Regional Eastern and Southern Africa workshop of Pastoralists and Livestock Breeders

Workshop of pastoralist Knowledge Hub on building an enabling environment for the Sustainable development of pastoralists in eastern and southern Africa,

and

Regional Consultation with Pastoralists and livestock breeders’ organization in Preparation of the Farmers Forum global meeting at IFAD

Eastern and southern Africa Regional Conference for pastoralist’s civil society organization was held from 21st to 23rd of January, 2016 at Lukenya Gateway Nairobi Kenya and brought together 29 representatives of pastoral CSOs (local NGOs and Networks) from Eastern and Southern Africa countries. Tanzania was represented by Tanzania Natural resources Forum (TNRF), Pastoralists Indigenous Non-Governmental Organizations Forum (PINGOs Forum), Association for Law and Advocacy for Pastoralist (ALAPA) and Longido Community Integrated Programme (LOOCIP). 

The theme of the meetings was “Building an enabling environment for sustainable development of pastoralists and Livestock breeders in Eastern and Southern Africa.”

The first two days (21st and 22nd January 2016) was coordinated by Food for Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Coalition for Pastoralists Society Organizations (COPACSO) focusing on the Pastoralism Knowledge Hub (PKH). The Hub aimed to give pastoralists a voice by strengthening their capacities and by linking their representatives to policy dialogue opportunities. The PKH operates through its three pillars: Knowledge repository, Pastoralist networks and Partners.

The third day (23rd January 2016) coordinated by Veterinaires Sans Frontieres Consortium (VSF)-International and supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) through a constructive dialogue with membership based pastoralist and livestock breeders’ organizations in the region. This session focused on validation of the findings of Eastern and Southern African Regional consultation process and come up with tangible outcomes in preparation for Farmers Forum (FAFO) Special Session 2016, improve on partnerships between these organizations and IFAD and create an enabling environment for strengthening membership based pastoralists and livestock breeders organizations and networks.

TNRF has got opportunity to share and distribute advocacy and communication materials including policy brief of AU policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa, Climate change film and others. TNRF used the avenue to link TNRF members and partners to regional network for regional coordination and communication from local level, national level to regional coordination

The workshop delivered the following results:

  • Identified the ways pastoralists CSOs can coordinate the regions(Southern and Eastern Africa-management structure, communication and political support)
  • Developed Eastern and Southern Africa Declaration
  • Produced a work plan that integrated in Eastern and Southern Africa with FAO and IFAD
Relevance: 
Undefined