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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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2007

Life Sciences

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Diffusion Of Collective-Action Innovations Among Pastoralists In Liben District, Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Getachew Kassa, Seyoum Tezera Dec 2007

Diffusion Of Collective-Action Innovations Among Pastoralists In Liben District, Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Getachew Kassa, Seyoum Tezera

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In 2001 PARIMA and her partners began to create collective-action groups among illiterate, settled pastoralists in Ethiopia. These groups—soon dominated by women—focused on savings-led microfinance, small business activity, and livestock marketing to increase incomes and diversify livelihoods. Fifty-nine groups with over 2,100 members were formed using intensive training methods, and they have subsequently merged into legally recognized cooperatives. We regard this approach as successful and sustainable. We were curious, however, if “the word has spread” and collective-action has spontaneously arisen beyond our immediate project area. Preliminary findings from recent surveys of settlements in Liben District indicate that diffusion of collective-action …


Building Effective Community Participation And Stakeholder Partnerships To Promote Positive Change In The Southern Ethiopian Rangelands, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera, Dadi Amosha Dec 2007

Building Effective Community Participation And Stakeholder Partnerships To Promote Positive Change In The Southern Ethiopian Rangelands, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera, Dadi Amosha

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Recently there has been increased recognition that authentic community participation and creating strong inter-institutional partnerships are both important in the process of capacity building, generating innovation, and sustaining development achievements in rural Africa. Here we summarize a process of community participation and formation of institutional partnerships in support of pastoral risk-management interventions over the past seven years on the Borana Plateau. Community involvement has been stimulated using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods. This has resulted in the proliferation of pastoral collective-action groups that have diversified livelihoods, engaged markets, and improved incomes. Implementing and sustaining positive change, however, has also been …


Can Collective Action And Capacity Building Reduce Vulnerability Among Settled Pastoralists?, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera Dec 2007

Can Collective Action And Capacity Building Reduce Vulnerability Among Settled Pastoralists?, D. Layne Coppock, Solomon Desta, Getachew Gebru, Seyoum Tezera

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In 2001 PARIMA and her partners began to create collective-action groups among illiterate, settled pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. These groups—dominated by women—focused on savings-led microfinance, small business, and livestock marketing to increase incomes and diversify livelihoods. Fifty-nine groups with over 2,100 members were formed using intensive capacity- building methods. After six years we wanted to compare group members with their neighbors who never participated in the PARIMA program. We surveyed 180 individuals from groups and paired control (traditional) communities. Respondents were asked to assess the extent that they perceived positive, negative, or no change in their lives over the past …


Stakeholder Alliance Facilitates Re-Introduction Of Prescribed Fire On The Borana Plateau Of Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Lemma Gizachew, Dadhi Amosha, Feyissa Taffa Dec 2007

Stakeholder Alliance Facilitates Re-Introduction Of Prescribed Fire On The Borana Plateau Of Southern Ethiopia, D. Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Solomon Desta, Lemma Gizachew, Dadhi Amosha, Feyissa Taffa

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The implementation of a new prescribed fire program to restore bush-encroached rangelands in southern Ethiopia—and hence increase herbaceous forage supplies for livestock—is given as an example of an integrated action involving multiple institutions to address resource-management problems. The resumption of planned fire—traditionally conducted over hundreds of years by pastoralists until the 1970s—was preceded by key activities including mobilization of the pastoral community, review of government proclamations regarding use of fire, interaction with policy makers, capacity building among pastoralists and agency personnel on how to implement and manage planned fires, development of an overall prescribed burn plan, selection of geo-referenced sites, …


Collective Action Among Agro-Pastoralists In Baringo District, Kenya: Identifying And Nurturing The Entrepreneurs, D. Layne Coppock, Mark N. Mutinda, Stellamaris K. Muthoka, Abdillahi A. Aboud Dec 2007

Collective Action Among Agro-Pastoralists In Baringo District, Kenya: Identifying And Nurturing The Entrepreneurs, D. Layne Coppock, Mark N. Mutinda, Stellamaris K. Muthoka, Abdillahi A. Aboud

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

The rural population of Baringo District in the Rift Valley of north-central Kenya faces numerous challenges including widespread environmental degradation and poverty. The region has endured decades of failed development projects, proliferation of food aid, and has been studied extensively. We have recently undertaken a different approach focused on bottom-up participatory action research and outreach among the Il Chamus and Tugen ethnic communities. The objective is to explore new ways to empower local people via provision of information, novel experiences, and initial access to resources to allow them to envision an alternative future and implement their own activities to better-manage …