Pastoralist Civil Societies Cooperative empowerment across boundaries in borderlands of Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia Study of civil society in Eastern African border regions Report prepared by Immo Eulenberger in co-operation with Benedikt Kamski, Hannah Longole and Arnold Bergstraesser Institut (ABI) Published by Arnold Bergstraesser Institut Freiburg e.V. für kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung Windausstraße 16, 79110 Freiburg, Germany +0049-761-888780 www.arnold-bergstraesser.de on behalf of Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH Heidehofstr. 31, 70184 Stuttgart, Germany +0049-711 46084-0 www.bosch-stiftung.de Authors: Immo Eulenberger (email: [email protected]), in cooperation with Benedikt Kamski, Hannah Longole The copy rights of all text and photos belong to the authors. 2 List of Acronyms ABI Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut for Social-Cultural Research AGEH Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Entwicklungshilfe (Germany) CBO Community based organization CGQ Catalogue of Guiding Questions CIDP County Integrated Development Plan CS Civil Society CUEA Catholic University of Eastern Africa DRYREQCOI Drylands Research & Qualification Consortium Initiative EPRDF Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front GDP Gross Domestic Product GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH GoE Government of Ethiopia GoK Government of Kenya GoU Government of Uganda GoSS Government of South Sudan GTP-I First Growth & Transformation Plan ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IRID Institute for Regional Integration and Development KDF Karamoja Development Forum KDP Kakuma Pastoral Development Project KSDP Kuraz Sugar Development Project LC Local Council MADEFO Matheniko Development Forum LOF Lands of the Future Research Network MCA Member of County Assembly MCSP Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle MP Member of Parliament NGO Non-governmental organization NRM National Resistance Movement OPM Office of the Prime Minister O TuRN Omo-Turkana Research Network RBSG Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH (Germany) SNNPR Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Regional State SORC South Omo Research Centre SPDM Southern Ethiopia People’s Democratic Movement TBI Turkana Basin Institute ToR Terms of Reference TUC Turkana University College (Lodwar, Kenya) TUPADO Turkana Pastoralist Development Organization TPLF Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front UPDF Ugandan People’s Defense Forces VSF Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (Veterinaries W ithout Borders) 3 Content Pastoralist Civil Societies ........................................................................................................ 1 Study of civil society in Eastern African border regions ........................................................ 1 1 Scope, Objectives & Background to the Study .............................................................. 7 1.1 Map of the study region & research locations................................................................. 7 1.2 Why here? .................................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Civil society: a concept in need of revision?.................................................................... 9 1.4 Objectives ................................................................................................................... 10 2 The Study Region: Characteristics & Issues ................................................................. 11 A pastoralist dryland region ........................................................................................... 11 2.1 Political conditions ...................................................................................................... 11 2.1.1 Kenya................................................................................................................... 11 Kenya’s larger space for civil society ............................................................................... 11 Civic freedoms in Turkana .............................................................................................. 12 Kenya’s political reforms & consequences for Turkana ..................................................... 12 2.1.2 Uganda ................................................................................................................ 13 Conditions for civil society in Uganda.............................................................................. 14 2.1.3 Ethiopia ............................................................................................................... 14 2.1.4 Judicial power & practice in the three countries & sub-regions ................................ 15 2.1.5 Pastoralists & party politics ................................................................................... 16 2.2 Economic conditions.................................................................................................... 17 2.2.1 Economy & demography ....................................................................................... 17 2.2.2 Ecology & economy .............................................................................................. 18 2.2.3 Livelihoods: Numbers don’t ensure objectivity ....................................................... 20 2.2.4 Interventions, demographic & economic changes ................................................... 20 2.3 Social conditions – key institutions & actors ................................................................. 21 2.3.1 Communities ........................................................................................................ 22 2.3.2 Pastoralist institutions........................................................................................... 23 2.3.3 Pastoralist education & formal education ............................................................... 24 2.3.4 NGOs ................................................................................................................... 24 2.4 Cross-border relations ................................................................................................. 25 2.4.1 Karamoja-Turkana Frontier .................................................................................... 25 Existing cross-border connections & activities ................................................................. 26 Trade: Borders, business & development ........................................................................ 26 Example of development issues: Donkey boom & donkey doom ...................................... 27 Potentials for improvement through intervention ........................................................... 29 2.4.2 Turkana-Ethiopia Frontier...................................................................................... 30 4 Nyàngatom ................................................................................................................... 30 The situation in South Omo ........................................................................................... 30 Security policies & cross-border activities ....................................................................... 31 Increasing pressure on resources.................................................................................... 32 Cordial inter-governmental relations alongside inter-community conflict.......................... 32 3 Research Methodology ................................................................................................ 32 3.1 Data collection (types) & fieldwork (implementation of study) ..................................... 33 3.2 Data evaluation & bias avoidance ................................................................................ 33 4 Mapping Civil Society: A pool of autonomous agency................................................ 34 4.1 What is “civil society” in the research region? .............................................................. 34 Cultural universes of ideals, dreams & aspirations ........................................................... 34 4.2 Spatial, cultural & social proximity ............................................................................... 35 4.2.1 Proximity in pastoralist society .............................................................................. 35 Pastoralist migration patterns as cross-boundary relation multiplicators ........................... 36 4.2.2 Proximity in local governance & political representation ......................................... 37 Chiefs ........................................................................................................................... 37 Political representation & the ambiguous power of education ......................................... 37 4.2.3 Changes in proximity patterns ............................................................................... 38 4.3 Respected people, trusted connectors, role models & change makers ........................... 38 4.3.1 A list of trusted connectors.................................................................................... 39 4.3.2 “A government of their own”................................................................................. 40 4.3.3 Respect as symbolic capital, generosity & reciprocity .............................................. 41 4.3.4 “Respected People” - A typology............................................................................ 41 Generous people..........................................................................................................