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Project/Programme Updatee
Dryland Husbandry Project: The Consolidation Phase
The Dryland Husbandry Project (DHP) is in its consolidation phase. This phase is from January 2002 up to the end of June 2003. While this is at the field level, the implementation period (administrative and concluding tasks) is expected to stay until September 2003. DHP National Steering Committee members and the National Co-ordinators are aware of the consolidation period and have already started to work for the transfer of DHP action-oriented activities to their respective Government or NGOs.
The Senior Research Officer of Sida/SAREC, Dr. Eva Ohlsson and DHP’s Project Co-ordinator, Dr. Tegegne Teka, met in Nairobi from 30 January to 1 February 2002 to discuss the details of the proposal preparation for the consolidation phase of DHP and to lay down the financial requirements for the project period.
The DHP proposal has been submitted to Sida/SAREC and OSSREA is waiting for a reply and a budget.
DHP National Co-ordinators Attend RELMA Regional Workshop
Dr. Hashim Ali El Atta, National Co-ordinator of DHP Sudan and Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Khartoum; Dr. Nashon Musimba, National Co-ordinator of DHP Kenya; Dr. Mpairwe, member of the National Steering Committee of DHP Uganda; and Mr. Diress Tsegaye, Project Manager of DHP Ethiopia attended the Regional Workshop on “Range Resource Assessment and Monitoring”, held on 20-21 February 2002 in Arusha, Tanzania.
The DHP participants presented the action-oriented experiences of each country in the Regional Workshop. From the reports submitted to the Regional DHP Office, it was understood that the DHP participants learned a lot from the case studies undertaken by RELMA on the East African countries.
DHP/OSSREA initially decided to participate in the above Regional Workshop when the Senior Desk Officer of Sida/SAREC, Dr. Eva Ohlsson, and the Regional Project Co-ordinator of DHP/OSSREA, Dr. Tegegne Teka, had a one-day meeting to discuss general project issues with the RELMA Director, Mr. Åke Barklund in Nairobi. RELMA is a Regional Land Management Unit based in Nairobi, Kenya, and supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). It was also thought that such kind of networking could help DHP countries to broaden their links during and after the consolidation period.
Human Adaptations in African Drylands: Closing Workshop
The closing workshop of the Human Adaptations in African Drylands Project was conducted from 11 to 13 February 2002 at OSSREA headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop was attended by fourteen participants from Ethiopia, Norway, Sudan and Uganda. The following research papers were presented and discussed the workshop.
i. “Time, process and forms: A note on the future of African dryland pastoralism,” by Mustafa Babiker;
ii. “Scarcity and conflict in Karamoja: The dilemma of herd management,” by Peter Otim;
iii. “Traditional pastoralism in Eastern Sudan at the dawn of the 21st century,” by Omer Egemi;
iv. “Dryland ecology and subsistence economy in Um Kaddada Province in Western Sudan: Local realities in a wider context,” by Munzoul Assal;
v. “When the commons are individualized: Changing resource tenure among the Borana Oromo in southern Ethiopia by ” Bokku Tache;
vi. “Tradition in transition: Karrayu pastoral movement, holy grounds and land alienation,” by Buli Edjeta;
vii. “African Dryland Project: Pastoralist cases or the case for pastoralism?” by Idris Salim El Hassen;
viii. “Putting pastoralism back on the development agenda,” by Johan Helland.
These presentations were conceptualised under three broad themes: a) understanding pastoral transformation, b) borders and boundaries, and c) pastoralism and planning.
The workshop also discussed the possibilities of forging further collaboration among researchers, CMI and the University of Bergen, and three national universities: Makerere University (Uganda), University of Khartoum (the Sudan), and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia). OSSREA was given the responsibility of coordinating this effort.