( Information)
60
50
40 35
30 23
20
20
10
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Men Women Boys Girls
Gender Class

6.2.2.4 Control over Benefits

Control over benefits ensures the ultimate use of the benefits to get satisfaction or
utility. Similar to the situations of the agro-pastoral communities, there is gender
deferential in controlling the benefits. The pastoral women are resource less and
powerless which contravenes with the ideals of human right principles and gross
violations of women’s human right ensured in the constitution of the country. As
shown in Table 6.15, women do not have control over training, education, savings,
traditional and local government leadership.
On the other hand, men enjoy full respects of the community and have absolute
control over the community leadership and access to credit and saving. Men also
enjoy leisure time, to which the other gender classes do not have control. Women
have more control on benefits related to food consumption while the boys have
better control regarding education and training.
Table 6.15: Gender Disaggregated Control over Benefits of Pastoral Community

· Quality food 75 5 10 10
· Meal frequency 85 15 0 0
· Meal volume 15 85 0 0
· Eating and drinking purchased food in the town 65 10 25 0
· Good clothes 50 50 0 0
· Education (strategic) 0 0 90 10
· Private saving (saving and credit) 100 0 0 0
· Income from sales 85 15 0 0
· Political power in traditional institution (strategic) 90 0 10 0
· Political power in local government (strategic) 85 0 15 0
· Leisure time (strategic) 100 0 0 0
· Respect by the family 75 10 15 0
· Respect by the community 100 0 0 0
Mean Value of control over benefits 70 15 13 2
The overall control of benefit lies on men (70%) followed by women (Fig. 6.14). Girls
have the least control over benefits and they feel like dependent in the household, a
situation worse than that of agro-pastoral communities.

Fig.6.14: Mean Value of Control over Benefits by Gender
Boys Girls
13% 2%
Women
15%
Men
70%
6.2.3 Gender Position and Decision Making

As discussed earlier, decision-making power is a direct function of the capacity of
controlling resources and benefits. In the pastoral communities, decisions made by
the member of the household are gender oriented. In some instances, a segment of
the family decides while in some other instances, decisions are shared among the
household members through consultations.
It could be concluded from the group discussions and gender decision-making
analysis that the youth is neither consulted nor makes decisions. As shown in Table
11.16, the man consults woman on decisions of livestock sales and purchases,
livestock management, treatment of sick persons and education of children.
Otherwise, he is the one who makes the decision regarding the above issues.
Women have full authority in decision-making regarding livestock product sales,
food consumption and household management.
Table 6.15: The Role of Gender Differentiation in Decision Making in Pastoral Community
Decision variable Men Women Boys Girls
Sales of livestock 4 3 1 1
Sales of livestock product 1 4 1 1
Purchasing of goods and livestock 4 3 1 1
Food Consumption 3 4 1 1
Livestock management 4 3 1 1
Household management 1 4 1 1
Education of children 4 3 1 1
Mobility 4 2 1 1
Treatment of sick person 4 3 1 1
Negotiation with rivals 4 2 1 1
* 1= No participation; 2= informed; 3. Consultation; 4= Full, participation

7. Compatibility of Development Policies with Pastoral

Livelihood Strategies
7.1 Land Tenure
The perceptions of pastoral communities on land ownership and the current tenure
system was assessed at the three communities studied in Gulina woreda, woreda
and regional conferences. The pastoral communities perceive land as an asset
belonging to them, the Afar people living in the area. It could be broadly understood
that the current community boundaries have existed since a long ago. The
community boundaries are putting limit to area occupation mainly regarding irrigable
land that could be put under cultivation if irrigation facilities are developed.
The communities argue that grazing land can be neither declared as property under
a specified Kebele nor clan since this will constrain livestock mobility and hence
affects the pastoral livelihood system. As a result, the policy of landholding
certification as applied in the highlands cannot be applied in the pastoral areas. To
the pastoralists, land certification should be associated with sedentrized mode of life,
efficient utilization of land and land scarcity. The current system posses no
constraint on land size in the pastoral areas.
Table 7.1: Proportions of Respondents having Private Landholding (%)

Economic system
Response to having private land Pastoral Agro-pastoral
Yes 6 82
No 94 18
No. of valid cases 85 11
Crop production is practiced only in limited areas such as Fokisa community in

Gulina Woreda. The communities in this area have been holding the cropland
privately. It was recognized that the community members perceive cropland as a
resource under the disposal of the head of the pastoral household. The agricultural
areas have been occupied by certain households including those residing in other
neighboring communities. Introduction of cropland has been constrained by shortage
of rainfall and farming skill. Yet, due to the opportunities crop production provides to
the households in terms of employment opportunities, income generation, supply of
food, etc., several pastoral communities have started looking at crop farming as an
immediate remedy to their declining livelihood strategy.

The result of the survey conducted in Gulina woreda also indicates that within the
agro-pastoral communities of Fokisa, 82% of the sample households own farmland
with an average size of 3 ha. There are also some agro-pastoralists who indicated
that they do not own land but still cultivating land. On the other hand few pastoralists
(6%) indicated that they own land whereas the majority do not assume private
ownership of land. This is consistent with the PRA result in that most of the land
(over 75%) is under communal ownership.
The livestock production has been threatened by continuous drought during the last
four years and the controversial view on expansion of cropland on pastoral system is
no more a problem in Afar. Many community members lost their animals due to
drought and they would like to increase their income portfolio by engaging in crop
production.
Traditionally, the community members just inform the community leaders, which is
an informal procedure, and put land under cultivation. Currently, communal areas
may be put under cultivation by individuals after informing the Kebele leadership. If
there is no reason to stop the cultivation due to grazing or blocking routes to grazing
and watering points, the individual will be allowed to proceed with the cultivation. In
this regard, cropland management is entering into the formal administration system.
The community, Woreda and regional conferences, it was indicated that cropland
ownership could be certified to the household tilling the plot if irrigation infrastructure
is put in place and people start producing crops. There are rivers that flow in Afar
and create a potential opportunity for developing irrigation facilities by diverting the
rivers. The rivers carry fertile soils supplied by heavy run off from the highlands in
the Amhara and Oromia regions.
7.2 Sedentrization
Pastoralism has been a major livelihood of the Afar society. Other means of
livelihood has been emerging in the pastoral areas following the major droughts,
which considerably affected the livestock production. Compared to other pastoral
communities, there is limited experience in undertaking alternative income
generation activities. As a result, only crop farming, livestock trading, and selling milk
and butter are emerging as alternative or supplementary means of earning for the
pastoral communities.
Experiences show that most of the in the communities have resided in their current
places over the last several decades and mobility is normally within the Woreda
whereby pastoralists easily travel to areas where pusture is available in their
neighborhood. Two types of settlement exist in Afar. The first type is called partial
settlement in which certain household members stay in their permanent residence
area whereas adult male and few females move regularly within the Woreda with
their livestock. In such a case the pastoralists have temporary shelter that can be

packed and transported from place to place. The second type of settlement is that
the whole family members of the pastoralists move with their livestock from place to
place within their Woreda and within their neighboring communities. When there is
pasture shortage following drought, they often travel to distant places in search for
pasture and return back to their original places after pasture situation improves.
The pastoralists feel likes guests in the new areas they move to. There is also
psychological effect on those moving with the livestock in search of pasture and
effect on food supply of the family members remaining behind. Movement also
involves conflict on pasture and water resources with the host communities. In this
regard, there is high interest of sedentary mode of life. But a lot should be done to
provide basic facilities such as water and make food available in the settlement area.
Food availability also depends on improving the existing pasture supply so that
some lactating animals would remain behind to provide milk for the family.
Besides, pasture and water availability, which is the principal reason for mobility,
seasonal occurrence of pests and diseases, flood, earthquake, and the need for
changing weather conditions for the livestock, also necessitate mobility. The
pastoralists associate high abortion rate and livestock death with the occurrence of
certain flies, which occur seasonally. The logical measure the pastoralists have been
taking to overcome the effects of these flies is to move the animals to warmer areas.
Hence, even if the families adopt sedentary mode of life, livestock mobility should
continue.
Due to the loss of large livestock number as a result of drought during the last five
years, the demand for alternative activities, mainly crop farming, is growing. The
pastoralists indicate that with development of farming skill, irrigation facilities and
establishment of school, clinic or health post and water supply, the interest for
sedentary mode of living will be high. The household survey result from Gulina
woreda also indicates that 93% of the sample pastoralists are willing to settle,
provided the above conditions are fulfilled. Therefore, introduction of irrigation
technology could contribute to sedentrization of the mobile pastoral communities.
The irrigation facilities can be used for production of crops for humans, and fodder
for livestock.
7.3 Rangeland Management

In Afar, land is perceived as a communal property of the clan whereby the
community in a given area perceives that the land belongs to those clan members
recognized to reside in that particular area. Accordingly, rangeland belongs to the
pastoral communities. Before the creation of the Afar Regional State, the community
used to divide the rangeland into open and restricted areas where the restricted one
was used as a reserve. With the creation of the regional state, the notion of land
belonging to all Afar people was adopted and this lead to abandonment of the
system of reserve rangeland. The community negatively valued this development as
it aggravated natural resources degradation. Moreover, the effect of drought on

rangeland productivity was high and outweighs the effect of the abandonment of
traditional means of rangeland management. The rangeland carrying capacity has
considerably declined due to drought and bush encroachment. The survey result
shows that 67% of the sample households attribute the decline in rangeland
productivity to drought compared to those attributing the decline to poor rangeland
management (20%).
Under good rainfall conditions, there is no rule limiting ones use of grazing land.
When they suspect rainfall shortage, communities living in a given neighborhood
would fence a limited pasture area to reserve for weak animals. But the tradition of
keeping reserve pasture through fencing is declining since the confined areas
become sources of conflict between the "owners" and mobile pastoralists. In some
instances, the guest pastoralists request for permission to use it while very often
animals simply enter and graze it. The fenced area in this context does not mean
occupation of the land as private property. Rather it gives identity to the pasture and
water resources to those fencing the area. Some weak animals that could not join
the mobile herd can have access to the confined area with permission from those
who fenced. The fencing is made by men who also cut bushes for the fencing and
transported by women.
In many areas of Afar, bush encroachment is threatening rangeland productivity.

Yet, there is no effort to control the encroachment. Moreover, the recurrent drought
damaged the roots of grasses and the chance of rejuvenation is low unless
appropriate intervention measures are taken. Moreover, nocuous weed species (the
so called congress weed, locally called Erole Harra) which is not palatable for
livestock, bitter in nature making the meat and milk produced bitter, were introduced
before 10 years and are expanding in the study area. These weeds are toxic to other
useful grasses to grow nearby them. There is no attempt to control such dangerous
weeds.
In general, the traditional system of rangeland management, which limits the use of
the rangeland to certain community, is no more functioning. On the other hand,
government or non-government organizations have limited or no interventions to
improve the rangeland in the pastoral communities of the Woreda. No grass or
fodder improvement practices have been introduced. Ranching is also not known in
the area.
At the conferences held at different levels, participants discussed on the issues of

how to improve rangeland productivity. Relying on the rainfall conditions in Afar
region can no more sustain the pastoral livelihood system. There has been
consensus on recommending the following interventions:
• If the rainfall situation improves, reintroduce separating the rangeland into

wet season and dry season pasture and apply proper management;
• Investing in water resources development;

• Introduction of improved fodder crops that can adapt to the area as a

means of increasing feed resource availability;
• With introduction of irrigation facilities, increase livestock productivity
through better herd management.
7.4 Forest Resource Management
Compared to other Woredas in Afar, Gulina Woreda is covered with some trees,
often used as shades. The tree concentration is often along the river courses. The
Afar people do not simply cut down trees. Of course, the nature of current house
construction, which is made by women of the Afar society for residential purposes, is
of temporary type and made of branches and bushes rather than woods. With
permanent type of housing, unless alternatives are provided, the repercussions on
trees would be severe.
Trees are used for different purposes. The leaves are used as feeds for livestock,
the woods are used for construction and furniture; branches and bushes are used as
firewood; leaves, barks, and roots are used for medicine for human and livestock,
the roots and fruits are used as human food. The communities are well aware of the
benefits of trees as shelter for human and livestock creating modest cool weather in
the harsh hot climate of the pastoral areas. Hence, there are customary laws to
protect cutting of useful trees.
Moreover, the pastoralists recognize the usefulness of tree flowers for honey
production. Traditionally, they harvest wild honey from woody trees. Now a days,
pastoralists started honey production by constructing beehives. It is the women who
construct the hives. As a result, widows and divorced women also own beehives
and produce honey. Although women make hives, the hives and income generated
from honey production belong to the husband.
The seasonality of flowering of plants and lack of feed for the bees are major factors
causing migration of colonies. The pastoral communities are aware about the bee
colony management. But due to ecological reasons, Afar people bordering the
Amhara region share the Colonies with their neighbours so that they share the
honey produced. Moreover, mobility of the community also affects beekeeping. The
study further indicates that there is no idea of improved beekeeping in the area.
Besides the knowledge about the usefulness of trees and tree protection, there is no
attempt of planting trees or nursery establishment for that matter. The community
attributes this function as the work expected of government.

7.5 Water Resources Management
The knowledge of the Afar pastoral communities in developing water resources and
their perceptions regarding the current water harvesting policy have been assessed
in a participatory manner. Traditionally, the community develops wells (eelaa) to use
during the dry season and ponds (harro) during the rainy season. Eelaas are
developed by the pastoralists as a private property. The animals of the surrounding
community can use the water. Sharing natural resources is also governed by the
traditional rules of mutual support system. Moreover, ponds are made near rivers for
filtering of the running water for the livestock, since it contains dissolved soils from
the highland areas. It was observed that camel do not drink the dirty water full of soil
and indigenous filtering system is used by the pastoralists by creating mini ponds
around the river cannel.
Due to the long distance between the villages and water sources, women fetch
water for home use traveling up to 7 hours during the dry season, with an average
travel time of 2 hours and this exacerbate the workload of women, particularly girls
as water fetching is their major role. Water utilization from wells (eelaas) requires as
many as 10 persons at a time and is traditional. Water from wells, ponds and river is
used for both human and livestock. In some wpredas of Afar, the Pastoral
Community Development Office is developing ponds for some communities with the
support of PCDP. Moreover, NGOs such as Action Faime, are planning to develop
deep wells to improve the public water supply.
Water supply may serve as income generation activity in the pastoral areas. In
Fokisa community of Gulina woreda, for instance, a deep well was developed
through the Rehabilitation Fund. A group of seven persons were given short term
training on how to operate the pumping machine, management of the water
distribution, collection of income from sales of water and controlling of the income
collected. The training did not include technical aspects. Hence, maintenance of the
machine will remain to be a challenge under the situation of the pastoralists. The
water pump worked for the last two and half years without damage. At the time of
the field work, the pump was not functioning due to lack of regular service. But the
pastoral community in this area acquired the experience of managing the water
supply by collecting money for the service rendered so that the running cost of water
pumping is covered. A woman has been chosen as cashier in the water supply
committee. The money collected is used to pay salary for a guard, maintenance and
other inputs to run the machine.
The experience shows that projects that augment the water supply of the pastoral
community can be sustainable if the technologies are appropriate to the community’s
capacity to manage it. On the other hand, the declining asset basis of the community
makes the cost sharing approach unsustainable unless alternative income
generation strategies are introduced. It was indicated that paying even small rate for
the water supply has become unaffordable for some community members. There is

no policy intervention for water harvesting by the communities. The ones available
have been developed by the community following prevailing traditions.
The community members underscore that the hope for survival depends on
investing in water resources. As discussed above, their dependence on pastoral
system has been disrupted by recurrent and extended drought. The livestock
number and its productivity declined. The population is increasing. Thus, there is no
need for them to seek for different evidences to emphasize on use of water for
irrigation. Fig. 7.1 illustrates how they express the potential for irrigation in Fokisa
community of Gulina woreda.
Rangeland Villages
Villages Rangeland
Fig.7.1: Sketch by Fokisa Community showing Irrigation Potential
According to the Woreda level conference, the following actions will help to develop
water utilization in Gulina Woreda:
• Develop ground water to use at different villages and reduce the workload on
women;
• Train the community to dig its own shallow wells since the ground water can
easily be found in the area;
• Develop communal ponds for livestock.
These recommendations are also valid in woredas wherever there is potential water
resource such as ground water and running water, be it permanent or temporary.
Availability of water points and rangeland are preconditions for selection of pastoral
community village sites. The following diagram illustrates an example from Kalawan
community, one of the study sites. The communities are building their huts near
eelaas, the water point located following the course of the permanent river. The

grazing fields are also available for the different villages given different names (Fig.
7.2).
Amadu Wakiridi Dalalu

Habu Gutu
`Sawalak
Gine EyiMingola Genu

Korile Masgida Belgi
Gulina River
Akdor
Ramdile Korenti
Kalawan
Wa’edu Saganto
Asale
Abali Badita
Amositale Ayga Gadimada
Key:
Eelaa, water wells
N
Villages
Pasture area
Fig.7.2: Settlement Pattern and Pastureland at Kalewan Community

7.6 Extension System

There is no as such extension service in most of the Afar woredas. There is no
package of livestock management to be extended. For instance, except for provision
of some seeds of crops for very few agro-pastoralists, there is no extension activity
in the Gulina woreda. As it is also recognized by the Pastoral Community
Development Office of the Woreda and the communities included in PRSA, there is
no technical capacity to do effective extension works.
The few extension staff available work only at Woreda level. No extension agents
are assigned in the pastoral communities. Recently, ATVET graduates are assigned
to work as development agents. But assessment of the curriculum of ATVET
indicates that the curriculum does not have specifics that can fit into the pastoral
system of production. Hence, the extent to which the graduates will address the
pastoral problems is dubious.
Veterinary services such as vaccination, training of Para Veterinarians, and support

for their functioning are provided by the Woreda Pastoral Development Office and an
NGOs. However, the key informants in the study communities mentioned that the
veterinary services such as drugs for livestock are inadequate or not available
mainly for camel.
Promotion of training of Community Animal Health Workers, construction of

veterinary posts, and support of private livestock drug suppliers would contribute to
improvement of the veterinary services in the pastoral communities. As women have
important role in livestock management, it is logically to train women as Animal
Health Workers to build their technical capacity and also contribute to improving the
income of the women.
The pastoralists in general and women in particularly have great concern about lack
of extension service in their communities. Moreover, the extension packages are
also not well defined for the pastoral communities. The experts assigned to the
Woreda pastoral communities are not equipped with appropriate and feasible
packages of extension services.
The extension packages for the pastoralists that should be promoted include:
Breeds improvement;
Rangeland improvement;
o New and appropriate species of grasses and fodder promotion,
o Abolishing unwanted grasses and bushes from rangeland,
o Promotion of rangeland management system,
Water points development for human, livestock and irrigation;
Credit service promotion for:
o Restocking,
o Livestock and grain trade,
o Non-farm and non-pastoral activity promotion,

Promotion of market oriented development;

o Promotion of livestock and livestock product processing and marketing,
Veterinary service promotion;
o Training of Para Veterinarians,
o Provision of livestock medicine,
o Construction of veterinary posts,
Training of pastoralists;
o Training on home economics,
o Social changes through awareness creation on gender issues,
o Reducing harmful traditional practices,
With increasing interest for crop production, adaptable crop varieties including
fruits and vegetables and the associated packages of crop management
practices are needed in the extension system.
7.7 Public Services

7.7.1 Education
The Afar pastoral communities had no access to education. Now days, schools are
being constructed in the different kebeles. In Gulina woreda, for example, schools
are not available one of the three communities included in PRSA. That means about
63-66% of the communities do not have access to education. Darayitu, which is one
of the PRSA communities have no school and thus no one is enrolled from the
community. On the other hand, a primary school with 1-5th grades is available at
Fokisa community whereas the construction of a primary school by PCDP is near
completion in Kalewan community. During the 2004, there were 57 boys and 100
girls enrolled at Fokisa primary school. The enrolment of girls increased over the last
few years due to school feeding program and provision of cooking oil. Eleven of the
boys and six of the girls dropped out due to mobility of the families with livestock,
distance to school and food shortage problems.
On the other had, due to the scattered settlement of the communities on a vast area,
and because of the need for children’s labor for herding, the school enrollment rate
is still low. Distance between the villages and the school is the second most
important factor hindering enrolment. Among the households who indicated that
there is a school in their Kebele, 63% do not send their children to school because of
the need for child labor for herding (54% of the cases), long distance to school (24%
of the cases) and low awareness about educations (18% of the cases).
During the 2003, there were 254 boys and 127 girls enrolled at Kalawan town
primary and junior secondary school. The junior secondary school is up to 8th grade,
which is the highest level in the woreda. The dropout in this school was 5 percent
during 2004, which was lower than the year before i.e. 19%. The dropout is also high
for boys due to the fact that they trek the animals during mobility. As the level of
schooling increases from primary to junior level, dropouts particularly girls’ dropout
increase due to problems of distance and lack of logistics to support their studies at

woreda town, making the girls victims of Absuma. The regional conference
complemented the findings made at Gulina woreda.
Recently, mobile non-formal education program was started in few places like that of
Derayitu. The students attend classes under tree shades. The pastoralists prefer to
have permanent schools in their vicinity at least to send some of their children to
schools. Alternative education program seems also to have limited impact as they
indicate that with the existing food shortage, it would be difficult to stop people from
moving out and any education program cannot be implemented until they feel like
settled. After settlement, thinking of alternative school systems to address children
who cannot come to the formal schooling would be essential.
In general, the low literacy level of the pastoral community could be due to the
following factors:
Lack of access to schools at vicinity of the pastoral communities;
Lack of awareness of the importance of education particularly of girls
The need for child labor for herding and domestic chore;
Lack of alternative basic education or non-formal schools;
Lack of appropriate schools such as mobile schools to educate the children;
Shortage of food is a critical problem reducing enrollment and increased
school dropouts;
Early and mandatory (Absuma) marriage of girls;
Lack of access to water and health services around the schools;
Shortage of human resource for conducting non-formal education..
Therefore, addressing the above issues would promote school enrolment in the
pastoral communities. Construction of permanent schools in each community
supplemented with mobile schools in the communities would improve the literacy
rate in the pastoral communities.
7.7.2 Primary Health Care

Access to health services in Afar Pastoral communities is very remote. For instance,
only one health center and two health posts are available in Gulina Woreda. But
lack of electricity and laboratory facilities are major problems hindering provision of
adequate health service. In the communities, there are attempts to establishing
health posts. However, lack of necessary facilities and appropriate staff are major
problems. Moreover, the health service is constrained by poor awareness of the
society in making use of the health services. In some communities, the concept of
preventive health care is appreciated although no effort was made in this regard.
Consistent with the Participatory Research Approach, the entire sample households
included in the survey indicate that the health service in the Woreda is inadequate.
Awareness creation on HIV/AIDS is also limited. Except for the information on Radio
Programs which is available to few of the pastoralists, there is no awareness
creation program regarding HIV/AIDS. The problem is worsened by lack of tradition

of discussion between wives and husbands on the matter since the marriage system
is polygamous. It is also noted that the HIV/AIDS prevalence increased during the
last few years. In Fokisa community, for instance, some 20 people died during the
last few years were suspected victims of HIV/AIDS. Despite this, the attempt made
to create awareness and reduce the incidences is scant. Inadequate health
personnel, health service facilities, and budget for health services are the most
critical problems mentioned during the community participatory dialogues. Provision
of Mother and Child Health care (MCH) service was among the serious issues
discussed by the participants of the FGD and community conference at kebele,
woreda and regional levels.
7.7.3 Transport and Communications

Road networks have been improving in the Afar region. All weather roads
connecting some woredas have been constructed. The study area, Gulina Woreda,
is positioned relatively near Kobo town of Amhara region. The road plays pivotal role
in accessing food by the community of the Woreda. Moreover, there is a need to
connect different communities to enable better communication and exchange of
services. The transportation facility between the communities and the respective
woreda towns is essential to ensure food supply through market mechanisms.
Moreover, road network also includes construction of bridges over rivers like Awura
and Gulina.
7.8 Marketing of Livestock and Livestock Products

Livestock marketing is crucial for the livelihood of the pastoral communities.
Marketing facilities ensure better earning by disposing livestock and livestock
products at better prices and also enabling access to food items and industrial goods
needed for the communities. Unfortunately, there is no market center for livestock
and livestock products, and transaction of other commodities in some of the woredas
especially Gulina. As a result, there is no market for hides and skin, whereas small-
scale sales of milk, goats, and sheep are made by moving from door to door in
Kalewan town, and very marginal sales of butter and milk are practiced.
The communities in Gulina woreda, for instance, should travel for one and a half
days to reach the market centers (about 30 km) located at Teru and Yalo Woredas.
The community members should also travel a long distance to purchase grain for
consumption from Zobil and Kobo markets in Amhara region and Tigray region. The
reasons why traders are not operating in the Woreda is partly and principally
explained by lack of accessibility. Lack of bridge over Gulina River, which passes
through several villages of the communities of the Woreda has been the major
constraint hindering the establishment of a market center at the Woreda town.
According to the key informants and the Woreda Development Council of the PCDP,
the river kills more than twenty people in some years depending on the rain
situations in the highland areas.

As a result of lack of access to market, the livestock prices are very low in Gulina
Woreda. For instance, currently, the price of a medium sized camel is Birr 300-500
per head, which is very low as compared to the price for the same camel in other
parts of the country. Livestock products such as milk, butter, hide and skins are not
traded widely due to lack of market. Marketing cooperatives are not established. On
the other hand, there is no formal credit service in the Woreda. Generally, the
pastoralists feel that market center establishment and bridge construction over the
Gulina and Awura Rivers could solve the marketing problems in the woreda.
The regional conference revealed that lack of gender awareness, marketing, and
communication problems are severe as the woredas'proximity to the regional town
decreases.
7.9 Cooperatives, Saving and Credit Associations

As discussed above, resources are traditionally owned communally. The Afar
society also shares goods and even food among the community members. The
tradition allows every member of a community to be supported on reciprocity
principle. This tradition severely affects the saving capacity as it leads to unplanned
consumption. It also affects diet management since those arriving during mealtime
are allowed to access food as far as it is available.
During good years, saving was practiced in the form of increased livestock number.
Nowadays, with decreasing livestock number, there is no saving as such. No cash
saving is practiced except the sum held at hand for immediate use. Traditionally,
credit is given by one member of the community to another based on reciprocity. No
interest is charged on the amount disbursed. The purpose is usually for
consumption. In some instances, the credit is not paid back, consented by the
lender.
But youth and women are organizing themselves into associations to execute
specific objectives such as hollow block production, establishing shops to trade
goods in their vicinity, etc. These attempts would create alternative means of
livelihood in the pastoral setting. For instance, one women and one youth group
having 26 members each were established in Kalewan town. The formation of such
groups has been initiated with the expectation of getting funds for income generation
activities. There is, however, a strong need to capacitate the groups in terms of skill
and finance to execute the intended businesses. PCDP, which is stretching its
operation to the most remote areas of the region is expected to address these
issues.
Cooperatives are new phenomenon. In some woredas, some pastoralists are

organized into cooperatives. But they are at early stage and needs support both
technically and logistically. There is no cooperative organized in Gulina Woreda.

8. Changes in Pastoral Livelihood

8.1 Positive Changes
There have been positive and negative changes during the last ten years. The
positive changes in Gulina woreda include establishment of Kalewan town as the
Woreda capital. Establishment of formal administrative structure as Woreda at
Kalewan, which is the center of the Woreda, was a considerable achievement in the
Woreda. Provision of basic services in the Woreda followed the establishment of the
Woreda town. Moreover, the community used to receive food aid from Kobo town
(Amhara region) which is 70 km from some of the communities. With establishment
of the town, this problem has been resolved. In most woredas, establishment of
certain of public services units, increased participation of women in own affairs, etc.
were among the improvements.
Some of the community members also associate the Woreda center formation with
improvement in the democracy and self-administration. Another positive change
was related to women’s participation in public affairs (Table 8.1). Despite the cultural
sanctions posed on them, they participate in meetings and started to organize
themselves in groups to undertake some income generation activities. Yet, this is a
new phenomenon and should be encouraged at Woreda and community levels.
Table 8.1: Proportion of Respondents with Different Attitudes to Changes (%)

Type of changes Positive response (%)
Change with traditional leadership 26
Peace and stability 48
More democratic and good governance 38
Increased women' s role 23
Supply of food aid 3
Total sample size 104
Due to the increased number of schools, student enrolment especially of girls

increased. The community’s awareness about the benefits of education increased.
The distribution of number of students at Kalewan primary and junior secondary
school is an indicator of positive change during the last ten years (Fig. 8.1).

Fig.8.1: Student Enrolment at Kalawan School (No)
300
250 Boys
Girls
200
Number
150
100
50
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Moreover, positive changes were also observed in terms of clinical services. In this
regard, establishment of a clinic in the Woreda made medical services more
accessible to the community. The clinic is providing basic services only, which do
not need laboratory examinations since there is no such a service. Adequate
laboratory equipment, chemicals and electric power are essential for the provision of
adequate laboratory based treatment in the Woreda. Only 40% of the households
included in the survey (both female and male headed) indicated improvement in the
health service compared to the situation 10 years ago.
Some services such as grain mills became available in the Woreda town and in of
the communities such as Fokisa community during the last ten years. However, such
facilities are not accessible for most of the communities due to long distance and
lack of roads during rainy season. Lack of the bridge makes the pastoral
communities vulnerable to river caused disaster as heavy river flow suddenly occurs
in the lowland pastoral areas.
Rural road infrastructure also increased during the last ten years. All weather road
connects Kobo town of the Amhara region with Gulina woreda of Afar and serves as
food supply route if the bridge problem is solved. The merchants in Gulina town
complain that they had to transport goods on human shoulder to cross the river and
this increases the price at which goods are sold making the goods more expensive
for the society and reducing their sales turnover. For instance, every quintal of goods
cost additional Birr 8.00 just because of lack of the bridge.

It has been indicated also that livestock disease control was improved due to training
of community livestock health workers. Establishment of veterinary clinic at Woreda
level made the services available near the communities and reduced the cost of
getting medical services. A positive development in this regard was training of
community animal health assistants who report occurrence of livestock diseases,
diagnosing, purchase drugs and treating animals affected by certain diseases. There
is also a need to accommodate training of women for similar purposes so that they
serve the community in their villages when men are not around. The veterinary
service is not, however, accessible by most of the mobile pastoralists and was not
enough compared to the needs.
Moreover, the utensils the pastoralists are using such as water containers changed
from locally materials to plastic industrial products. This may be viewed from two
perspectives i.e. as an improvement in terms of reduction on women’s workload on
the one hand and loss of tradition of making these utensils on the other.
Conflict with neighboring Amhara and Oromo people declined in the past decade
due to the measures taken by the administrations of concerned regions to resolve
the possible causes of conflict.
In summary, the following signifies positive changes during the last decade:
Construction of schools,
Change of attitudes for girls’ education
Construction of health posts,
Development of community village centers,
Establishment of grain mills in some communities,
Availability of transport service although more should be done to connect
communities and the problem of bridges is persisting,
Availability of potable water in woreda towns and in some communities,
Food aid distribution centers became near the communities, hence reduced
the travel days and expenses,
Local administration established in Woreda towns,
Increased participation of women in public meeting,
Women’s commitment and taking a step for economic empowerment, and
Appreciating the problems caused on women due to harmful traditional
practice and values.
However, there are still unmet needs of the community in many aspects.
8.2 Negative Changes

The most considerable negative change affecting the livelihoods of the pastoral
communities is the decline in rangeland productivity. The continued reduction in the
rangeland productivity is due to the recurrent drought. Occurrence and expansion of
weeds that destroyed useful grasses is another important reason for the decline of
rangeland productivity. The decline resulted in death of animals and reduced animal

productivity. Consequently, the community’s food security was seriously affected

due to the drastic reduction in meat and milk production and reduced household
income. Hence, the livestock asset ownership of the rich today is much less than
what the poor had ten years ago. This led to dependency of over 80% of the
community on food aid. Before ten years, the pastoralists used to drink milk
sufficient to meet consumption needs. To day, milk is taken only as supplementary
diet, when available. Some pastoralists do not get milk for several days unless they
ask for social support.
Fig. 8.2 shows the extent of loss of livestock due to drought and the extent of
change in the role of livestock in the pastoral system.
Fig.6.2 Distribution of Livestock Before 10 Years and Now

100
100 Cattle, 1995
90 Camel, 1995
No. of Animals per Household
80 Goats, 1995
70 Sheep, 1995
Cattle, 2005
60
50 50 50
Camel, 2005
50
40 Goats, 2005
40
Sheep, 2005
30 25
20 15 15 15 13
8 10 10
10 5 4 3 4
2 1 2 1 2
0
Rich Medium Poor/ destitute
Wealth Group
It has been indicated that those having no livestock depend on their relatives and
neighbors to feed themselves. The poverty situation has worsened since the wealth
ranking made at most of the communities by PCDP three years ago. According to
the community wealth ranking of PCDP, 57% of the households, among which
female headed households constitute the majority, were poor or destitute where the
destitute has no livestock. This proportion drastically increased today (80%)
indicating worsening poverty level in the study area. As a result, the number of
community members that depends on food aid increased.
The drought during the year 2004/05 severely affected the pastoral communities. It
depleted the livestock assets of the pastoralists. For instance, among the key
informants from Derayitu community, some lost up to five camels and up to four
cattle last year due to the drought. Death of large number of livestock also occurred
in the past three years due to livestock diseases. Disease also killed considerably
large number of camels in the pastoral communities. According to the summary on

Table 6.2, the case pastoralists lost on the average 72 percent of their camel and 91
percent of their cattle due to the drought.
Table 8.2: Number of Livestock Lost Due to the Drought of Year 2004/05
Number in 2003 Number in 2005 Percent lost due to
(Now) drought
Camel Cattle Camel Cattle Camel Cattle
Key Informant # 1 5 2 0 0 100 100
Key Informant # 2 2 3 0 0 100 100
Key Informant # 3 3 5 1 1 67 80
Key Informant # 4 2 5 1 1 50 80
Key Informant # 5 4 3 1 0 75 100
Key Informant # 6 1 2 0 1 100 50
Key Informant # 7 4 4 1 0 75 100
Key Informant # 8 2 4 1 0 50 100
Key Informant # 9 2 3 1 0 50 100
Key Informant # 10 2 1 1 0 50 100
Mean 72 91
Source: Case Studies in Gulina Woreda (May, 2005)
The consequences of the frequent drought were:

Reduced livestock price due to livestock weight losses, which occurred
during the last three years;
Lack of milk for consumption;
Loss of livestock asset;
Malnutrition which affected more the women and children;
Despite the traditionally environmentally friendly livelihood system of the Afar

society, trees were destroyed and the forest coverage declined in Afar due to the
recurrent drought during the last decade. This is the major cause of the natural
resources degradation.
There is also limited capacity to think of business alternatives. As it used to be in the

past, the awareness about alternative means of livestock resources utilization is still
low. Among the households included in the survey, 40% indicated lack of human
capacity improvement during the last ten years as a negative change. Livestock is
the most important means of saving assets. Hence, pastoralists become popular by
having a large herd size. Lack of vision in making business is also a result of lack of
market places. As it used to be in the past, the problem of market continued.
Despite the improved health and veterinary services at Woreda level, effective
services could not be rendered due to continued shortage of human and veterinary
technicians in the rural areas. Moreover, drugs and medicines are not available. In
effect, there is no drug shop.

9. Community-Livestock Mobility
The movement of the community and the livestock (Guuroo) is more of a short
distance, unless it is a drought period. During drought, they move beyond the
Woreda border and enter the neighboring regions, especially Amhara (Fig.9.1) and
Oromia regions. There is a kind of mutual relationships between the herders and
neighboring farmers. The herders benefit from crop residue whereas the farmers in
the highland area send their livestock to Afar during rainy seasons. Mobility is the
major strategy for the benefit of the livestock and ecology since mobility allows rest
period for pasture to re-vegetate.

Fig. 9.1: Mobility Route of the Pastoral Communities in Fokisa, Gulina Woreda
Aware
Amhara Region
Drought
Raya Kobo Period
Mobility
Zobil
Fokisa Pastoral Community
Baligi Wakiri Ede

Gulina Woreda
Wanasa
Muli
Debahira
Ayiga
Admalif
Hayu Kali
Asale
Mobility out of Gulina Woreda with Afar
Awura
Uwa
Drought
Chifra/ Wama
Period
Mobility
Mille

9.1 Regular Mobility

There are two types of mobility in the area, drought induced and regular mobility. In
the past regular mobility used to be within a given area or the current Kebele
administration. Most of the Kebele demarcations are on the basis of clan ownership
of land. Regular mobility of the pastoral community occurs mainly within their vicinity
(Kebele) or neighbouring communities in the same Woreda. The household survey
result indicated that 64% of them moved within the same Woreda, 29% within the
same kebele whereas 3 and 4% crossed to the Amhara Regional State and
neighboring countries, respectively.
The pastoralists move from one community (Kebele) to the other community mainly
to search for pasture for their livestock. Search for water is the second reason of
mobility in the Woreda. Both male and female headed households participate in the
mobility. Table 9.1 shows that the frequency of mobility could be more than three
times mostly within the same Kebele. Regarding the frequency of mobility, there is
not significant difference between male and female headed households.
Table 9.1: Proportion of Respondents with Different Frequencies of Mobility (%)

Frequency of mobility Male headed Female headed All cases
Once 16 40 23
Two times 39 7 30
Three or more times 45 53 47
Total 100 100 100
Under normal circumstances, the pastoral communities move from one location to
the other in a certain regular pattern. They return back to their original places after
three or four months. In this case, the whole family moves together with their
livestock. Young boys for herding and some girls for preparing food will accompany
the herd to a far distance. For instance, the community in Korenti of Kalawan Kebele
moves from Korenti to Remedule and then to Korile and to Keda Gasira. They move
to Korile during drought season and return back to Korenti in wet season. In such a
case all family members, the huts and livestock move all together. So it is a
complete mobility. They may stay in one place for about two months and move back
to their original village. Although there is not any yard allotted to each family, they
approximately settle near their previous places.
It was, however, noted that the Kalawan community concentrates more around
Genu and Korentii rangelands, which are also far apart, during wet season and
concentrate more around Masgida rangeland due to availability of deep eelaas.
Establishing villages around Masgida has been rejected by the community due to
the swampy conditions created during wet seasons. In view of construction of a
permanent school at Korenti now, such a regular mobility has important implications
for the implementation of sustainable education program. It may be essential to have
schools in both areas where the concentration of people is high due to mobility and
allow admission to the schools as children follow their mobile parents.

The mobility route shown on Fig.9.1 reveals that the pastoral communities move
within and outside of the Woreda. The mobility to neighboring Amhara region and
other Woredas in Afar region takes place only during drought seasons. Otherwise,
the most common mobility is within the Woreda, which often happens regularly. The
duration of mobility to Amhara region and to the neighboring Woredas could be for
up to three months. In such mobility, adult male, the youth and some women
accompany the livestock to the specified destination. Some adult male pastoralists
take one of their wives to accompany them. In most cases, females, children, weak
animals, goats, and sheep remain behind unless the drought situation is severe and
pasture becomes chronically short for the survival of the livestock.
9.2 Drought Year Mobility

Drought year mobility can be in any direction. It is the resource (water and pasture)
availability, peace and willingness of host community, among other things, that
determine the direction of mobility. Drought season mobility occurs when the adult
family members move with their livestock to the neighboring region like Zobil, Kobo
and Woldiya in Amhara Region and further to Alamata. The Afar pastoralists can
also cross boarders of Oromia and Somali regions and some times cross
international boundaries. Similarly pastoral communities also travel to neighboring
Woredas such as Awura, Chifra, and Mille. They stay at the host communities for
more than three months. However, such type of mobility occurs very rarely and
occurs during severe drought.
The drought year mobility causes many problems to the family members. The mobile
members face many problems like drudgery of traveling long distance, hunger, and
water shortage and conflict on resource use. They do not get basic facilities like
schools, clinic and other immobile services. People remaining behind may be weak
or old and get minimum assistance. Those remaining behind also suffer from food
shortage.
The major problems encountered during mobility include:
Increased women and girls’ workload and labour time due to Frequent
construction of senari houses and water fetching from far places requires a lot
of women and girls involvement;
Frequent construction of fences for livestock protection is difficult as they
move from place to place. Due to this, wild animals attack their livestock.
Requires camels for transporting the senari houses and not every one has
camel;
Households carry sick family members along the mobility route;
Shortage of water as they move away from water points;
Children are lost on the way during the mobility;
Theft of calves or cattle;
Livestock death on the way;

Shortage of milk and milk products for the family who remain behind and
shortage of food for the mobile members of the community;
Family disintegration due to gaps created by mobility (possible exposure to
adultery);
Fear of ethnic conflicts;
Mobility is also expensive in monetary terms: payment for water and crop
residues as feed for livestock;
Difficulties in getting water for their livestock due to long queues;
Livestock disease could be transmitted;
Women are some times raped on the way during mobility;
Requires pre established friendship in the host communities;
Creates more responsibility and stress on women who remain back at home
in managing the family;
Access to market is a problem as there is competition for herding and
marketing for labour.
The mobility has also negative effects on host communities. These are:
Share food, water, veterinary services, etc. with the host community,
The cattle graze crops and crop residues of the host community which trigger
conflicts,
Livestock disease transmission.
Few opportunities related to mobility are:

• Better access to resources;
• Animals will be saved from drought effects;
• Increased productivity;
• Decreased pressure on land and natural resources and proper rest period for
the pasture to regenerate.
9.3 Can Mobility be Stopped?

The question regarding whether mobility can be stopped is strictly related to the
cause of it. The Afar pastoral communities indicate that mobility is not the culture but
a response to resource scarcity. If there is rain, pasture and social services in their
vicinity, mobility can be stopped. Otherwise, stopping mobility is unthinkable as
stated by the PRSA participants. Some of the prerequisites especially the rain and
pasture availability appears to be beyond the nation’s capacity, at least under the
current economic and technological capacity of the country. But some efforts can be
made to change the mode of production through the introduction of irrigation
scheme. However, they lack much of the skills need for crop production. Training on
farm and use of farm implements, and change of attitude of the pastoralists may be
needed. Otherwise mobility will continue as far as better grazing opportunities are
found somewhere else.

If social and economic problems of the pastoral communities could be solved

through alternative livelihood systems, sedentrization could be realized. Assisting
the community members to engage in different activities through capacity building
and investing in water resources for irrigation of crop and fodder plants can
significantly contribute to reduced mobility.
Obviously, the PRSA participants recognize the following advantages of sedentary

mode of life.
• Less tiresome and laborious works;
• Benefits from immobile social services such as education and health services;
• Reduced livestock mortality;
• Involvement in crop production.
Irrigation development is one of the most important pre-conditions the pastoralists

are asking for sedentrization. One important issue to be taken care of is the land
tenure. In Afar, the land is owned at clan level, even though theoretically considered
property of all Afars. Irrigable land that will be put under cultivation from the
communal land should be distributed among the community members by involving
traditional leaders so as to avoid conflict.

10. Pastoral Information and Communication System

10.1 Information Communication System
Afar society has its own information communication system, locally called Dagu
system by which they share information among themselves. The Dagu involves
exchange of information about daily life and general situations they observe, listen,
or see at different places. When two persons meet one another, they first greet one
another and then continue asking from where a person is coming or where he is
going and why? Then the information exchange follows on security, rain availability,
community affairs like famine and politics. A person is obliged to pass over whatever
information he/she has to all people he/she found without any discrimination on the
basis of gender, age or any other relevant background. A person who is on a long
journey, going to market place, coming back from workshops, seminars,
conferences, moving on mobile herding, etc. is obliged to tell any information he/she
come across to the other community members. One who hears new information is
obliged to tell others. The system ensures security and well being of the society.
Information pertinent to the Afar society such as rainfall, security, conflict, drought,
disease, price of livestock and market information, new government policies,
guidelines, directives, and information affecting Afar pastoral community are passed
from a person to person and from community to community. Information is
disseminated to the whole Afar pastoral society at all levels. That information is
passed to an individual, household, extended family, etc, regardless of sex and age.
10.2 Source and Reliability of Information

The information the pastoral communities need may come from different sources
which could be within the region, from neighbouring regions such as Amhara,
Oromia, Tigray, and from other Afar communities living in Assab of Eritrea, and
Djibouti. The information obtained from distant sources pass through individuals who
go to markets or just travel on certain missions. The information is accessible to both
male and female members and interested person in the community. Women also
collect information from people traveling from place to place. In Afar, people do not
carry food with them when traveling as they can go to any village and ask for it.
When the available food is served, the passenger provides information. When men
are away for herding, women collect the information and share with the villagers. If
need arises, it can be disseminated beyond the village level based on how far it is
the concern of all society members.
Livestock market and price information is gathered from all directions except Eritrea.
Which animal species, age and sex fetch better price is part of the information. It is
also common to travel to the houses of people returning from different market places
and ask for market information.

If there is incidence of disease outbreak, information will be disseminated quickly so

that the people take precautionary measures. A group of people is also sent to areas
considered as appropriate for mobility to collect additional information. This
information is used as a confirmation. In the process, the messenger also assesses
the willingness of host community and security situation.
Everybody is required to pass true information to others. A person telling lies looses
trust of others and given very low social position. The source of information is also
inquired for future verification. In case information comes on the possible future
conflict or security problem, people will be sent to verify the information. Women, as
their clan is different from their husbands, serve as spies. Information passed from
one person to the other is very much reliable and it is believed that Afar society does
not tell or pass to the others any false information. The information passed or told to
anybody is checked and counter checked for its reliability. A person found telling or
passing false information is punished and also ostracized for his deeds.
Despite the role women play in conveying information relevant for the society, there
is gender bias in terms of credibility given to women and girls. The survey result
shows that more than 50% of the surveyed households (female and male headed
alike) consider the information given by women and girls less reliable (Table 10.1).
Table 10.1: Judge of Reliability of Information Received from Women and Girls Compared to
that from Men (% of Respondents)
Extent of reliability Male respondents Female respondents All cases
More reliable 7 3 5
Equally reliable 38 52 43
Less reliable 55 45 52
Total 100 100 100
Information is also accessed from public media mostly through radio programs. But
only 15% of the households surveyed had radio (i.e. 20% of the male headed and
6% of the female headed). But more proportion of the respondents listens to radio
programs (42% of all, 31% of the female headed and 48% of the male headed).

11. Indigenous Knowledge

Indigenous or local knowledge systems are community resources. Local knowledge
systems must be understood in terms of how they influence culture as well as local
economies. Men and women often have very different skills and knowledge, which
when combined creates a knowledge system specific to local conditions, needs, and
priorities. The Afar community socio-cultural roles and relationships are part of this
knowledge system including the use, preservation and adaptation of the system.
Afar society is a pastoral community whose livelihood is based on livestock

production system that is ecologically adjusted to the utilization of the meager
resources of the arid and semi arid areas. The production system of Afar pastoral
society is characterized by such aspects as seasonal migration, herd diversification,
overstocking when there is no drought, etc. It has been indicated by the pastoral
communities that most of the indigenous knowledge and daily activities are based on
their system of livelihood. The knowledge and practices that are very much common
among the Afar pastoral communities include identification and treatment of human
and livestock disease, water management, handcrafts and fire making.
Another surprising point raised as indigenous knowledge is the rites of passage of

male children undergo. It is the attempt to make male brave, as their future requires
hardship and sometimes fighting and revenge. This takes place on circumcision day
as shown in the box #1:
Box # 1:
On Wednesday morning, the boy will be taken to river

and be given some herbs. He then returns home for
circumcision. After circumcision, fire is put on at seven
different places. The fire is made from specific and
unique tree species. On this raging fire, they add butter.
The melted butter is sprinkled to the boy, who stands
between the fireplaces, from different directions. After
this the boy is expected to be strong, brave and resistant
to hardships.
11.1 Human Disease Treatment

Malaria, bronchitis, poisoning by snake, stomachache, headache, problems
associated with execratory system (urinary, for instance), child delivery problem, etc.
are some of the most common diseases reported by the focus group discussion
affecting pastoral community of Afar. Some diseases like TB cannot be locally
treated. According to the pastoral communities, all diseases affecting the population

are treated by traditional healers except one. The Afar people recognize that "if there
are 100 types of diseases, there are medicines for 99 of them, the 100th being the
one leading to the inevitable death". Apparently, medicine is subscribed after
diagnosing the sick. The traditional healers prepare the local medicines from herbs,
shrubs, roots, leaves and bark that they give to sick persons. Medicinal plants are
chopped for swallowing or given through nose, or dried and used for fumigation, for
inhaling the smokes, or used as ointment.
The skill of identifying medicinal plants and its application is a means of generating
income. After thorough examination and identification of the problem, the person will
be told what type of treatment will be made and how much to pay and the nature of
payment (in cash or kind, number of cattle/goats). The payment depends on the type
of disease. An advance amount known as "Meso" is paid as a fraction of the whole
cost whereas most of the cost is paid when the person is cured. It was indicated that
both women and men practice the traditional medicinal treatment. There is discount
for poor people who cannot afford.
Traditional healers exist within each clan. But only few people know the medicinal
plants. The group discussion participants estimated that about 4% of the pastoralists
are traditional healers in a community. The knowledge is transferred to own children.
Fathers teach their sons how to treat and what type of medicine to use and for which
disease. But sons will not start the profession as far as the father is alive and it is the
eldest son who takes the position of his father as a traditional healer. But if the elder
son is not talented enough, the community can authorize any brilliant person among
the brothers to practice the medical treatment. If a person wants to learn how to
treat, he/she should pay for the trainer. However, most learning of this kind takes
place through informal way.
Many of the traditional healers specialize in one or two medicines. The specialized
healers are found at different communities. Different diseases are treated differently.
The disease called Genu, in vernacular language, kills quickly. Hence, the treatment
for this is through nasal. The most serious diseases are treated using plant roots,
which can be given either through nasal or mouth. Minor sicknesses like headache
are treated using plant leaves. There are specialists who treat broken bones and
wounds. Sexually inactive persons can also be treated using medicine made up of
plants.
Since the Afar people live on land full of bushes, the impact of thorny bush on the
people and their livestock is serious, especially on the delicate parts like eyes. There
is a treatment for such accidents. The procedure and measures taken differ based
on the extent of attention needed. If the injury on the eye is minor, the specialist
adds some liquid substance made up of plant leaves on the affected eye. In case it
is a serious injury, additional medicine is given through mouth. If certain part of the
thorn remains in the eye, it should not be pulled out, as it would damage the eye
permanently. A person under this situation waits until an expert arrives and
undertakes the examination. The most commonly known treatment for this is first to

carefully cut the thorn short. Then a sheep is slaughtered and the fat of the tail melts
and given to the person. He drinks the melted fat. The assumption is that it goes to
every part of the body including eyes. This fat will push the thorn out of the eye,
without leading to any permanent damage.
Leprosy and elephantiasis are treated using ointments. Most disease identification is
from symptoms observed on the sick person or animals.
Women have indigenous knowledge of assisting other woman giving birth to child.
This is the knowledge they learned because of the difficulties and problems they live
with. As indicated earlier, females undergo circumcision, which is more serious and
makes child birth more difficult without Makita, a sharp metal used to undertake
stitching of the female organ. Since they undertake the operation without having any
formal training, it may sometimes end in death of the infant or both infant and
mother. Sometimes, male also involve assisting the delivery. This is when the child
is coming heads up. A man who has experience will be called and his eyes tied up
not to see any private part of the woman. Then, he inserts his hand and put the child
in the right position.
They try to treat the sick first traditionally and then make reference to clinic if not
recovered in limited number of days. After treating for three to eight days, the
individual may be referred to a clinic. This indicates that a person who could be
helped may suffer to the extent of death due to delayed arrival. Following this
procedure, 40 percent of those treated traditionally could be referred to clinic for
better treatment.
The major problems in using traditional medicine is lack of appropriate dosage,

although they feel that healers are endowed with the indigenous knowledge and use
certain doses and can help ill people. They also recognize that certain diseases
such as madness cannot be cured by visiting clinic. This could be because they do
not have access to high level medicinal care. Similarly different animal diseases can
also be treated traditionally.
11.2 Animal Disease Treatment

Access and affordability are the major issues of health services for both human and
livestock. Just like human diseases traditional healers treat livestock. Similar to that
of the human being, traditional healers of animals prepare medicines from leaves,
roots, herbs, shrubs, bark, etc. and gives to the animals to swallow for treating
internal diseases, fumigate through noses to treat respiratory system related
diseases, operate or paint swollen body parts with medicines, etc.
There is also a system of vaccination for incurable diseases. In this case, some part
of the skin of the animal died of this kind of disease is cut and used to vaccinate the
healthy animals. It is a kind of introducing weak bacteria or virus to the body of

animals to develop resistance. Different people specialize in treating different

diseases. They also charge in cash or in kind for any medicine used for treatment.
There is diversified indigenous knowledge system, which requires detailed study.

The study will help to identify useful ones and strengthen them. At the same time it
will help to identify the harmful practices and work with community to solve the
problems. The medicinal plants known to the traditional healers could be useful but
there have not been attempts to assist the services following scientific methods.
Scientific studies, building the capacities, registration and recognition of the
traditional healers may be an innovative way of creating access to veterinary
services by the mobile pastoral communities.
11.3 Handicrafts and Fire Making

Afar pastoral women are knowledgeable of making different kinds of handicrafts
made from local materials such as grass, skin and hide, wood, etc. The handicrafts
are made for home utensils and some times sold to generate income. Handicraft
that are made by Afar women are mat, milking equipment, milk collection jar, local
shoes made up of skin, milk churner, local bed from wood and skin, rope, leather
products, grinding mill made from stones, etc.
Moreover, modern technology of using match for producing flame/fire is not adapted
in the Afar pastoral community. Therefore, they depend on traditional knowledge of
making fire through rubbing stick to a wooden surface and creating frictions that
produce fire. Such traditional knowledge of making fire/flame is very much common
in the area. The local people also make spoons, tables and wooden mortars all from
local materials.
11.4 Making Ponds/Shallow Wells

When there is shortage of water, herd men make ponds/shallow wells from sand at
river basin for the livestock. This traditional knowledge is used for purification of
water.

12. Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Livelihood and Household

Economy
The Afar pastoralists pursue their livelihoods in subsistence based, mixed livestock
management of camels, cattle, goats and sheep. They employ a wide range of
livestock management techniques that are well adapted to the limitations and
vagaries of their arid ecology. Livestock management stresses mobility and efficient
labor allocation for herding of different species and age categories.
12.1 Agro-Pastoral Livelihood
Crop production is a newly emerging livelihood system in the Afar pastoral system.
In Gulina woreda, crop production in the study area started some ten years ago. The
major crops produced in the agro pastoral communities include sorghum and maize.
Farming experience is lacking. Hence, the agro-pastoralists rely on the assistance of
the highlanders who come from the Amhara region. According to the key informants,
out of those who practice crop production, about 65 percent of them use crop
sharing mechanism with highlanders while the remaining 35 percent of the
households practice crop production by themselves.
Extension services are nearly non-existent and the indigenous agro-pastoral

communities are constrained by lack of in farming skill. There is no development
worker in the agro pastoral communities to provide technical services.
On the other hand, according to the group discussions, the pastoralists indicated low
gains from crop production due to low yield caused by unreliable rainfall. According
to the key informants, for instance, less than one quintal of maize and sorghum was
harvested from one hectare of land during 2004 in Fokisa community of Gulina. This
indicates that crop production under the given ecology is not a worthy undertaking
unless investment in irrigation system is made.
12.1.1 Wealth Classification of the Households

In the agro-pastoral communities, the households are classified into four major
wealth categories. These are the rich, medium, poor and the destitute. According to
the key informants, only 12 percent of the households are categorized as rich, 37
percent as medium, 30 percent as poor households, and 21% as destitute (Fig
12.1).

Fig. 12.1: Proportion of Households in Fokisa Agro-

Pastoral Community
Destitute Rich
21% 12%
Medium
Poor 37%
30%
The rich households own the three major types of livestock, namely camel, cattle,
and goats. According to the PRSA participants, one could be classified as a rich
household, if he/she simultaneously possesses camel, cattle, and goats irrespective
of the number. The reason is that all the three types of livestock give milk for the
households, which could feed the household members throughout a year. For
instance, a camel gives milk for 10 to 12 months, a cow gives milk for 6- 8 months,
and a goat could give milk for four months. This means that one can have milk
throughout a year that could be enough to subsist the family. Hence, food self-
sufficiency is an indicator of the wealth status.
In terms of herd size, the rich have up to 19 cattle, 2 camels, 10 goats, 8 sheep, and
two donkeys. The best distinguishing factor between the medium and rich
households is camel ownership. In the agro-pastoral community of Fokisa, it is only
the rich who have camels. The medium households own nearly half the size of
cattle owned by the rich although they own nearly similar size of shots. The poor
households often have a few numbers of goats (up to three) and a cow (Fig. 12.2).
The destitute has no livestock.

Fig. 12.2 No. of Livestock Owned by different

30 30
30 Camel
Cattle
Nu 25 Goats
m 20 20 20 Sheep
be 20 Donkey
r
of 15
Li ` 10
ve 10
st 6
5 5
oc 5 3
1
0
rich medium Poor
Wealth Group
According to the key informants from Fokisa, nearly 65 percent of the households
who were grouped as poor households own only one to three goats. The destitute
group has no livestock and depends on social support from the government or the
community for survival. In other words this group of households is food insecure, as
there are no alternative sources of income.
The survey result also indicates a clear demarcation between the pastoral and the
agro-pastoral communities in terms of livestock ownership. Table 12.1 shows that
the pastoralists have larger sizes of all types of livestock species. This may evidence
that the agro-pastoralists started farming in response to their declined livestock
assets.
Table 12.1: Minimum, Maximum and Mean No. of Livestock owned by the Production
Systems in Gulina Woreda
Pastoral Agro-pastoral
Livestock
category Minimum Maximum Mean Minimum Maximum Mean
Camel 2 80 23 11 11 11
Cattle 0 90 21 5 22 11
Sheep 4 100 22 3 10 7
Goats 1 150 24 4 10 7
Donkey 1 4 2 1 2 2
Source: Computed based on PRSA Fieldwork in Gulina Woreda (May, 2005)

10.1.2 Sources of Income

The major sources of income for the agro-pastoral communities include livestock,
crop production, food aid, wage, and petty trade. In the agro-pastoral communities
such as Fokisa community, the contribution of crop production to the households'
income is less than ten percent (Table Fig. 12.3). This shows that the contribution of
crop production to the livelihood of the agro-pastoral communities in the study area
is very low. This is mainly due to lack of farming skill, erratic rainfall and absence of
irrigation facilities, poor extension service, and the dominance of pastoral way of life.
Only the rich and the medium households started crop farming in the study area.
The poor households have not started crop farming.
Fig. 12.3:Sources of Income of Agro-pastoralists at Fokisa Livestock

Crops
70 65
Food Aid
60 Wage
Percent of Household Income
60 55 Trade
50
40
40
30 25
20
20 15
10
10 5 5 5
0
Rich Medium Poor
Wealth Group
Generally, the agro-pastoral communities are food aid dependent where the food aid
accounts for 50 percent of the annual household income. Sources of income are
also very much limited in terms of diversity. The contribution of petty trade is also
very negligible.
10.1.3 Expenditure
The agro-pastoral communities at Fokisa spend their income on purchases of food
items, clothes, health care, veterinary services, household assets such as
construction materials (few cases), gun, utensils, purchase of livestock, etc.,

stimulates such as khat and cigarettes, seeds and farm tools, social expenses for
mutual help, funeral and wedding, transport, etc. Expenditure for purchases of food,
clothes, healthcare, household assets, and social expenses constitute the major
share of expenses of the communities. There is variation in terms of expense
categories and proportion of expenses among the wealth groups (Fig.12.4).
Fig.12.4: Proportion of Expenses of Agro-pastoral Communities by Wealth Group
Proportion of Expense of the Rich: Agro-pastoral Proportion of Expenses of the Poor: Agro-pastoral
Social
11%
Farm tools and

seeds Health care
Transport
5% Food Items 4%
4% Clothes
25%
Veterinary 23%
service
7% Cigarettes and
Health care khat
Households 2% Food Items
11% Clothes Cigarettes and assets 70%
13% khat 22% Households
2% assets
1%
Proportion of Expense of the Medium Group: Agro-

pastoral
Social
9%
Farm tools
and seeds
3% Transport
4% Food Item s
Veterinary 29%
service
8%
Health care
12% Households
Clothes Cigarettes
assets
15% and khat
16%
4%
12.1.4 Coping with Food Insecurity
The PRSA study revealed that the agro-pastoral and the pastoral communities in
Afar are food insecure. The major sources of food are own production, purchased
food, and food aid. The community at Fokisa, for instance, gets access to food

either through production (both crop and livestock) or through purchases. The
purchase of food is made using income of the household, which is generated by
selling livestock or from other income generation sources. Milk and meat produced
by the agro-pastoralist is also a sort of own produced food. Hence, own source
includes food accessed through own efforts. The rich gets 85% of the food needed
by its household from its own sources while the poor can access only 10% of its
needs from own source (Fig. 12.5). Own production could be sufficient only for five
to six months for rich households indicating the severity of food insecurity problem in
the agro-pastoral area. The gap is filled through reduced meal amount and its
frequency and food aid. Relief food is the major source of food for the medium and
the poor households by contributing 50 and 90% of the food consumed by the two
wealth groups, respectively.
Fig.12.5: Access to Food for the Agro-pastoral Community in

Fokisa (%)
90
85
90 Own source
80 Relief
70
50
Percent
60 50
50
40
30 15
20 10
10
0
Rich Medium Poor
Wealth Group
The critical months of food shortage are February, March, May, June, July, August,
and September. During the last four years, there was drought, which heavily affected
the agro pastoralist livelihood. Some times disaster also occurs due to flood, pests,
earthquake, etc. Relief food was distributed since the beginning of 1980s. The relief
food has been distributed year round for some of the households.
The communities also consume wild foods during the critical food shortage periods
to cope with food insecurity. The major wild foods consumed in the study area
include Kusura, Gasira, Madira, Hadayitu, Halaitu, Hebele, etc. They also hunt wild
animals for consumption as a copping strategy. The other strategy for coping with
the food shortage is migration with their livestock to the neighboring Amhara region.
12.2 Pastoral Livelihood

The following section assesses the situations of the pastoral communities based on
the experiences of those communities residing at Kalewan and Darayitu, in Gulina
woreda, where there is no crop production activity.
12.2.1 Wealth Classification of the Households

In the pastoral communities of Kalewan and Darayitu, wealth classification is made
based on ownership of specific species and of course the number of livestock. The
communities can be grouped into four wealth classes. These are the rich, the
medium, the poor, and the destitute. The rich households are defined as those who
simultaneously have camels, cattle, and goats. The number could be more than four
camels, 20 cattle (with at least 3 milking cows), and 30 goats and sheep. These
households are called rich because they can get milk from camels, cows and goats
for consumption through out the year. A camel could give milk for about 12 months
and such households are less vulnerable to food shortage. They also own about
three donkeys for transportation purpose.
The medium households are defined as those having some cattle (often 6 and
above) and about 20 goats and sheep. The poor households are those who own
only goats and sheep (Fig. 12.6). In Darayitu community, for instance, the poor
households own one cow, four goats and one donkey. In general, the total value of
the income generated from the livestock to sustain their livelihood is inherently
considered in determining the wealth classes.
According to the key informants from Derayitu community, the rich households
account for 13 percent, the mediums are 17 percent, the poor households account
for 30 percent, while the remaining 40 percent are destitute (Figure 12.6). The
proportion of the destitute and the poor put together is more than two-third of the
whole households in these pastoral communities. This is often attributable to large
livestock loss due to drought during the last four years. The result evidences the
extent of deep-rooted poverty in the pastoral communities f Afar. The different
conferences held during PRSA also substantiated the finding.

Fig. 12.6: Wealth Group of the Pastoral Community in Derayitu (Percent)
Rich
13%
Destitute Medium
40% 17%
Poor
30%
12.2.2 Sources of Income

Income of the pastoralists is narrowly diversified. The major sources of income for
the pastoral communities are livestock, and food aid. Some income is also
generated from handcraft, and petty trade. The key informants and the participants
of the group discussion estimated that livestock production contributes 50 percent of
annual income of an average household. Food aid accounts for 27 percent to the
household income. The income generated from handcraft by an average household
is about four percent. On the other hand, the contribution of petty trade is about 19
percent (Fig. 12.7), which is often practiced by the rich.
Fig.12.7: Proprtion of Sources of Income of Kaliwan Pastoral

Communities
Handcrafts
Petty Trade 4%
19%
Livestock and
livestock products
50%
Food Aid
27%

According to the key informants, cash income generated from livestock comes from
sales of camel, goats, and cattle. From the total cash livestock income of a rich
household, camel could contribute about 44 percent while goats and cattle
contribute 24 and 32 percent respectively. Livestock product such as milk and butter
are also part of the income of the pastoral household (Fig. 12.8).
The level of income from various sources varies between wealth groups. The
estimated annual household income of the rich household group is about Birr 27,000
whereas that of the medium and poor household groups is less than Birr 10,000 and
3,000 respectively. Traditionally, the poor and the destitute households get support
in kind (usually food) from the rich and the medium households. But with increasing
intensity of poverty in the pastoral community, the capacity of the society to provide
social support has declined. There is also food aid provided by the government.
Fig.12.8: Total Household Income in Pastoral Community at Kalewan
27685
30000
25000
Income (Birr)
20000
15000 9335
10000
2040
5000
0
Rich Medium Poor
Wealth Group
12.2.3 Expenditure
In terms of the expenditure, the expense categories of the pastoral communities
differ from that of the agro-pastoralists. Accordingly, the major sources of expenses
of the pastoral communities include purchases of food items, clothes, healthcare,
household assets, cigarette, veterinary service, and social services such as funeral.
The expenditure on food items accounts for about one-third of the total annual
expenditure. It was indicated that adult and youth pastoralists started smoking,
which accounts for about 7% of the total household expenditures in Gulina woreda
(Fig. 12.9).
Fig. 12.9: Proportion of Pastoral Household'

s Expenditure
Houshold assets
19% Food items
Social service 33%
(funeral)
11%
Veterinary service
4%
Cigarate Health care Clothes
7% 11% 15%
12.2.4 Coping with Food Insecurity
The major sources of food for the pastoral communities are grain purchased from
the surrounding market, food aid, livestock and livestock products, and wild food.
According to the PRA result from Gulina woreda, the rich and the medium wealth
groups can generate 90 and 80% respectively of their consumption needs. But the
poor can meet only 30% of the consumption needs from own production (Fig.
12.10). This means that the pastoral communities heavily depend on food aid for
most of the year. The contribution of livestock and livestock products to households'
food consumption declined over time because of the high number of livestock death
due to the recurrent drought.
During the critical food shortage period, the pastoralists collect wild fruits, leaves,
roots, and barks from forest and eat. The major types of wild foods include Madera,
Gasira, Kusira, Hedayitu, Hebela, Huda, Ma' ayidu, Halayito, Hamera, Damayimuka,
Terari, Adala, and Hudha. The wild foods serve the community as source of food for
two months i.e. May to June.
The Afar communities use mutual support system to help those who do not have
food during food shortage. This is the most common coping strategy for the pastoral

communities in Afar region. When things are beyond the control of the community,
they migrate to Dubti and Assayita to involve in wage work.
Fig. 12.10: Source food of different

90
90 Ow Food Community
80
80
70
60
50
Percent
40
40 30 30
30 20
20 10
10
0
Rich Mediu Poor
m group
Wealth
Generally, the pastoral communities in the study area are food insecure during the
last two years mainly due to the drought that depleted their livestock, and lack of
diversified sources of income to cope with the natural calamities like drought.
Livestock diseases, flood, insect pests and earthquake are among the natural
calamities making the Afar pastoral communities vulnerable.
12.3 Vulnerability Analysis

In order to estimate the extent of vulnerability in the pastoral areas, vulnerability
indicators were developed. The premise here is that vulnerability increases as per
capita income declines. Therefore, income from different sources including income
from milk production, sales of livestock, trade of animals and goods, sales of
charcoal and firewood, wage, remittance and income from crop production were
estimated.
The income from crop production was estimated by multiplying the total crop
produced by average prices of the respective product. The income from milk
production was estimated by valuation of the estimated total milk produced by the
average milk price of Birr 1.5 per liter. Other incomes were based on the information
provided by the households included in the survey.
After estimating the household income, those earning less than one USD per day
were categorized as falling below poverty line and hence highly vulnerable. After
making some adjustments households earning less than Birr 3000 per head per
annum were categorized as more vulnerable to food insecurity. On the other hand,
those earning at least Birr 3000 per head per annum are considered as less
vulnerable.
A probit model was estimated to estimate the determinants of vulnerability. The

model assumed a dummy dependent variable in which those above the poverty line
were given a value of one and zero otherwise. The model is of the following form:
P( y) = α + β ( X ) (1)
Where P shows the probability of being highly vulnerable,
X represents explanatory variables and β is coefficient.
The explanatory variables are shown in Table 12.7. The variables are household
characteristics such as sex of the household head, age of the household head,
family size measured in terms of adult equivalent and marital status of the household
head. Another category of the explanatory variables is related to livelihood system
such as involvement in farming, trading, mobility and housing system. Number of
shots and milking cows are also included as they are the major sources of milk
production often for consumption. Involvement in traditional leadership is also
included.
The result shows that being male head of the household has a negative and
significant effect on vulnerability of the household. Vulnerability declines as the
pastoralist gets older perhaps due to already accumulated wealth. In the case of
Afar, sedentary mode of life is positively and significantly associated with the level of
vulnerability. This is also supported by the fact that a permanent nature of housing
which is not the way of life of the pastoralist. Given the data, the probability that the
household vulnerability increases with sedentrized and permanent housing is
significant at 1 and 5% respectively. The probability of reduced vulnerability of
pastoral communities having large number of milking is significant at 1% level. The
other variables included in the model were found to have no significant influences on
the probability being vulnerable.

Table 12.7: Parameter Estimates using Probit Model

Explanatory Variable Coefficient Standard Error T-Values
Sex of the household head 1.81226 0.25406 7.13310***

Family size (AE) -0.02601 0.02556 -1.01735
Age of the household head 0.01937 0.00718 2.69584**
No. of activities of household 0.25082 0.09758 2.57030**
Membership in leadership 0.25026 0.14380 1.74039*
No. of milking cows 0.03718 0.00603 6.16173***
No. of shots 0.00225 0.00160 1.40493
Marital status 1.31169 0.25550 5.13377***
Housing type -0.44082 0.17419 -2.53074**
Sedentary -1.04598 0.26130 -4.00306***
Involvement in farming -5.66984 0.73953 -7.66682***
Involvement in trading -0.20862 0.14309 -1.45797
Constant term -6.67392 0.70027 -9.53047***
Pearson Goodness-of-Fit Chi Square = 4.609E+16 DF = 82 P = .000

*, **, and *** implies significance at a probability of 10, 5 and 1%, respectively.

13. Past Experiences on Improving the Socio-Economic

Situations of Women
13.1 At Community Level
Attempts made to improve the socio-economic situations of women at community

level were limited. One possible way of improving women’s situation is investing in
girls’ education. But the level of community awareness on the role of education in
development in general and human resource development in particular is low.
Nonetheless, due to government policies and the emphasis given to the emerging
societies like Afar to have access to education is improving since the last ten years.
The community positively responded to the motivation schemes for girls’ education.
No effort of training women was documented so far. Women of the study areas are
still grinding with their hands travel to far distances to fetch water and suffering from
poor health, and water born diseases, and pregnancy related problems, as these
services are not available around their home places. Although there are some
efforts of constructing schools and health posts, they are poorly equipped in terms
of drugs and are poorly staffed.
While all of the harmful traditional practices i.e. Female Genital Mutilation, wife
inheritance, wife battering, early marriage, polygamous marriage and denying
women inheritance rights are still persisting in both agro-pastoral and pastoral
communities of Afar, no concrete effort of containing the practices is taken by the
community or the government. The discussions made with key informants and the
community conferences revealed that the level of awareness of the community of
the aforementioned practices is low and no effort had been made by the community
itself to curve the problem down. External initiation or influence will be important
though such an intervention cannot be effective without community participation.
13.2 At Government Level

In contravention to the constitution and women’s policy of the country, women are
not serving as leaders and managers in woreda level formal government structures.
In significant number of woman is represented in the Wereda, and none at Kebele
councils to hold leadership and decision making positions. None of the line
government offices is managed by woman in Gulina woreda. Except, those few at
the lower level of managerial positions (expert), which accounts for 9.5%, none are
assigned at decision making positions. Currently, due to EPRDF’s commitment of
increasing the number of women’s representation in decision making positions, a
good number of women candidates are competing for public offices to assume
higher level decision making position of the regional and Federal councils. The
most important aspect in all these processes is building the capacity of women to

help them evolve competent leaders that could contribute to the transformation
process, which is high on the agenda of sustainable development process.
Regardless of government’s commitment of reducing harmful traditional practices,
the women’s affairs office which is in charge of the activity could not do much in this
regard due to lack of adequate expertise, skill and logistics.
13.3 Associations Working for Women

As women are culturally restricted to home environment and women’s groupings or
association is uncommon in the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. Due to
lack of access to information and communication, the communities are
marginalized from the opportunities the modern world has to provide. Thus they are
left to hinge to the old mores instead and lead their life the way their ancestors did.
Despite the fact that the Afar communities have traditional institutions with strong
culture of supporting each other in times of happiness or sorrow to which every Afar
woman and man has an obligation to support and the right to be supported, the
support is not channeled through a defined and structured organizational form. It is
not even organized like Iqub or Iddir of the highlanders.
However, participants of the focus groups have expressed their wishes to organize
relevant associations that could help them improve their life, but except their mere
wishes they are not clear with the how and what question yet. Therefore, a close
study and awareness raising activities has to be carried out. The community at
large, women, religious and community leaders, opinion makers and government
officials should be involved in continuous awareness raising programs and capacity
building on the relevance and role of women’s organizations and women’s rights
promotion issues.
13.4 Experience of WDC and MOTs on Gender and Development

The Woreda Development Committee (WDC) and Mobile Outreach Team (MOT) of
the Woreda PCDP are aware of the gender inequality. According to the key
informants from the WDC and MOTs, there is recognition that women overworked
than men. Girls’ school enrolment also improved significantly over the last three
years due to the awareness on gender equality. However, women workload and
inequality between men and women continued to exist.
Experiences on gender and development in the Woreda include:

Promotion of girls education through awareness creation,
Expansion of regular schools with the support of PCDP,
Alternative Basic Education (ABE) promotion and enrolling girls in ABE,
Establishment of grain mills few of which started functioning; this will reduce
women' s workload,
Training of women in different areas (but few),

Created awareness on harmful traditional practices such as female genital

mutilation.
It was also noted that the efforts made so far are too little to bring the desired
changes in behavior and solve the problems of women.
13.4.1 Gaps of WDC and MOTs in Promoting Gender and Development
It was learned from the FGD discussions with the WDC and MOT members that they
are aware of the relevance of gender inequality. However, the WDCs and MOTs lack
conceptual framework on gender mainstreaming, gender analytical tools, and
gender auditing.
Apart from this, the WDC and MOTs lack the skills needed for project designing and
methodology of gender disaggregated data collection and analysis, and project
monitoring and evaluation. Generally, there is skill gap in project planning, gender
mainstreaming, and monitoring and evaluation. Such gaps could be narrowed down
through providing training on Project Cycle Management, Gender Mainstreaming,
and Project Monitoring and Evaluation.
Apart from this, gender focal persons are either not available or have inadequate
skill in promoting gender and development. Assigning appropriate person at Woreda
level, particularly at the Woreda Women'
s Affairs Office has paramount importance.
Office facilities such as computers photocopy machines, electric generator, and

transport services are required for women'
s affairs office of the Woreda.
Generally, there are no civil organizations or private institutions that deal with gender
and development in many of the Afar Woredas, especially in Gulina. The
government organization is the sole agency that tries to address gender issues
through various interventions. Therefore, building the capacity of government
structure of the Woreda would be an appropriate action.

14. Small Scale Enterprise Development for Women

Small-scale enterprises that could serve as income generating or social services
were identified with the key informants and participants of the conferences held at
different levels involving pastoral communities. These were irrigation scheme
development, potable water source development, petty trade with credit provision,
grain-mill establishment, hollow block production, and pasture development.
According to the key informants of the communities in Gulina woreda, river diversion
for irrigation development could lead to substantial change in pastoral livelihoods.
Gulina Woreda is endowed with rivers such as Gulina, Awura, and Derayitu. These
rivers have potentials for irrigation. The key informants mentioned that there is great
potential for fruits and vegetable production. This holds true in many other woredas
of Afar.
On the other hand, trading activities in Afar is generally and in Gulina in particular is
very weak in that only very few merchants begun petty trades such as tea brewing,
bread making, grocery items trade, cloth shops, small restaurants, etc. Most of the
trades are operated by the highlanders coming from the neighboring Amhara and
Tigray regions. None or very few indigenous people involved in such trade. There
are good opportunities for pastoral women to involve in small trade such grocery,
restaurants, tea/coffee shops, etc. However, it requires training in business
development and entrepreneurship along provision of credit service. Grain trade
could also be another area of income generating activity.
Organizing women, the youth and young men in to cooperatives to do business is

one approach of income generation. An attempt made by pastoralists to engage in
hollow block production in Gulina woreda should be a good example that should be
encouraged.
Generally, concentrating on woreda town development through residential house

construction, electrification, establishment of market center, and construction of
roads and bridges would encourage pastoralists to engage in business activities and
improve the livelihood of the pastoral communities in Afar.
On the other hand, the pastoral communities in stressed that the development of
social services such as school, clinics/health post, and water supply are the
immediate needs of the pastoral communities. It was learned that these three
development services should not be separated.
14.1 Priority of Intervention
The identified major development interventions and small-scale enterprises were

ranked with key informants (Table 14.1). According to the key informants at Kalewan
community, small-scale irrigation scheme development is the first priority of the

community. The second priority was potable water supply, and the third was pasture
development. The fourth priority was credit service for promotion of petty trades.
Grain mill establishment and hollow block production were the fifth and the sixth
development priorities of the pastoral community in Gulina woreda. The emphasis
on the intervention areas appears to be widely applicable in Afar region.
Table 14.1: Priority Order of Pastoral Communities'Development Needs

Development Key Informants'Priority Ranking
activities Case1 Case2 Case3 Case4 Case5 Total Rank
Score
Small scale 6 6 6 6 6 30 1st
irrigation scheme
Potable water 5 5 5 5 5 25 2nd
supply
Pasture 4 3 4 4 4 19 3rd
development
Hollow block 2 2 1 1 3 9 6th
making
Credit provision for 1 4 2 3 2 12 4th
petty trade
Grain mill 3 1 3 2 1 10 5th
establishment
Total 21 21 21 21 21 105
On the other hand, in agro pastoral communities such as Fokisa, the priority order
for development interventions include market center establishment, small scale
irrigation (Dam construction), potable water development, credit and petty trade
promotion, pasture development, handcrafts and women ornament embroidery.
The other important income generating activities that could be practiced are:
1. Dairy product processing (milk processing);
2. Industrial goods marketing;
3. Grain and other products marketing individually and in cooperation;
4. Sheep and goat raising;
5. Establish and strengthening saving and credit associations;
6. Veterinary drug supply;
7. Credit service provision;
8. Apiculture in areas where there is vegetation cover.

14.2 Current Capacity of Women to Engage in Small Scale Income

Generation Activities
Recognition of the problem of lack of empowerment of the pastoralist women is
the most important potential upon which future intervention basis itself. As
discussed earlier, the women recognized that they lack control over the
resources of the household and lack of assets of their own. This has already
created an interest of building own asset. As a result, they started to organize
themselves to get support from PCDP. Their willingness and demand to engage
in innovative income generation activities is essential.
They also have the knowledge and skill of processing milk, experience to work
in group, based on the tradition of mutual support is essential capacity. To a
very limited extent, they may also generate small money in the form of
contribution. Based on the interest raised, women can contribute labour
although this can jeopardize their reproductive activities.
14.3 Challenges of Women to Engage in Income Generation

Activities
Despite the interest and demand reflected in the Afar pastoral women to engage
in income generation activities, there are constraints which should be tackled.
These include the following:
• Lack of adequate knowledge to engage in saving and credit schemes;
• Restriction of mobility to far places as they are engaged with tight family
responsibilities and traditional norms are not favoring women’s
movement far from home;
• Adequate finance to effectively run the business is lacking;
• Household management responsibilities (domestic workload) particularly
during dry season exerts pressure on business undertakings;
• Traditional and religious views put pressure one women’s business
undertaking.
If other constraints are overcome and technical and logistical capacity buildings are
available, men can involve in the farm and trading activities.
14.4 External Supports Required for Women’s Grouping/

Association
The nature of the socio-economic and cultural constraints of women discussed
above hints as to what should be done. Interventions in economic sector should be
preceded or simultaneously done with interventions that can bring attitudinal
changes in the pastoral communities and improve empowerment of women. Social
change is a basic requirement for women development in the pastoral areas. The
following are measures that should be taken in this regard.

• Community dialogue on the problems of women and possible

solutions to develop women’s capacity and build consensus;
• Involving the traditional structure in the effort of improving women’s
status;
• Continuous dialogue with influential people and opinion makers about
women’s rights issues;
• Involving both government and traditional structures in effecting social
change;
• Train women and men to develop skills of generating business ideas
and running business.
In this process, provide:

• Technical support to build the capacity of men and women;
• Mobilize the community;
• Finance to start up the process;
• Material support: industrial goods where required;
• Organize exposure visit for women and men groups;
• Create assets for women.
14.5 Experiences of Urban Pastoralists

As discussed above, woreda towns such as Kalewan are newly established town
with only limited business activities. There are highlanders who have shops and
restaurants in the town. There are also few pastoralists, men and women, who
started some business in the town. We take few of the experiences of some of the
Afar people who started business in Gulina woreda.
CASE # 1:
This case is male pastoralist, 25 years old with one wife and three
children. He comes from Genu pastoral community, some 7 km away
from Kalewan. He still run pastoral livelihood system as major source of
income. He involved in buying and selling small ruminants, goats. He
buys from Gulina Woreda and sells them at Yalo town. He buys 5-6
goats at a time and sells them making a profit of Birr 50 per market day.
Unfortunately, he does not regularly go to market due to long distance to
Yalo.
So far he has not started trading of cattle, as it requires more capital. He

has 10 cattle, 15 sheep, 20 goats and 5 camels. His brother is helping in
the herding when he goes to the market since he also help his brother
with grain purchasing; coordinated effort for survival. The case indicates
that before 4 years, he did not worry of purchasing of grain for

consumption since milk was the staple food of the family. But he lost 20
cattle and 28 goats due to drought and started trading and buying grain.
He has the plan to sell some of his animals and expand his business. He
indicates the following advantages of trading: cash income to buy food
i.e. better access to food; it also enable purchasing animals for livestock
expansion.
He has no plan of discontinuing livestock production but running the two

systems simultaneously. According to him, livestock production is more
promising if there is good rain.
The following case exemplifies joint effort of men and women in making business.
CASE #2:
This case is a woman of 25 years old. She is the third wife of a 40 years
old man. The two wives of the husband live in a rural area, herding cattle.
Her husband and she came to the town before 7 years due to water
shortage. After frequent visit to the town to fetch water, she came with the
idea of settling in the town. The husband got some place to build a small
house. He sold a camel for Birr 700 and started the business with a capital
of birr 300. She prepares tea and food to sell. She has a small customers
every day. She also has employees who buy meal on monthly contract
basis. She often makes a profit of Birr 5-100 per day depending on
situations.
Some pastoralists eat or drink on credit. Due to the mutual support

system, there are defaults. She gets milk from their livestock in the rural
area. The two wives and their children do not feel comfortable with the
urban life while the case does not want to go back to the life in the rural
area. But both families support each other. Her house is where every
children of her husband stay and go to school.
She indicates that for those who are able to enter into business, there is
no fear of competition. The husband on the other hand says that he will
never stop livestock rearing, but will employ someone or use some of his
children for herding. Both the wife and the husband are comfortable with
the urban life.

CASE #3:
This case is a pastoralist of 28 years old. He was born in Fokisa

community. Initially he was married to his Absuma girl. She was small
and should stay with the parents for one year, after they got married.
She refused to come back to him and he decided to divorce. No
payment of any sort for the divorce. He is now married to a "Habsha"
girl, who was from Kobo of the Amhara region.
As a young man, he started working as laborer for the road construction

authority when there was paving of road between Kobo and Kalewan.
He was paid Birr 8 per day. He worked for 8 months and collected Birr
1800, maximum saving. He then started buying grain from Amhara
region and selling at Kalewan.
He then rented a small shop and started trading grain and small goods.
Currently he has a capital of Birr 20,000. His major problem is
communication and transport. He pays Birr 8 per qt. just for crossing the
Gulina river when it over flows. Those who have large capital can take
contract vehicles and bring goods from cheaper places and sell at lower
prices. He says: "These people are trying to push us, the Afar, out of the
market. If the road is built, we may find a way to compete with this type
of traders".
He suggests for the new business entry to go for sugar distribution, rice
and flour sellers, building material whole sales and retailers and soft
drinks as potential business in Gulina.
In general, the few Afar people who do business in the woreda town dwell on small
restaurants, retail shops, outdoor trading, etc. But the scope is limited due to lack of
capacities both technically and financially.
14.6 NGOs: Current Activities and Needs of Action Faime

There are few NGOs operating in Afar region. There is only one NGO, namely
Action Faime that operates in Gulina Woreda. Its activities include:
• Training of community based Animal Health Workers. So far two persons per
kebele, not all kebeles included, were trained and all of them were men;
• Provision of drugs based on cost recovery system;
• Emergency vaccination program based on disease incidence;
• Market data monitoring which takes place every week in woredas where there
are markets and its dissemination on radio program;
• Disease surveillance;
• Shallow well and ponds development.

The activities listed above are concerned with development problems but no gender
component as such. Women benefit from the programs as members of households.
The strongest intervention area of Action Faime is provision of veterinary services.
Currently, it started pond and deep well water development program. This also
directly addresses one of the key water problems mentioned by women and men. It
is also planning to develop deep wells using one machine it recently acquired.
The key informant from Action Faime indicated that their organization is aware of the
gender related problems in Afar. The organization, however, lacks the capacity both
technical and financial to work on the issue. But it has been indicated that it will train
women on veterinary related issues. Cooperation with all bodies working for the
community has been indicated as the interest of the organization.
15. Technology Development for Women Development

The technologies that the Afar women and men need are related to solving their
socio economic problems. Labor saving technologies are necessary to reduce the
workloads of women. These include technologies that improve access to water i.e.
water development, grain mill, and road networking so that transport services will
available for the community.
Important technology relevant in the agro-pastoral areas is related to crop

production. This may involve irrigation of horticulture crops, introduction of oil crops,
fruit trees, etc. Associated with crop production is investment in irrigation
technologies.
In the livestock production sector, poultry is controlled by women. Hence,

technologies that enhance poultry have been indicated as one area of intervention.
Improved livestock management system (fattening, for instance) is one area of
intervention. Appropriate milk churning machines adaptable to the socio-cultural
condition of the area is also essential to boost marketing of livestock products.

16. Gender Awareness creation Mechanisms

The Woreda Women’s Affairs Office is a government structure, which is entrusted
with the task of ensuring and improving the socio-economic situations of women.
Nonetheless, the office is not effectively functional. The office does not have a
working budget except salary for its few staff. The capacity to plan and execute is
very poor.
The office lacks adequate support from the respective government offices, as they
are not considering gender as their mandate. The officers of the women’s affairs
desk are not capacitated in gender mainstreaming and gender problems in general
due to lack of appropriate training on the issue.
Therefore, to engage the office in disseminating gender issues, building the

capacity of the office and the line offices is of paramount importance. This may
require the following actions.
i. Build the knowledge base of government officials on gender issues;

i. Train Women’s Affairs Officers and other government development workers
on gender issues;
ii. Create pool of gender trainers of the Woreda;
iii. Allocate training funds to publicize gender issues among the rural community
and pertinent government officers;
iv. Availing transport facility: motorbikes and other related support;
v. Office equipment and materials: type writer/computer, printed materials, etc.
vi. Technical experts to advise and consult the implementation of activities.

17. Conclusions and Recommendations

17.1 Conclusions
i. This study brought different social groups including adult pastoralists, elderly
people, the youth, women, community leaders, traditional and religious
leaders into research and opinion exchanging forum. The discussions were
free, without dominance by any parties involved and achieved the objective of
expressions of opinions and feelings regarding their ways of life, resources,
socio-economic problems, traditional rules and their roles on gender
inequalities and development issues. According to the paricipants of PRSA
including the Woreda Administration Officials, the pastoralist communities and
development personnels, the approach used in the PRSA is the first of its
kind by involving different groups of people in discussions of issues relevant
to them at their own villages, woreda and regional levels.
ii. The Afar pastoralists pursue their livelihoods in subsistence based, mixed
livestock management of camels, cattle, goats and sheep. Livestock
management is often based on mobility and labor allocation for herding of
different species and age categories. Because of the decline in livestock
population per household, caused by drought, some pastoralists started crop
farming. In order to cope with the decline in their livelihood, the interest for
changing the livelihood system by diversifying means of earning is increasing.
One possibility is crop production. But this vision of engaging in farming
cannot be realized under the current harsh climatic condition. It requires
investment in irrigation system and building the farming skills of the
pastoralists.
iii. There are traditional social organizations that enhance decision-making and
enforcement of resource use rules through traditional political authority. This
authority is based on clan ties. Every clan has its own leadership. The
structure involves clan leaders (Kedo Aba), lineage (Dala Aba or sometimes
called Dabala Aba), leaders of youth groups (Fei’ma) and elders groups. The
traditional leadership reinforces and assures cooperation and social solidarity
between clans through shared rituals, resource sharing and the practice of
paternal cross-cousin marriage called Absuma. The clan based social
organization plays pivotal roles for smooth functioning of the pastoral
livelihoods and, fosters peaceful resource sharing between and within clans
and conflict resolution.
iv. Involving the traditional leaders in the formal Woreda and Kebele
administration is a positive effort although the nomination and functions they
play is not to the satisfaction of the communities. Harmonious relationships
between the traditional and formal institutions help implementation of the
pastoral development policies. Involving the traditional and religious leaders

will be instrumental to bring about social changes including gender equality

and women’s right.
v. Men and women do not have equal rights in the community. Women shoulder
more workload, work for longer hours and bear the responsibility of
reproductive as well as productive activities. But they have less access to and
control over resources and benefits. They are excluded from social and
community affairs except in areas where their labour is needed. They also
have poor position in making critical and key decisions regarding the welfare
of the household.
vi. Traditional practices and rules and regulations followed by the society
negatively affect women and girls. Harmful traditional practices such as FGM,
imbalance in inheritance of properties, abandonment of wives by husbands as
they get older and weak to play the roles expected of them, all affect women
negatively. For instance, the female child' s inheritance is half of what the male
child is entitled to, and women have little right to property after divorce.
vii. Land is a common property of the Afar society. But the communal ownership
is localized based on clan based clustered division of the land. The scope of
clan leaders’ roles and responsibilities related to land is governed by such
division of resources between clans. The traditional communal land is,
however, consistent with mobile livestock rearing system. In areas where crop
production started, the tillers assume the land as belonging to them, i.e.
private ownership emerging.
viii. The traditional mobile way of life has been threatened by recurrent drought.
Partial settlement of the families, keeping on mobility of the livestock while
settling the family members, is the future vision of the pastoral communities.
The settlement requires, however, social services such as school, public
health and income generation activities particularly for women so that they
can earn and subsist their families.
ix. There is a general conclusion from the PRSA that there is no policy designed
to accommodate the specific conditions of the pastoral communities. Neither
there is effort to support the livelihood of the pastoral communities through
technologies, both livestock and crop. There are no development agents or
home agents assisting them. In fact, they are left to pursue the old ways of
doing things. But the desire to learn, work and develop has boldly come out
during the community dialogues.
x. Disasters such as drought, flood, livestock diseases, insect pests,

earthquake, etc. negatively affect the Afar pastoral livelihood. Due to the
recurrent drought and declining rangeland productivity, the extent of poverty
is deepening. Income diversification by involving in income generation
activities is growing. Petty trade, organizing women to provide services such

as grain mill, grain and industrial products marketing, marketing of livestock

products, processing of milk, etc. have been identified by the communities as
potential areas of income generation.
xi. There are no formal credit and micro-finance services in Afar to support the
income generation activities.
xii. Market and public services infrastructure development has been found crucial
for sustainable development by increasing access income generation,
education, better human and veterinary services, and ultimate social and
economic development.
xiii. The Woreda Development Offices and that of Women’s Affair lack the
capacities to bring development in general and improve the situations of
women in particular.
17.2 Recommendations
In order to improve the livelihood of the Afar pastoral communities on a sustainable
basis, the following issues should be critically pursued.
i. Give priority to water use for irrigation of the fields to produce crops and even
fodder crops. There is immense water and soil resources coming down from
the upland and passing without benefiting the community. Communities have
shown great interest in developing irrigation facilities. Technical capacity
building in the areas of farming techniques and farm implements needs also
attention.
ii. Facilitate creation and development of markets in order to integrate the

pastoral and agro-pastoral system into market. To do this, remove the
communication constraints and encourage traders to operate in the area.
Creation of the market center will encourage competitive marketing system
for livestock, grain and other products. This will increase pastoralists access
to food and reduces their vulnerability through increased market integration.
iii. Support the partial settlement needs of the communities. This can be done
through introduction of technologies that support crop production, education,
health and public water supply. The settlement issues should not be viewed
as a crowded villagization, which creates congestions. In fact, several villages
should be considered for pastoralists. The case of Korenti in Kalewan
community and Masgida rangeland are important experiences from Gulina
woreda. Korenti is a village for the rainy season while they move to Masgida
during the dry season and stay for several months of the year. Hence, putting
the relevant infrastructures in such central places where there are eelaas and
where people stay for longer periods can create opportunities especially for
education and health service provision for those coming from different places.

iv. Support the development and dissemination of technologies relevant to the

pastoral ecology. Emphasis can be put on crop production, natural resources
conservation including forest and rangeland development. Tree crops can
play ecological and economic roles under the harsh pastoral environment.
There is also a potential for vegetables and oil crops production to diversify
their livelihood and generate income.
v. Create mechanisms of cooperative formation and facilitate provision of credit

for business operation both by men and women.
vi. The efforts made to create gender awareness and develop women’s
empowerment at community and government levels are marginal. There is a
strong need to improve the situations. The following actions are
recommended in this regards:
• Build the knowledge base of government officials on gender issues;
• Train Women Affair' s Officers and other government development
workers on gender issues;
• Create pool of gender trainers of the Woreda;
• Allocate training funds to publicize gender issues among the rural
community and pertinent government officers;
• Provide technical and logistic support such as transport facility, office
equipment and materials, etc.;
• Technical experts to help oversee advise and consult the
implementation of activities.
vii. Social change is a basic requirement for women development in the pastoral
areas. The following are measures are recommended in this regard.
• Community dialogue on the problems of women and possible
solutions to develop women’s capacity and build consensus;
• Involving the traditional structure in the effort of improving women’s
status;
• Continuous dialogue with influential people and opinion makers about
women’s rights issues;
• Train women to develop skills of generating business ideas and
running business.
• Establish a mechanism of creating assets for women. Restocking and
external aid targeting women will have long-term impact of
empowering women.
• Support education of girls and boys to ensure that there will be
minimum dropout and increased performance. This will build the
opportunity for changing the livelihood system in the long run.

19. Annexes
Annex Table 1 : Proportion of activities and workload ranking of Agro Pastoral Community
(%)
Activity Men Women Boys Girls Ranking of work
burden
1. Productive 38 21 24 18 2nd
Livestock management 20 20.6 31.7 27.8 1st
Herding cattle & camel 35 20 25 20
Trekking animals in search 10 10 70 10
of pasture
Watering cows & camels 20 5 55 20
Graze & water sheep, goats 5 20 5 70
Looking after lactating & 40 20 15 25
Young animals
Barn cleaning 0 20 45 35
Milking cows 30 25 30 15
Milking camel 40 0 40 20
Milk Processing (churning) 0 65 0 35
Agricultural/farming 54 20 16 10 2nd
Ploughing 70 0 30 0
Sowing 100 0 0 0
Weeding 25 25 25 25
Harvesting 25 25 25 25
Threshing 50 50 0 0
Marketing/ sale of items 39 22 24 15 3rd
Selling cows & camel 55 0 45 0
Selling goats & sheep 55 0 45 0
Selling butter 0 55 0 45
Trading for profit 65 15 20 0
Handicraft 20 40 10 30 4th

Annex Table 1 : (Continued)

Ranking of work
Activity Men Women Boys Girls burden
2. Reproductive Activities 18 48 9 25 1st
Domestic chores 0 49 2 49 1st
· Food preparation 0 65 0 35
· Fire wood collection 0 45 0 55
· Water fetching 0 35 0 65
· House cleaning 0 55 0 45
· Washing clothe 0 45 10 45
Care and support 0 67.5 7.5 25 2nd
· Child care 0 80 0 20
· Care for elderly & the sick 0 55 15 30
Construction & maintenance 22.5 35 27.5 15 4th
· House construction 0 70 0 30
· Fence construction 45 0 55 0
Purchase of items (consumption) 50 40 0 10 3rd
· Buying grain 0 100 0 0
· Buying goods (sugar, soap… 0 60 0 40
· Buying clothes 100 0 0 0
· Buying medicines 100 0 0 0
3. Social/ community 41 28 24 7 3rd
Participation (community Affairs) 84.5 3 12.5 0 5th
· Traditional leadership 75 0 25 0
· Government works/structure 100 0 0 0
· Village meetings 70 30 0 0
· Political activities 40 0 60 0
· Decision-making of community 100 0 0 0
· Membership in organization 80 0 20 0
· Leadership in local government 80 0 20 0
· Conflict resolution 100 0 0 0
· Facilitation of cooperation am
communities 100 0 0 0
· Meeting with outsiders 100 0 0 0
constructions activities 43.8 25.0 22.5 8.8 3rd
· School construction 40 20 30 10
· Clinic Construction 40 20 30 10
· Water well development
/construction 30 25 30 15
· Construction of
mosques/churches 65 35 0 0
Participation in celebration 13.3 53.3 6.7 26.7 2nd
· Weeding arrangement 15 50 5 30
· Funeral services 25 35 15 25
· Looking after neighbors children 0 75 0 25
Security related activities 22.5 0 77.5 0 1st
· Providing security 45 0 55 0
· Raid neighboring communities 0 0 100 0
Indigenous knowledge on health 40 60 0 0 4th

Annex Table 2: Proportion of activities and workload ranking of Pastoral Community (%)
Ranking of work
Activity Men Women Boys Girls burden
1. Productive 25 31 25 19 2nd
Livestock management 21.8 20.0 37.7 20.5 1st
· Herding cattle & camel 30 15 40 15
· Trekking Animals in search of
Pasture 15 15 50 20
· Watering cow 30 10 40 20
· Watering camel 20 5 55 20
· Graze & water sheep, goats 20 10 50 20
· Looking after lactating & young
animals 25 40 15 20
· Barn cleaning: cattle 35 0 65 0
· Barn cleaning: shots 0 40 20 40
· Milking cows/goats 30 20 30 20
· Milking camel 35 0 50 15
· Milk processing (churning) 0 65 0 35
Marketing/ sale of items 28.3 42.5 11.7 17.5 2nd
· Selling cows & camel 50 10 40 0
· Selling goats & sheep 30 40 30 0
· Selling milk 0 60 0 40
· Selling butter 0 65 0 35
· Trading for Profit 65 35 0 0
· Handicraft 25 45 0 30
2. Reproductive 20 55 7 18 1st
Domestic chores 0 64 4 32 1st
· Food preparation 0 70 0 30
· Fire wood collection 0 60 10 30
· Water fetching 0 65 0 35
· House cleaning 0 65 0 35
· Washing clothe 0 60 10 30
Care and support 10 67.5 2.5 20 2nd
· Child care 0 70 0 30
· Care for elderly & the sick 20 65 5 10
Construction & maintenance 25 45 17.5 12.5 4th
· House construction 0 75 0 25
· Fence construction 50 15 35 0
Purchase of items household 45 43.75 3.75 7.5 3rd
· Buying grain 30 45 15 10
· Buying goods (sugar, soap… 15 65 0 20
· Buying clothe 70 30 0 0
· Buying medicines 65 35 0 0

Annex Table 2: (Continued)

Ranking of
Activity Men Women Boys Girls work burden
3. Social/ Community 61 14 21 5 3rd
Participation in community affairs 91.5 4 4 0.5
· Traditional leadership 80 0 20 0
· Government works/structure 85 15 0 0
· Village meetings 55 20 20 5
· Political activities 95 5 0 0
· Decision-making in community
matters 100 0 0 0
· Membership in community
organization 100 0 0 0
· Leadership in local government
organization 100 0 0 0
· Conflict resolution 100 0 0 0
· Facilitation of cooperation among
communities 100 0 0 0
· Meeting with outsiders 100 0 0 0
constructions activities 34.5 37.1 10.7 17.6
· School construction 40 30 20 10
· Water well development
/construction 45 25 20 10
· Construction of mosques/churches 50 25 15 10
. Participation in celeb/compas/ritual 26.7 45 5 23.3
· Weeding arrangement 25 40 10 25
· Funeral services 30 50 0 20
· Looking after neighbors children 25 45 5 25
Security related activities 32.5 0 67.5 0
· Providing security 65 0 35 0
· Raid neighboring communities 0 0 100 0
Indigenous knowledge 85 15 0 0

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Abbreviations and Acronyms ...........................................................................iv

6.1.3 Gender Position and Decision Making ..........................................................36

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

12.2 Pastoral Livelihood...................................................................................85

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ATVET Agricultural, Technical, Vocational and Educational Training

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

(i) The Role of Traditional Institutions

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

• Traditional leaders work in harmony with the government system at

(ii) Mutual Support Mechanisms

(iii) Women’s Right in Traditional Institutions

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

overburdening of women with limited rights of property ownership is

• Women lack equal right to inheritance of property with men. According

(iv) Social Exclusion

(v) Knowledge and Perceptions of Pastoralists on Development Policies

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

• Education and health services are well recognized and demanded by

(vi) Major Changes in the Last Decade in the Pastoral Communities

(vii) Community - Livestock Mobility

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

crossing boundaries of other regions or international boundaries. The

(viii) Pastoral Information and Communication Systems

(ix) Indigenous Knowledge and Innovations

(x) Agro-Pastoral Livelihood

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

(xi) Pastoral Livelihood

(xii) Gender Situation

(xiii) Supports Required for Associations/Organizations Working on

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

capacity of government structures in the Woredas would help

(xiv) Small Scale Enterprises for Women

(xv) Gender Awareness Creation Mechanisms

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

communities, respectively. Analysis of the pastoral economy and livelihood is the

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

3.1 Participatory Methodologies

3.2 Household Survey

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

4. Socio-Political Institutions in Afar

4.1 Traditional Leadership Systems

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

4.1.1 “Kedo Aba”, The Clan Representative

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

4.1.2 The “Dala Aba", The Lineage Leaders

4.1.3 "Fei’ma Aba", The Youth Group Leader

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

4.1.4 "Edola", The Council of Elders

4.2 Religious Institutions

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

In general, the "Kadis" perform the following functions:

4.3 Functions of the Traditional Institutions

4.3.2 Range Management

WIBD Consult FPCU-PCDP October, 2005

4.3.3 Herd Management

4.3.4 Conflict Management

4.3.4.1 Customary Laws