Several of the world's poorest, driest, most conflict- and disaster-prone countries are located in the Horn of Africa. This zone is home to societies in transition as well as in turmoil. Traditional pastoralism is under pressure as populations increase and other activities compete for land use, such as urbanization and roads, crop agriculture, communal grazing ranches and wildlife reserves. Greatly aggravating these factors is the increasing frequency of drought. As the drought intervals shorten, pastoralists are squeezed ever tighter. They do not have time to recover and prepare before the next crisis strikes, suffering more each time as they scale down the poverty ladder.

Much relief aid has been provided during and after the frequent crises that hit this zone, but they have tended to be of a simple `handout' nature that fosters a culture of dependency rather than development (Ndikumana et al. 2002). Seeking to break this pattern, USAID's Office for Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) has been supporting a project appropriately entitled `Crises Mitigation in Livestock Systems: From Relief to Development' executed by the ASARECA Animal Agriculture Research Network (A-AARNET) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). USAID is looking to this research-led initiative to place their assistance model for the zone on a more effective long-term trajectory of sustainable development.

The series of studies began by seeking a better understanding of how pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in the Horn of Africa perceive, prepare for, cope with, and recover from drought, animal disease and related disasters. The peoples of this zone are highly dependent on livestock, which provide 20-30% of GDP and up to 70% of the income of typical rural inhabitants.

In a survey of critical areas along the EthiopiaSomalia border the team began by applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to construct a detailed picture of the infrastructural, relief-resource, security, and food-security conditions of the zone (Ndikumana et al. 2002). They focused the study further through participatory interaction with pastoralists to understand the social and bio-physical constraints.

They learned how sales of livestock forced by drought can erase years of hard work, because prices tend to drop at these times as large numbers of simultaneous sellers create a situation of distress sales. Migrating herds and herders are plagued by livestock rustling and general insecurity, shortage of human food, and water and pasture for livestock, and occurrence of livestock diseases. Pastoralists traditionally reserve some lands for grazing during drought, but the practice is becoming more difficult as land pressure increases. Even where grazing reserves exist, the movement of herds past the obstacles posed by other land uses (roads, urban areas, farms, nature reserves etc.) is often difficult. Exhausted and malnourished livestock easily fall prey to diseases. During the 1995-97 drought, one-third to one-half of all cattle died across many pastoral communities of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya (Ndikumana et al. 2002).