UNDERLYING CAUSES OF POVERTY ANALYSIS FOR PASTORALIST GIRLS SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................11. THE UNIFYING FRAMEWORK..............................................................................12 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF POVERTY ASSESSMENT PROCESS..................2

Field work teams and methodology.........................................................................33 FINDINGS............................................................................................................4

3.1 BACKGROUND............................................................................................43.2 DEFINING PASTORALIST GIRLS....................................................................53.3 HUMAN CONDITIONS OF PASTORALIST GIRLS......................................6

Mobility.................................................................................................................6Conflict and other disaster risks...........................................................................7Food security and livelihoods...............................................................................8Chat...................................................................................................................11Access to and rights over resources and assets................................................12Access to education...........................................................................................15Access to health services...................................................................................21

3.4 SOCIAL POSITIONS.......................................................................................21Birth rituals and celebrations..............................................................................21Arranged marriage and the ‘Absuma’ system....................................................23Bride Price.........................................................................................................26Protection of girls and ‘chebena’........................................................................29Participation, voice and self-esteem..................................................................30

3.5 ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR PASTORALIST GIRLS........................32Formal policies, laws and institutions.................................................................32Customary institutions and laws.........................................................................34

4.0 ANALYSIS......................................................................................................37REFERENCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH..........................................................40

INTRODUCTION This report focuses on CARE Ethiopia’s impact group pastoralist girls and specifically on the underlying causes of poverty assessment and analysis conducted in 2009. This analysis is the starting point for the design of a pastoralist girls program that can bring lasting, measurable change in the lives of pastoralist girls, and their families and communities, over the next ten to fifteen years.

1. THE UNIFYING FRAMEWORK1

CARE’s Unifying Framework (UF) brings together a number of different programming concepts and principles into one framework that can help to understand and analyze the structural causes of poverty and vulnerability – causes that are often interlinked and reinforce each other. The 1 There are obvious links with other frameworks such as CARE’s Strategic Impact Inquiry (SSI) ‘agency, relationships, structure’ empowerment framework.

1

framework recognizes that poverty and vulnerability can be manifested in human conditions – (lack of) access to resources and services and livelihoods’ opportunities, social positions – social relationships and social/ cultural norms that discriminate or support inequality, and the enabling environment – the political, and institutional formal and non formal structures and systems that enable or hinder rights fulfillment and access to justice. CARE believes that unless we understand each of these different, often interrelated aspects of poverty, we will not design programs that can bring real, lasting change. The UF also recognizes that there is a ‘hierarchy’ of causes of poverty and vulnerability: there are immediate causes, for example due to a sudden disaster or shock; there are intermediate causes, such as a lack of access to assets, income, resources or services that can help withstand shocks; and there are underlying or root causes that underpin poverty and vulnerability such as institutionalized discrimination or cultural norms that sustain abuse/ misuse of power and prevent certain groups from claiming and fulfilling their rights.

The underlying causes of poverty and vulnerability assessment and analysis described below involved looking at the situation of pastoralist girls through the lens of the unifying framework.

2 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF POVERTY ASSESSMENT PROCESSThe underlying causes of poverty and vulnerability assessment (UCPVA) for pastoralist girls was conducted in Dire woreda, Borana zone, Oromia region and Gewane woreda in Afar region. The objectives of the assessments were:

To deepen our understanding of the causes of poverty and vulnerability affecting pastoralist girls, and who are the most vulnerable girls within the broad group, enabling us to identify sub-set populations to prioritize within the broader pastoralist girls impact group.

To identify the potential target groups2 and stakeholders3 that we need to work with to achieve change for pastoralist girls

To generate lessons for CARE Ethiopia and other country offices about how to undertake similar assessments and analyses in future.

The assessment process included:

2 In CARE’s program, target groups are groups of people, for example parents, traditional leaders or specific government offices, that may be targeted by the program since they are crucial to achieving an impact on pastoralist girls. They may benefit from the program but the program’s success will not be measured based on the benefit to this group.3 Stakeholders are defined in the program approach as groups of people that may affect or be affected by the program either positively or negatively, for example government offices or policy makers. However, the program’s success or otherwise will not be measured based on its impact on this group.

2

Desk review conducted at national level to review the literature, identify policies and programs affecting pastoralist girls and identify key stakeholders.

Task Force established with 15 CARE Ethiopia cross-project, multi-disciplinary staff to lead the process of planning and conducting the assessments

Key questions and tools developed. Key questions were translated into Amharic & Orominya. Tools included: Vulnerability analysis, Power analysis, Institutional analysis, Lifeline case study

Conducted 3-day training for participating staff (including CARE and selected partner staff) on PRA approaches, key questions and tools.

Conducted 5-day pilot assessment in Bahr Dar.

Based on the lessons from the pilot, the following process was adopted for the pastoralist girls UCPV assessment:

Current and potential strategic partners joined the assessment teams in each location (IRC, AMRAF, FARM Africa etc.)

Stakeholders meeting held with representatives from government and other agencies working with the impact group to introduce the program approach, the impact group and the purpose of the assessment, to plan the assessment and inform the field work through stakeholders’ perspectives.

Conducted key informant interviews with stakeholders and reviewed relevant local policies, studies, documents etc.

Refined the key questions for the field work and developed field guidelines for the assessment teams, including facilitators’ guide, tools and data analysis guidelines.

Conducted field work using combination of FGDs, KIIs and case stories

Analysed data through team reflection in the field using the unifying framework to organize findings

Held feedback meetings on the initial findings of the assessments. This was done initially immediately after the field work, and again a few months later in both Afar and Borana with CARE staff, government and NGO/ INGO participants.

Field work teams and methodology The assessments were conducted by two interdisciplinary teams, which included CARE UCPV task force members, CARE field staff and community facilitators from different projects and disciplines, and staff from peer and partner organizations. The aim was not to conduct a statistically valid study, as in a baseline assessment, but to focus on collecting qualitative information about the situation of pastoralist girls – including their human conditions, social positions and the institutional structures (formal and customary or traditional) that affect them. For this reason, locations for the study were selected where CARE already had a relationship with communities and local government, and that were relatively accessible. A

3

combination of qualitative methods was used to gather information and discuss girls’ situation with community leaders, parents, girls and boys, and key informants from government, CBOs and other agencies.

In Borana, the team conducted 13 KIIs with government representatives in Borana zone and Dire Woreda and at community level; eight FGDs with girls, boys and parents and two case stories with girls. In Afar, the team conducted six FGDs with in-school and out-of-school girls and parents; four KIIs with elders and sharia leaders, as well as meetings with government representatives from Gewane Woreda Women’s Affairs, DPPA, NGO Desk and Pastoralist Bureaus.

3 FINDINGS

3.1 BACKGROUNDPastoral communities constitute roughly 12 percent of the Ethiopian population and inhabit 63 percent of the country’s peripheral land mass, yet until relatively recently they have been a marginalised population, largely ignored by government development programmes and policies, unless in relation to sedenterization. Borana and Afar zones are two of the three main pastoralist areas of Ethiopia (the third main area is Somali region, although there are pastoralists in other regions including Gambella, Benishangul Gumuz and Tigray).

Borana zone in Oromia regional state is an arid and semi arid area, predominantly pastoral, with a population of around 966,467; only about 9% of the population is classified as urban with only about 14% of the population involved in non-farm related income-generating activities. The four largest ethnic groups are the Oromo (77%), the Gedeo, the Amhara and the Somali. Around a third of the population is protestant, whilst 27% follow traditional religious beliefs, 14% follow Islam and 11% are Orthodox Christians. Only around 4% of the population in Borana has access to electricity, and x% to clean water; the average household has 0.5 ha of land (compared to a national average of 1.01 ha and an average of 2.25 for pastoral regions); 53% of eligible children are enrolled in primary school whilst only 9% attend secondary school.4

The majority of community members in the zone are pastoralists or agro-pastoralists, and livestock holdings mostly determine the level of household wealth. It is estimated that 55.4% of the income in the zone is derived from the sale of livestock. Other livelihood activities in the area include casual labor in the construction industry, sale of livestock products (such as milk), beekeeping, production and sale of vegetables, charcoal, firewood, minerals (such as gold, marble and granite), incense and natural

4 Multiple sources of information cited in Save the Children UK, CARE (2009), Climate-related vulnerability and adaptive capacity in Ethiopia’s Boran and Somali, Final assessment report.

4

gum and salt mining and trade5. Employment in the civil service and with non-government organizations is also significant.

29% of Ethiopia’s pastoralists live in Afar region, situated in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley system and stretching from north to south in a triangle of lowland covering the Danakil depression and the Awash valley. The overwhelming majority of Afar’s rural households - above 95% - are pastoralists, who rely on extensive livestock keeping as the major source of their livelihood, with salt mining and trade another significant traditional livelihood source. According to the 1996 National Population and Housing Census, the projected population of the Afar community is estimated to be 1.38 million by the end of 2004 EC?. By the end of 2005, primary education coverage in Afar region was only 20.7 percent, with girls at x%. Health and water services are also poorly developed, with health coverage at around 39.9%, and access to potable water at 31%.

Both Borana and Afar are predominantly arid and semi-arid areas characterized by low and erratic rainfall, and are frequently affected by drought. Although the ability of pastoralists in these regions to adapt to their unpredictable environment has made living in the dry lands possible for many generations, there are aspects of their adaptation that are becoming increasingly difficult. In the past few decades, the perceived frequency of drought has increased from every six to eight years to around every four to five years with mounting losses of livestock and reduced time for recovery. In Borana, government officials at the Pastoralist, Food Security and Disaster Preparedness offices stated that drought frequency in the region has increased to every 1-2 years. The increasing frequency of drought, or drought-related stresses, along with decreasing access to pastureland due to bush encroachment and rangeland enclosure, and increasing challenges to pastoralists’ mobility, have led to asset depletion and an erosion of social institutions, including clan-based livelihood support systems6. This has undermined pastoralists’ ability to cope. Almost 0.5 million pastoralists in Afar and x in Borana are now dependant on external food aid every year compared to………?.

Drought is deepening poverty, but the impact of drought on pastoralist livelihoods is compounded by ongoing ethnic and resource-based conflicts, lack of appropriate livestock marketing systems, poor access to essential animal health services, shortage of pasture and water for livestock, population growth and reduction of grazing land. Expansion of commercial state farms is a particular threat in Afar, as is privatization of grazing land and its allocation for large-scale private agricultural investment. These processes have led to the weakening of pastoralists’ traditional natural resource management institutions, degradation of the natural resources base and growing vulnerability of pastoralists to 5 Ibid6 Brocklesby, Hobley and Scott-Villiers (2009) Raising voice – Securing a Livelihood: The role of diverse voices in developing secure livelihoods in pastoralist areas of Ethiopia – A Summary Paper; DFID

5

ecological, economic and social stresses. These stresses come on top of many years of political and economic marginalization of pastoralists by government programs and policies. Historical ‘solutions’ such as sedentarisation and a simple shift to agricultural production have not adequately recognized the complexity of pastoralist livelihood and social systems and have mostly exacerbated pastoral poverty. Those who have less access to the physical and human resources necessary to maintain the pastoralist lifestyle are the most vulnerable within an already marginalised population group and new vulnerable groups are emerging as a result, such as pastoral ‘dropouts’ – formerly mobile families who have settled in urban and peri-urban areas.

For the past 10 or more years a number of organizations, including the government, local and international NGOs have been working on relief and various development activities with pastoralists in both Afar and Borana. The orientation of these development actors has been largely towards conventional service delivery during normal years and provision of relief aid assistance during drought crises, and they have often operated independently with limited collaboration and coordination.

3.2 DEFINING PASTORALIST GIRLS During the UCPV assessments, participants suggested that ‘girls’ in the pastoralist context are generally girls and young women who are not married and who have not had a sexual relationship. Many participants, men and women, suggested that this could be between the ages of 10 and 19 – generally seen as an age suitable for marriage. In both Afar and Borana there are different age categories for girls as follows:

Place

Life stage

Age Place

Life stage

Age

Afar Awka 0-5 Borana

Daa’lman

<5 or 0-4

Belewa 6-15 Ijoollee <13 or 5-9-12Koanletta

15 until married

Dubra <19 or 9-12/15-18

Bara married Nadheen

9-18 and married

These categories, or girls’ life stages, were identified during UCPV feedback meetings in Afar and Borana. In Borana, the Ijoolee/ Dubra age group i.e. from age 5 to 12, were considered to be the most vulnerable because of the pressures and vulnerabilities associated with puberty and transitioning to womanhood, for example early marriage and subsequent pressure to drop out of school. In Afar, this transition period was also recognized as adding pressure to girls’ lives but the participants, drawn from INGOs, local organizations, religious leaders and government offices, emphasized that girls in Afar are vulnerable to harmful traditional

6

practices and social discrimination from the moment that they are born and that therefore all girls in Afar (irrespective of age) are equally vulnerable.

Pastoralist girls in Afar and Borana share all of the challenges faced by pastoralist communities in general. Many of the developmental constraints particular to girls, that prevent them from fulfilling their rights, are derived from the historical political marginalization and underdevelopment of pastoralist areas already mentioned. However, other constraints are deep-rooted in social and cultural attitudes and norms. All are interwoven with one another and require interventions at multiple levels to address them.

An important point that was made many times by communities and others was that pastoralist societies are organised around ‘community’, that it is not possible or desirable to target pastoralist girls in isolation. The point was also frequently made that amongst pastoralist communities, because of the support networks, at a certain level everyone is equal, ‘We share everything, anything we have’. Whilst CARE recognizes this, purposefully selecting pastoralist school-aged girls as the impact group means that, although we will not work with them in isolation, they are the ‘lens’ through which we will look at impact on the community as a whole. We recognise that within communities, there are always certain groups that have less voice culturally and/ or groups that are not generally targeted by external interventions – pastoralist girls are one of those groups.

The sections below look at some of the constraints and opportunities for pastoralist girls to fulfill their rights and responsibilities and therefore to contribute more fully to the development of their families and communities, in relation to their human conditions, social positions and the enabling environment that affects rights fulfillment and social justice.

3.3 HUMAN CONDITIONS OF PASTORALIST GIRLS

MobilityPastoralists’ mobility affects many aspects of girls’ and boys’ lives, including their workload, their ability to go to school, their access to health and other services, their diet and food security, their choices in life, their social relations and the support that they may get from others. The UCPV assessment did not specifically compare the livelihood and social status of more mobile and less mobile girls and the communities interviewed in both Afar and Borana were relatively less mobile. However the issue of how mobility affects girls’ vulnerability was discussed in detail with stakeholders including government, INGO/NGO and CARE staff during the feedback workshops in Borana and Afar, and during a follow up field visit in Afar. During all of these discussions, participants strongly felt that girls from more mobile families are relatively more vulnerable

7

than those from less mobile families – because of their lack of/ sporadic access to services, especially education, but also health, legal recourse, veterinary access, etc. and their adherence to a more traditional set of values, some of which negatively impact on girls, such as FGC and early marriage. On the other hand, a recent DFID study7 found that ‘poverty and livelihood insecurity is most likely for those living a more sedentary lifestyle on the edges of urban/ peri urban areas with few connections to the pastoralist system’. The study finds that such people can no longer function as ‘competent’ pastoralists8 since they have lost the ability to contribute to and therefore benefit from, traditional support systems. The study suggests that pastoralists who have the resources, assets and skills to be able to maintain the traditional mobile way of life, are more livelihood-secure; a large factor in their competence is their ability to draw on traditional clan livelihood support systems9. This will need to be investigated further, specifically how mobility interplays with pastoralist families’ and communities’ social norms and values in supporting (or not) girls’ rights fulfillment. However, when looking at pastoralist communities through the lens of girls’ vulnerability, CARE’s analysis suggests that more mobile girls are more vulnerable than less mobile girls.

Conflict and other disaster risksDiminishing access to the land and natural resources required to maintain pastoralist livelihoods is resulting in increasing competition for resources and leading to resource-based conflict between ethnic groups. Borena and Afar pastoralists regularly suffer from the consequences of tribal/ ethnic/ clan conflicts between such groups as the Afar, Issa, Keriu, Guji, Konso, Hammar and Somali clans, and the risk of further more serious conflict in future is high. For example, in Afar border disputes with Eritrea and Djibouti as well as with the Issa Somalis and others would result in increasing pressure on the Afari pastoralists. Such conflicts threaten the security of all people and result in loss of assets and forced migration/displacement. Conflict increases the vulnerability of pastoralist women and girls, who are left behind or forced to relocate to relatives’ houses in towns as the men go to fight. Inter-clan conflicts usually involve raiding livestock and result in killings, leaving wives widowed and children without fathers. The UCPV assessment and follow up workshops in Afar identified girl orphans (who have lost a father) as a particularly vulnerable sub-group within the pastoralist girls impact group. As well as orphans (boys and girls) being increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty, girls living in a household without a father may be more vulnerable to gender based violence and abuse, such as abduction 7 ibid8 The DFID study describes level of competence as determining pastoralists’ livelihood security; competence includes a set of interrelated capacities involving not just their asset base, but also a family’s level of agency – influenced by their moral and social behaviour, relationships and kin and social and clan networks. 9 Brocklesby, Hobley and Scott-Villiers (2009) Raising voice – Securing a Livelihood: The role of diverse voices in developing secure livelihoods in pastoralist areas of Ethiopia – A Summary Paper.

8

and rape, and to early and forced marriage than those living in a male-headed household. This was not covered in detail during the UCPV assessment and there is a need to have a more detailed analysis about the causes of conflict and how conflict impacts on pastoralists generally and pastoralist girls in particular. A discussion with CARE’s emergency unit suggested that the most vulnerable sub-groups of girls most vulnerable to conflict and other disaster risks include:

Children <5 and pregnant and lactating girls/young mothers (most vulnerable to food security crises)

Girls from polygamous or female-headed households (since they have less resources)

Girls in more mobile households Girls from minority ethnic groups, especially in Borana and Afar (for

example, the Wata ethnic group in Borena).

Coping strategies which might adversely impact on these groups include: migration, sale of livestock or other assets, cutting of costs such as school fees and health (which reduces access of pastoral girls to education and health services), reduction of meals per day/change in diet to less nutritious foods and/or wild foods (this would affect older girls in a household and mothers the most as priority is often given to young children and males) and a possible increase in early marriages and bride prices which would affect the security of pastoralist girls. However, the group recognized that further study needs to be done into which sub-groups are most affected and how by emergencies, and how the identified coping strategies affect pastoralist girls in particular.

Food security and livelihoodsUNDHR Article 25 – Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of herself and of her family ‘If a girl develops a habit of eating too much she will become a burden to her future in laws when she gets married’.10

As described in the background section above, pastoralist livelihoods are increasingly subject to stress – from increasing drought, degradation of pasturelands, Prosopis encroachment into traditional grazing areas and privatization and conversion of traditional pastoral grazing areas to agricultural land.

In Afar, one of the biggest issues highlighted in the UCPV and follow up discussions and interviews was the amount of land being taken away from pastoralists by investors – for example, although not widely talked about, new land is being allocated in Dubti for a sugar factory, and 20,000 hectares of land is being given to an Egyptian company to produce rice11. Former grazing lands along the river banks are being appropriated for

10 Said by a Borana girl during the UCPV assessment.11 Pers comm.. Valerie Ali Gardo

9

agricultural use and pastoralists are being prevented from accessing them.

In response to these pressures, pastoralists are adapting and changing their traditional livelihood systems - more pastoralists are ‘dropping out’ of traditional mobile livelihood systems, settling close to urban and peri-urban areas and finding alternative livelihoods12. A group in Dudub kebele, Awash Fentele, close to Awash, talked about increasing involvement in and reliance on contraband trade (in electronics, second-hand clothes) using camels, as a major source of income.

There are also other responses: one group of women in a small mobile community in Afar (Barainta) commented on population increase, that households were getting larger. When asked why, they suggested that there is more fear of conflict (in this case with the Issa) and families want boys to help protect the community.

Some pastoralist families are also changing their traditional migration and mobility patterns in response to pressure on their water sources and other natural resources. For example, some communities in Afar are being forced to move further inland as river bank grazing areas are taken over for agricultural production by government and/or private investors. A small group of mobile pastoralists, mainly women and children, in Birainta, Afar, a small settlement beyond Samara13 explained how their mobility pattern is determined by the rain. ‘We are here now because our old settlement in Romaito was affected by drought and it is better here. However, when it rains we will move again for a couple of months and then come back here. We have been based here for the last two years, with this mobility pattern. Ideally we would prefer not to move, it is easier, the mobility is forced by our livelihood which is dependant on pasture and water’.

The women in this group were all the only wives of their husbands, they said because of poverty (a man can only take on more wives if he is able to support them adequately). They all said that life is harder than it used to be because the cost of everything, including grain, has risen.

The group in Awash Fentele explained that more people from their community are moving with almost all the livestock because the pond they used to rely on has dried up. This pond was built by CARE seven years ago, but has silted up since then - it used to last the year, but now lasts only a few months. This group also mentioned fear of conflict with the Kereyu, driving them to move. However, they said that nobody has moved completely i.e. parts of the family remain behind.

12 REF – pastoralist drop out study13 The discussion with this group was held during the field visit by Helen Pankhurst and Charles Hopkins in Jan. 2010. The community is in Gelifagel kebele? And consists of around 30 households, an estimated 200 people.

10

Whilst in Afar most pastoralist families have ‘more mobile’ and ‘less mobile’ members and at least part of the family will move for part of the year, in Borana pastoralist families seem to be relatively less mobile. In both Borana and Afar there was broad agreement that girls from more mobile pastoralist families are more vulnerable than those from more settled families: they cannot attend school, they have less access to health and other social services and facilities, and they have a higher workload, especially in terms of finding water for humans and livestock.

One of the results of the stresses to the pastoral livelihood is increasing food insecurity, which again pushes families towards sedenterisation and alternative livelihoods in or close to urban centers. The pull of sedentary urban living (and for some women the opportunity to escape from constricting traditions such as forced/ early marriage) in turn leads to a loss of the labor needed to sustain the traditional pastoralist’s mobile lifestyle.

Cattle are the main asset in both Borana and Afar and one of the key criteria for being categorized as poor or better-off in the community. Someone who has lost cattle due to different reasons, such as drought or conflict, is vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity. Food insecurity in pastoralist societies is directly related to a shortage of milk – pastoralists’ primary food. Some of the causes of this shortage recognized in the literature and confirmed during interviews during the UCPV include drought and Prosopis invasion (particularly in Afar) leading to a reduction in grazing land and degradation of pasture, and resulting in decreases in livestock production (calving and kidding) and productivity (milk and butter). During the UCPV assessment and follow up discussions, many respondents told stories of increasing food insecurity:

One of the Afar respondents exclaimed that ‘Drinking water after meals at this time is very painful for there is no milk to drink like before and there is no full meal to fill our stomachs.’

Another said ‘In earlier days there was excess milk production and this used to be distributed to poor families who did not have cattle. Nowadays, let alone giving to others, a household’s milk production is not enough to feed itself’.

Another told of seeing young men playing around, throwing milk at each other for fun 20 years ago, whereas now ‘there isn’t even a tiny bit of milk to put in the coffee that you offer when you have guests’.

Pastoralist girls may be relatively more affected by any shortage of food/food insecurity at household level since they are generally expected to be able to tolerate hunger more than their brothers. As one girl interviewed in Borana during the assessment said ‘If a girl develops a habit of eating too much she will become a burden to her future in laws when she gets married’.

11

Asked to compare the livelihood situation of girls in their time with that of nowadays, women in Afar said that nowadays there are fewer livestock products like milk and butter to supplement the household’s diet: “When we were girls, there was plenty of butter and milk, but now girls cannot get anything but maize. There used to be plenty of pasture and a cow used to provide enough milk for four or five people, but now Dergie Hara (prosopis) has taken over the pasture land and cows don’t produce like before.”

Another impact of natural resource degradation is an increase in women’s and girls’ workload as they are forced to move further away from their homesteads in search of firewood and pasture for grazing animals.

In Afar, traditionally, men’s role is to protect and defend the family from enemies and to herd livestock. Women’s role is to take care of all household chores including fetching water and collecting firewood, going to market for shopping, preparing materials and constructing houses, and collecting livestock feed. Afar women also load and unload family provisions to/from donkeys and camels. Women in Birainta talked about the heavy workload for women and girls – ‘There are lots of problems for women and girls – the burden and the work is on them: water collection, grinding grains for food, collecting fodder, collecting wood, taking down and setting up home when we move. Men do the herding of livestock and milking, but even that women do as well.”

However, they explained that the culture and traditions that govern men and women’s roles in the household are changing because of increasing livelihood pressures and fewer livestock; because there are fewer livestock to sell for cash, women are engaging more in selling milk and other income earning activities and are gaining more control over household resources as a result.

‘Women have the burdens, men are the ones making the big decisions. You ask why? It is because of our culture and traditions which keep women in their place. But it is changing. An example of the change is that there is less money around and some of this is now earned by women selling milk for example. Now women tend to keep what money the household has.’

This adaptive strategy has been adopted by all of the women in the group as well as by others and the women’s statement was confirmed by the men. There seemed to be a mutual agreement that it is better if the women keep the money as they have a tighter hold on it. Men will ask when they need to spend money (e.g. to buy chat) and women have a voice in agreeing to this. Likewise women can use the money to buy things and will tend to discuss this with their husbands.

12

During an FGD in Bedulale kebele, Amibara, women again highlighted that ‘things are changing’. One woman described how men and women now work more equally. For example, in house construction, ‘when we move in the past only the women construct the houses but now my husband helps with digging the ground and getting the wood.’ She also described how before only she would fetch the fodder whereas now her husband also does this. In her case, she attributed the changes also to moving nearer to the town, seeing others ‘the Amharas’ support each other more. The kebele chairman, who was listening to the discussion, added that the fact that the government is clearly and completely supporting these views is also part of the reason behind the changes.

Chat Chat was not mentioned as a serious issue during the UCPV assessment or the follow up workshops either in Borana or Afar. However, in subsequent discussions in Afar, chat was highlighted, first of all by women, but then by men, as an increasing problem affecting livelihoods in Afar.

An elderly man in Bedulale kebele, Amibara, Ato Mohamed said ‘Chat is a big, big problem (‘beada now’). People are badly affected by it, it saps their energy and time and wastes a lot of money. Some men think about their families and are careful but for others, and for those without families they are just addicted. They don’t think about the money and what it could buy or where it comes from. For example you mentioned contraband but it is very few people who have money this way, those who have the money and those who don’t, they all waste money on chat. We need to make chat chewing as shameful as FGM is now. We need to explain all the problems that it causes. But the trouble is that the government benefits from the trade, as do the traders and the growers so nobody challenges it’.14

Women in Dudub kebele, Awash Fentele, also raised chat as a major concern: ‘At the minimum, a small bunch is 20 birr but many men spend more than that, more like 50 birr whenever they like, without thinking about how much we could do with that money. The men even sometimes sell the goats that we are milking at present to get a small source of milk/cash, and which they take when they run out of cash. We cannot mention this to them, we are not like an urban husband and wife who discuss things. We cannot voice our disagreements as it would be shameful if there is then an argument and the men hit us – women don’t have the right to discuss how men use their money. Unlike alcohol which men can stop because they become sick and realize they must change, this doesn’t happen with chat, it doesn’t have this kind of effect on health but it is very addictive. Women cannot discuss this problem or try and resolve it as a group, only Allah can help’

14 Interviews by Charles Hopkins and Helen Pankhurst, Jan. 2010

13

The women’s comments are interesting, not just because of what they say about chat, but also because they show that at least in this community, women still hold very traditional views and there doesn’t seem to be the change that was seen in the mobile community beyond Samara, in terms of women holding cash (see section above). Here, the responses seem to be much more conservative in terms of women’s voice (note that this community is close to Awash meaning that it may be better off, and also that there may be a stronger Islamic influence than in the more remote community).

In a discussion about chat with CARE community facilitators from Afar, they said that chat is chewed more frequently by more people, particularly young men, than in the past – it is both more easily available and more socially acceptable to chew. They suggested that it had not been raised as an issue at the workshops because most of the men present would be chat users themselves and would not highlight it as a problem.

Although more visible in urban and peri-urban areas, chat is becoming a concern even in more traditional pastoralist communities in Afar – pastoralist women and men from a small nomadic community in Birainta suggested that although there is little use of alcohol, chat is almost as bad in terms of the cost to households. And at the last Afar Pastoralist Development Association’s pastoral women’s annual event, women had raised chat as their biggest concern, ahead of prosopis encroachment, conflict and loss of land15.

Access to and rights over resources and assetsEth. Constitution Article 35 – Women have the right to acquire, administer, control, use and transfer property….They shall also enjoy equal treatment in the inheritance of property.

Whilst some of the generalized, traditional norms relating to pastoral women’s and girls’ rights to resources and assets in Afar and Borana are described below, it is important to note that in practice these continue to evolve and change as the culture evolves and changes and responds to new pressures and opportunities. As highlighted in the section above and in other parts of this report, there are also examples of women and girls who have accessed their rights and improved their livelihoods despite the difficulties, and of men who have supported them in doing so.

In Borana, someone is poor if they own nothing (kolle), if they have only one or two cows (harka kellesa) or chickens (dega) or if they are not able to support themselves. A group of boys we talked to during the UCPV assessment explained, “Poor is someone who has nothing - no cattle, no work and no food and we belong to this group who has nothing”.

15 Valerie Ali Gardo, pers. comm. Afar Pastoralist Development Association

14

The boys compared their own situation to that of girls: “We have no rights over the resources allocated to us before we are married – “Handhura”. However, if we have a problem and our family ignores us or does not respond to our request, we can always find another option for finding income to solve our problem. But girls are the poorest and the most neglected - they do not have their own income, and no assets are assigned to them as they are for boys. They don’t have any right to own assets. A girl is not allowed to spend even one night away from her family - if she does she will be stigmatized by her community. For this reason a girl cannot find another alternative source of livelihood or income”.

The same group of boys explained how girls are more vulnerable than boys because of their lack of rights over resources and assets: “Vulnerability is lack of awareness of how to cope in case of loss of cattle during drought; it is being illiterate; it is our family’s control over our assets and our own lack of rights or control over assets. But boys are less vulnerable than girls because they can discuss with their families and lay claim to family assets; if their own family does not respond they can inform other Borena in the village who can then put pressure on the boy’s family to give him what he is claiming. Girls, on the other hand, belong to another clan – if she tries to claim rights over assets or property, she will again be socially stigmatized”

Since girls traditionally do not have rights to ownership of household resources or assets, they have little formal ‘voice’ in decision making processes in the household around use of the household resources or income as they grow up. Despite their major contribution to the household economy through their labour, without rights to ownership of household resources or assets, women and girls are economically dependent on men. Generally, it is only when a girl gets married that she gains a degree of respect, status and ‘voice’ in her family and society – and some control over household assets and resources.

However, as described above, many pastoralists are changing their traditional mobile way of life and moving to urban/ peri-urban areas either permanently, or temporarily with the hope that they will at some point be able to return to pastoralism. These changes are providing an opportunity for women to take more control over resources and assets at the household level: One of the women participants in the FGD in Amibara16 has been married for around seven years and has two children. She said that in the past if there was a goat to sell her husband would do it without consultation, but this has changed and money is now kept by her. All of the (four) women in the group said that this was the case with them as well – that they kept the cash now. Their view was that women know more what the needs are for the household and manage the money more carefully than men.

16 Helen Pankhurst and Charles Hopkins, Jan. 2010

15

Showing that there are always variations in practice, the UCPV assessment team also came across examples of girls in Borana who had been given a goat or sheep to help them to fund their secondary education away from home17, and of girls’ groups who had started selling sugar and tea in their neighborhoods to earn money.

Young Afari female students at Samara University stressed how important it is for young girls and women to have some economic options but felt that this has to be encouraged and promoted through a women’s group of some kind, otherwise the girls would not be able to control the money. If in a group, especially if the money was to help the household then there would not be a problem (note that the girls gave the example of paying for the cost of boys’ education!). A senior staff of the Regional Women’s Affairs Bureau in Samara also emphasized the importance of economically empowering women and girls. She talked about various pilots that have been done working with women on selling milk, handicrafts, ‘souk’, trading in salt, running a cafeteria, etc. and that although this very difficult and many of the ventures have not succeeded, it is essential for girls’/ women’s development.

In relation to the inheritance of assets, normally under traditional law a girl cannot acquire the property or assets of her family (whether her father’s or husband’s) even after their death. Some respondents described this as undermining girls’ rights, while others see it as a means of protecting the transfer of assets i.e. cattle, from a girl’s parents’ clan to her husband’s clan.

In the case of the death of a woman’s husband, her husband’s brother or other relatives are entitled to the marriage property and she must receive permission either from them or from the clan elders to use or benefit from it. If she has a son, her son will inherit the household’s assets and resources when he comes of age, and she will be dependent on his decisions and goodwill in terms of ‘allocating’ resources to her. Otherwise, if she only bears daughters the marriage property will remain under the control of her husband’s family. The experience of one economically successful Borana woman is described below.

Jaro Halake Dida, from Borena asked CARE Healthy Unions’ staff whether they knew of any family planning methods that could be used to help her give birth to a son. When they asked why, she told them her story:’I married my husband some twenty years ago but in that time I only give birth to one girl. I am not his only wife - we are three. Unfortunately, the senior wife did not give birth and adopted a son of my husband’s brother. My husband married me to get children, especially a son of his own. Since unfortunately I did not give birth to a son, my husband was forced to

17 They are generally given male animals, not females since traditionally girls are not allowed to own assets that reproduce as these will ultimately belong to another clan on her marriage.

16

marry his third wife. This wife gave birth to four children, of which three are girls and one is a boy. She is lucky enough. I adopted one of her daughters and send her to school. But I did not send my own daughter to school. In Borana, unless you give birth to a son, you have no security. Currently, I have 19 cattle of my own, which I bought from my own business. I have a shop in Dokole. I have built a good house in Dokole on my own. Thanks to God, I am living a decent life. But a key to my life is missing. My two daughters, including the one I adopted, have no right to inherit my property. The two sons of my husband’s wives are entitled to my property. I worked hard to get this property. I started my business by selling tea, local breads and milk under a big acacia tree, which later on was named Jaro Acacia after me. Still I am coming to this place to sell food stuff to travellers every Thursday. Imagine, you work hard and at the end, your own daughters could not benefit from your property. This is extremely bad. We can not do anything about it. It is a culture of Borana. This is why I am asking you, if you can help me to give birth to a son’’.

It is important to note that second and younger sons often do not come off much better than girls do in relation to inheritance in Borana. Under traditional law, it is the eldest son who gets the bulk of the inheritance from his father; the younger sons may receive only a ‘token’ inheritance, which may be as little as one cow.

As in other areas of life, attitudes towards girls’ inheritance are changing slowly: a men’s focus group in Borana cited the example of a respected former Geda leader (Abageda Boru Medha) who has already transferred his urban house (he also has other properties) to his daughter.

Finally, in relation to control of resources and assets, one of the groups with least rights, and who therefore is more vulnerable than most pastoralist women, is a divorced woman. In the case of a divorce, the wife has even fewer rights and usually has to leave the family home with no resources. In this situation, many women turn to selling firewood and local beer (talla) – last resorts in terms of livelihoods options. During the assessment in Borana the team spoke to divorced girls who defined poverty and vulnerability as being without a husband.

Access to education Article 26 – Everyone has the right to education

Ministry of Education (MoE) statistics for 2005 indicate that the Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) for girls in Afar at primary school level (grades 1-8) was 17% compared to a national average of 72%t. At secondary level (grades 9-10) the situation is even worse, with only 4% of girls enrolled. Some social/ cultural norms such as early marriage, girls’ domestic workload, and the limited aspirations of and for girls beyond marriage, reinforced by parents’ own low levels of education, discourage enrollment and retention of girls in school. However, poor infrastructure in schools

17

(e.g. no separate latrines, no water), the long distance to (especially secondary) schools, poor commitment and/ or moral of teachers and a lack of mobile educational services appropriate to pastoralists’ lifestyles are other major reasons for low girls’ enrollment.

Education is highly valued both by girls and boys in Borana. A group of school boys in Borana explained that poverty for them would mean being illiterate or not being able to go to school and they expressed their fear of not being able to continue their schooling. In-school girls also expressed how they see their education as a means of opening up alternative livelihood opportunities and sources of income to support their families in case of crisis (such as drought or conflict).

Despite girls and boys own enthusiasm for education, different opinions were expressed by Borana parents, highlighting tensions between appreciating the importance and value of education in bringing new livelihood opportunities and fears that attending school will expose girls particularly, to the risk of sex before marriage, resulting in chebena (‘shame’ - see ‘social positions’ section below). For some community members ‘school is like bringing the bull and the heifer together’. For other parents, going to school means leaving the Borana culture and tradition and becoming Gnapa.

Despite the risk of chebena or being ‘out of the clan', girls in Borana who are literate are seen as having more opportunity to influence their parents and community and therefore as being less vulnerable than other girls. Some respondents in Borana who expressed support for girls’ education said that when a family does not have any educated family members, they will not have the skills to save, they will not use resources wisely and they will pressurize the girl into early marriage as a means of securing assets through her bride price. Unlike other parents, they felt that a girl who has not gone to school lacks life skills (negotiating skills) and is more at risk of pregnancy before marriage.

Amongst Afar parents too, there is a common fear (similar to that of some parents in Borana) that if a girl goes to school she is more likely to have sex before marriage, to be abducted or commit adultery. Some Afar mothers, intent on protecting the Absuma system, would rather keep girls at home. The Absuma custom can also affect girls’ own motivation in going to school. Girls are expected to be shy in front of their Abinos. If one of the girl’s Abinos, particularly the one first in line to marry her, is enrolled in the school, she will not want to attend and will be tempted to drop out. In Afar, girls said that when they get married (in the near future), they will have to leave school anyway and therefore lose hope that education will bring any change in their lives.

Fatuma, one of CARE’s Community Facilitators (CF) in Afar, participated in the UCPV assessment. One day she met with a seventh grade school girl a bit older than usual for the grade. Since some older girls do not attend

18

school because their Absumas are enrolled in the same school, Fatuma was surprised and told the girl how brave she was to attend her schooling with her Abinos. The girl responded that her Abinos are not living in her area and are not enrolled in the school. Otherwise she would have dropped out.

The UCPV assessment and subsequent discussions highlighted the huge tensions in Afar and Borana pastoralist societies between the increasing value placed on girls’ education and recognition of the opportunities that can bring for the girl, as well as for her family and community, and the fears (of their families and clan) that educated girls will leave their culture behind and threaten important institutions such as marriage. These are relatively new tensions because there are still relatively very, very few educated Afari and Borana women and few role models for educated women in pastoralist communities. At Samara University there are currently in total only six female Afari university students (three from the first batch, two in the second and only one in the current batch) compared to around 75 male Afari students (still a relatively few compared to the total number of students). There might also be a few Afaris in other universities; for example, a woman working in the Women’s Affairs bureau in Samara is from an Amhara background, was born and brought up in Afar, speaks Afari and went to Addis Ababa University.

Discussions with the three Afar women students from the first batch of students at Samara showed how these tensions play out in practice, and how girls manage to negotiate a way through the different pressures on them, often with the support of their parents18:

Ekubi Kedafa, 20 yrs old, in third year of Management studies My father and mother are from Afar, neither of them went to school but they wanted their eight children to learn. I first went to school in Djibouti then moved to Asaita town, when I was seven. Four of my siblings have left the country, through studies to Sweden and Canada and a sister through marriage to Kuwait. I would like to continue my studies to do a Masters degree but there is a lot of pressure to get married.

Halima Mohamed, 21, third year of Management studies I was born in Yalo, Zone 4 (Tigray) and went to school there until 4th

grade, then to Alemata until 9th grade and then in Asaita before coming here for University. My mother was the one who helped me go to school. My father was against it, in fact he organised for me to be married and stop but he died so I was able to continue with the support of my uncle and aunt (on my father’s side) though I have married an absuma. He is also a student, in 11th grade at the moment, who lives in Asaita. There has been a lot of pressure from the ‘gossa’ calling me names and saying I was outside the clan and a ‘duriye’, only recently have they calmed down

18 Discussions with Charles Hopkins and Helen Pankhurst, Jan. 2010

19

a bit, seeing that I have got this far. I would like to continue studying whilst I am young, studying for a Masters Degree, or I could start working once I have graduated.

Fatuma Oumer, 21, also 3 rd year of management studies I was born in Bure, Asseb, my mother is Sudanese and my father Afar. I went to school there until 6th grade. Then I went to Kombolcha (there is no secondary school in Bure) and then from 9-12th grade to Asaita, living with a relative of my father’s. My father and mother are still in Bure. I am boarding here (the other two as well). My father is the one that has helped me get this far, but he has had a lot of pressure from relatives, he has promised me in marriage but at least he has been able to allow me to go to school and now university. Who exactly I will marry I do not know but it will be an absuma marriage.

Although none of the university women had married outside the absuma system (see ‘social postions’ section below), they all thought that they would have some degree of choice and be given a better option, that more care would be given to thinking about who would be appropriate because of the education that they had had ’yetechal new minagegnew.’ Note that all three women are from urban backgrounds and all have had some exposure to other areas (Djibuti, Asseb Tigray, Sudan).

As well as fear of chebena, and the Absuma system discussed above, drop out due to early marriage is another significant reason for the relatively low retention rate of girls in school. Schoolgirls interviewed in Borana said that they were most likely to drop out of school because of marriage or a lack of money to cover school costs. The girls mentioned some of the actions they take to try to stay in school – for example, reporting to the school and the Women’s Affairs office if they are being forced into marriage against their will. Some girls also mentioned selling tea and local beer as a way of supporting their education and gave the example of one of their friends19 who sells tea in her spare time to support her education.

In traditional rural, pastoral areas, girls’ high workload is another common reason for non-enrollment or drop-out; they look after livestock (along with boys), help with milking and help their mother with the domestic workload. A girl in Bedulale kebele, Amibara talked about the work that she has to do before going to school: she gets up early and helps clean the compound and house and make breakfast. She then helps wash-up the dishes. Girls in general are more likely to be late to school for this reason; the boys just eat and go.

Girls’ work burden in the household is even greater in drought years and there is high dropout from school during those periods. One community member in Borana said that “drought and conflicts, even if they are minor, is an excuse for parents not to send girls to school”. 19 Jilo Mengesha from Borana

20

Aside from the ‘demand’ side of girls’ education, the inadequate supply and quality of education services provision in pastoralist areas is a serious hindrance to pastoralist girls’ education. The assessment team in Gawane came across an illustrative example of the problem: the team visited two villages, Gebya Bora and Adibaro, which have primary schools. One of the schools was open at the time of the survey while the other was not. The team asked why and when the school was closed. The community informed them that the school had already been closed for two weeks since the teachers left for Easter vacation, even although the official vacation was not until the following week. The relative remoteness of the schools, harshness of the climate and lack of facilities (electricity, communications, shopping, transportation etc) make it difficult to attract and retain teachers. An Oxfam GB paper20 argues that education for nomadic and pastoralist children has not been given the same official recognition and status as formal government schooling and makes various recommendations to government agencies and NGOs including: ensuring availability of national-level cultural, economic, and social data on nomads and pastoralists to inform education policy making; providing specific training for teachers to address linguistic and cultural differences and gender inequality, and concurrently promote the training of local teachers; and to encourage community participation in schooling, involving women and men.

Lack of/ distance to secondary schools in these areas is a particular challenge. Almost all girls from traditional pastoralist, rural, mobile families would be forced to board or stay with relatives for any type of education beyond primary school. Aside from the fear of sending an adolescent girl away from home, the cost of boarding would rule this out as an option for the majority of pastoralist families. If a family can afford to have children board then there are advantages: teachers said that girls living in hostels tend to perform better at school than those who stay at home. Although lack of sufficient food and/ or safe water can be a problem in hostels, at least girls have time to study and to support each other; school girls living at home have to contend with their domestic workload when they return from school every day.

Because of the distance to school, if children cannot afford to board or do not have relatives that they can stay with then they are more or less forced to drop out. A teacher in Borana told of students walking 17km to the nearest secondary school. The school provides a hostel service but it costs 400 Birr per year, and teachers said that many parents are unable to pay. One 13 year old girl dropped out from grade three because her parents couldn’t pay the hostel fee, although her brother and mother wanted her to continue. In tears, she told the assessment team that she can’t walk to the school because it is too far and risky for a girl to

20 Oxfam GB (2005) Beyond the mainstream: education for nomadic and pastoralist girls and boys. Program insights. Education and Gender Equality Series, Oxfam GB. December 2005

21

make it daily. At the same time, her father is insisting that she focus on getting a husband, saying that she is now too old for school.

The Head of a school in Galifabe kebele, Afar, explained that this year was the first time that the school had a 7th grade; previously it had only served up to 6th grade. Students who want to progress further must go to Asaita, 16 kms away. The Head said that the school feeding program has helped in getting the children to come to school, although it is still children who are living nearby who are more likely to come, and to stay. For example, a group of mobile pastoralists from a small mobile pastoralist community in Barainta, Gelifagel, Afar21 said that a few boys from the community go the school but not any girls because it is outside their home area.

Grade Girls Boys % of girls7 4 19 176 2 8 205 10 23 304 6 10 383 6 12 332 4 6 401 14 28 33

Total 46 106 30

The school attendance figures clearly show the disparity between girls and boys, right through the grades. A discussion with one girl in grade 5 illustrates the challenges that rural girls face in continuing in education (distance, cost, domestic workload), and the importance of parental support.

Fatima Hussein, 5 th grade, 16 yrs old. Fatima is the oldest of nine children (three brothers and five sisters) all of whom are at school (they live near the school) except the very youngest who hasn’t started school yet. Her younger brother who is 14 years old is in 7th grade; he is younger yet has got further because he is a boy and has fewer chores. Her parents have been supportive about Fatima continuing school. When she reaches 7th grade she will have to move to the school in Asaita, (16kms away) but this is fine as her father has relatives there that she can stay with. Fatuma likes maths in particular; she wants to finish school and work as a teacher here.

At another school in Dudub kebele, Awash Fentele, the attendance figures show a similar picture to the Galifabe school, with the ratio of girls to boys dropping off dramatically in grades 3 and 4. For both girls and boys the number of pupils in grades 3 and 4 is much lower than in grades 1 and 2

21 This group of mainly women, was interviewed by Charles Hopkins and Helen Pankhurst. Bairainta is a small, mobile pastoralist community of around 30 families (200 people).

22

(1/3 for boys and < 1/10 for girls). However, the school is only four years old and enrollment is increasing with every year.

Grade Girls Boys % of girls

4 1 9 103 2 6 252 9 14 391 25 31 45

Total 37 60 38

The school head said that boys tend to do better than girls but that attendance is poor for both boys and girls. Boys mainly come late because of Khoran class whilst girls are late due to their domestic workload.

A group of women and children nearby confirmed that people are increasingly sending their children, both boys and girls, to school but that the children miss many days of school – only a few attend even 15 out of 20 days in a month, and many come late. They also said that there is a great problem of starting late at the beginning of the year in September. Whilst attitudes are changing slowly the group felt that it is still a necessity to keep some children away from school, e.g. those who migrate with cattle, or those who are left at home to look after homestead animals especially if there is only an elderly family member around.

Despite the many challenges described above, attitudes to education are changing. A pastoralist development office deputy head in Borana explained how in Emperor Haile Selassie’s time parents would send the least promising children to school because school was associated with chirak (bad spirit or devil). Those children are now seen to be supporting their parents and communities and are considered as role models. The UCPV assessment team spoke to one Borana women, Tume Wario, who is a strong supporter of education, and equal rights for girls.

Tume Wario is 34 and lives in Semero village in Dire Woreda. She and her husband are agro-pastoralists, trying to expand their farm. They have four daughters and two sons. Tume was married at the age of 10 and had her first child at 16. She is a role model in Semero village and beyond for her consistent practices and behavior on gender equality in her family.22

Tume’s mother raised her family by selling fuelwood. She managed to save and buy a heifer that reproduced significantly and made her relatively well off. Tume was circumcised just before her marriage, as that is a requirement for marriage23. She was happy to get married then because it was before her mother started praying intensively for her marriage – one of the most difficult periods in a girl’s life. Borana families usually give one cow to their

22 Gender inequality is typical and deep rooted and is an underlying cause of poverty and vulnerability for girls in Borana UCP/V.23 In Borana circumcision is a requirement to marriage

23

daughter on her marriage (Sike), while the husband’s family pays a bride price (Keret) of about 5 to 6 cows and oxen. Tume received 15 cows/oxen from her mother, which was an equal division between Tume and her brother. This practice is not common in Borana but Tume feels that that it has allowed her to be more of an equal in her marriage with her husband.

All of Tume’s daughters go to school and the eldest is in grade 9. Her 10 year old son, and youngest son, aged 2, are not currently in school, although the older son will start in September, and the family will hire someone to take care of their cattle in his place.

Although Tume is well respected in her village, many people challenge her and her husband about their equal relationship, which is out of the “norm”. People ask her husband whether he or Tume is the husband and few other families are following their example.

Tume’s vision is to have land or a house in Mega town (the capital of the woreda) so that her daughters will be able to stay there when they attend school rather than having to ‘suffer’ in rented accommodation. She also wants to expand her farm.

Tume believes that the key to improving the lives of pastoralist girls like her daughters and others is education, and recognition of girls’rights, for example to inherit property.

The Borana zonal education office has a gender department and expert working on issues related to girl’s education. According to this office, they are working hard, together with the Women’s Affairs office, to increase girls’ enrolment and retention rate in the primary (first and second cycle) and high schools and there has been an increase in girls’ enrollment over the last five years. This has been achieved partly through the establishment of a girls’ education forum.

Access to health servicesArticle 25 – Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of herself and her family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care……

It is difficult to overstate the issue of poor health in pastoralist communities. Life expectancy is x, under 5 mortality rate is x and maternal death during childbirth is shockingly high in both Afar and Borana – only x% of births are attended by a trained health agent. FGC and early marriage are contributors to the high rate of maternal death and birth complications in Ethiopia generally, and specifically in pastoral areas. The low social and economic status of girls and women exacerbates their health problems. For example, during the assessment in Afar, women and girls said that if a female member of the household gets sick, at best unprescribed medication will be bought to treat her. However, if a man or boy gets sick, ‘all efforts will be exerted to treat him to the extent of selling a camel to pay for his treatment’ by a qualified health institution/personnel.

24

Pastoralists’ (boys’ and girls’, women’s and men’s) health problems are exacerbated by the absence of a health service delivery system that is appropriate to their mobile way of life. There are no mobile services, clinics are concentrated in towns and health posts in many pastoral areas are not yet staffed. Some of the common problems with health services delivery are illustrated by the situation in Gewane woreda in Afar. There are seven health posts and one health center in the woreda, serving a population of x. These facilities are staffed by one health officer, six nurses, four health assistants, 14 front line health assistants (certificate holders) and nine health extension workers, who promote the government health extension package (this represents a ratio of 1 health personnel: x people). According to the woreda health office, there is a shortage of personnel, budget, and transportation and as a result health extension workers have not yet been deployed to the health posts.

FGD respondents in the UCPV assessment in Gewane highlighted problems with shortages of drugs and medical equipment and an absence of female staff in many of the health institutions. They also said that a lack of money for treatment means that the demand for health services is low. PA leaders complained of drug misuse (use for private practices rather than in public facilities) and that the Woreda Health Office is not addressing these issues. They also raised the issue of poor motivation and performance of health personnel – as with teachers (see section on education above), it is difficult to attract and retain staff in such remote, underserved communities and staff are often found in nearby urban centers rather than in their assigned locations. The situation is not helped by the lack of ability (due to either motivation or transportation) of the Woreda Health Office to provide regular supervision to the health facilities. The office is currently holding the salaries of seven staff as a disciplinary measure.

3.4 SOCIAL POSITIONS

Birth rituals and celebrationsUNDHR Article 1 – All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights……

“It (social conditioning) starts as soon as a baby girl is born. She experiences cruelty from that moment. When she is born, she is immediately held upside down and dunked in cold water three times (to ensure she will be shy throughout her life). From that moment life will not improve. There will be no celebrations, no gun firing, no killing of camels and the mother will not be met with joyful faces and well wishes.24

Community participants in the UCPV assessments generally described traditional/ cultural birth rituals happening as described below. However, 24 CARE (2006), ‘Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women’s Empowerment in Relation to FGC Elimination Project, Awash’

25

there are variations to this in practice because the culture is evolving with new influences and conditions at work. For example, whilst previously new mothers who gave birth to a girl were traditionally not celebrated or treated as well as those who bore sons, nowadays all new mothers are equally well respected and cared for25.

Many respondents spoke of the challenges faced by a pastoralist girl and her inequality in comparison to a pastoralist boy, beginning from her birth. In Borana, a mother who gives birth to a baby boy is said to have given birth for the clan and the baby is celebrated as someone who will inherit the family resources and maintain the family bloodline. A baby girl, on the other hand, is said to be born for others - she is considered to be only a temporary member of the family since it is known that she will marry into another clan. Her value within the family is partly associated with the future bride price that she will bring, which is likely to include livestock – the main source of a pastoralist’s wealth. A husband whose wife only gives birth to a daughter will look for another wife who can give him a son ‘to ensure the continuation of the family’26.

Similarly, it is said that in Afar, when a mother gives birth to a boy the family expresses their joy through firing bullets into the air and ululating, whilst in the case of a baby girl, there are no such celebrations, only silence, followed by a subdued inquiry as to the mother’s health. Another tradition that distinguishes between boys and girls in Afar is the ritual of cutting a child’s hair for the first time: if the child is a boy, traditionally there will be great preparations for this ceremony; a high cliff top will be chosen for the celebration, and the boy’s head will be washed with butter mixed with different spices. The butter is to make his hair smooth for shaving and the spices are to make him strong and aggressive. He will be shaved by a respected clan leader and those who attend the event will talk about it to the people they come across on their way back home. However, when a girl’s hair is cut for the first time, there is no celebration and a female from the girl’s Abino, her mother’s brother’s family that she will marry into (see below), will cut her hair, rather than someone from her birth-family.

Boys’ and girls’ circumcision ceremonies are also very different in Afar. Boys are generally circumcised between the ages of 10 to 14. The date will be decided by a wise man (awaki) and it will be announced to all communities to bring their sons to the selected place for circumcision. A festive meal will be prepared, bullets will be fired and “the sky blooms with red”. Unlike boys, there is no celebration when a girl is circumcised (see section on FGC below).

25 Ibid26 Halake Bante, ‘Women and Property Rights in Borana’ (no date)

26

Arranged marriage and the ‘Absuma’ system Eth. Constitution Article 24 – Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses

“Kan nuu arganne ijoollee, haa ta’uu malee ijooleenuu nu wajjiin gubbachu jiran - what we are getting from marriage is children; but they are burning with us”.27

Again, although the marriage traditions described below were often said to be the ‘norm’, there were many examples of how attitudes and practices are changing, particularly as the value of education is increasingly recognized and more pastoralist girls attend school. Whilst a number of these traditional marriage practices both reflect and perpetuate discriminatory attitudes to women and gender relations, these are evolving rather than static and as in all societies, the theory and practice are not always the same. Examples both of the ‘norm’ and also of the types of discourses and negotiations that are taking place around marriage are described below.

Many traditional attitudes and practices towards girls are rooted in the importance of marriage – marriage is seen as the ultimate goal for a girl and absolutely essential for her future livelihood security, wellbeing and acceptance, respect and status in society. The traditional Borana and Afar inter-clan/ inter-family arranged marriage systems mean that a girl will automatically marry into another clan (in Borana) or into her mothers’ family (in Afar) and normally, a girl’s parents will choose her husband. In Borana, there are two major clans – the Sabo and the Gona. Marriage within the same clan is considered as marriage between a brother and sister and is unacceptable and a girl from Sabo can only marry someone from Gona and vice-versa. In Borana a daughter will not generally inherit her parents’ family property since this property will be ultimately be transferred to another clan on her marriage - a clan which may be a future competitor or an enemy.

In Afar communities, the ‘absuma’ marriage tradition is still very strong. In this system, it is pre-destined that a girl will marry the son or relatives of her mother’s brother i.e. her cousin. In Afar terms, she is ‘Absuma’ to her mother’s brother and relatives and they are ‘Abino’ to her. If her uncle’s son is too young to marry her, the girl should wait for him until he has grown up or marry the next closest relative. If he has no son, the next closest relative of her uncle has the right to marry her. Since polygamy is accepted in the culture, so long as a man is able to support his wives, this marriage might be the first, second, third or fourth for the man. The Absuma system is extremely important – if a girl marries outside the system (ie. outside of the mother’s relatives) her mother will lose respect and status in society.

27 Said by a young mother in Borana during the UCPV assessment.

27

During the Afar assessment, the team was told of cases where girls who refused a pre-arranged marriage committed suicide after being forced by their parents to marry28. The story of one girl’s struggle to avoid forced marriage is told below.

Case story: Challenging the norm

Kedeja was a young Afar girl. Her Abino (uncle’s son) was too young to marry her and under the Absuma system, the next closest relative has the right to marry her. Although this relative was too old for her, and already had a wife and five children, he wanted to marry Kedeja. At the same time, Kedeja fell in love with one of her uncle’s other relative,s who was around her age. But since this relative was outside the absuma system, the only way they could marry was for him to abduct Kadeja. This he did, and he took Kadija to one of the elders’ houses in the community. The elder expressed his disappointment in the couple and warned Kedeja’s suitor to release her otherwise he would kill him. The elders decided to allow Kadeja to return home. A few days later, Kedeja was engaged, without her consent, to her uncle’s old relative. When Kedeja heard of this decision, she left the village and went to live with her sister in another area. After many negotiations the relative agreed to be paid compensation and cancelled the engagement. Finally, Kedeja married a person outside her ‘Abino’. Sadly, Kedeja died while giving birth to her first child.

Traditionally, a girl that challenges the absuma system is considered to be out of the social norm and a source of shame to herself, her parents and the community in general. However, there are other influences, particularly in urban and educated circles that are introducing other more consensually based marriage practices, and although there is still resistance, attitudes are changing. Whilst absuma is still seen to be important, it is more and more recognized that women should have a degree of choice within the system.

“But now, though the idea of ‘Absuma’ is not totally abolished, a women has a chance to marry a man of her choice. If they give us in marriage for somebody we don’t want we sue them in front of a religious leader”.

“During previous times, females used to marry to their respective ‘Absuma’. But now, a woman may marry the man she loves. They go to Djibouti and marry. …..These days, females have begun to consider Djibouti as a holy place – Mecca”.29

Despite the quotes above, almost half of the groups interviewed in CARE’s SII stated that females do not have the right to choose their

28 This finding is also supported by CARE’s Strategic Impact Inquiry conducted in Afar.29 CARE (2006), Focus Group Discussions from Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women’s Empowerment in Relation to FGC Elimination project in Awash.

28

husband. The following more recent interviews and case stories from Afar30 illustrate the different pressures for and against change that many girls (and boys) are trying to negotiate their way through. The stories show that even if one or both parents are relatively supportive in one area of a girl’s life e.g. her right to education, they may not be open to change in other areas, eg. her right to a choice in marriage.

Ahadi, 18 yrs old, a student at Samara Nursing College, Dubdi hospital. ‘I am here because I had a good relationship with my parents, there was no problem there. My father didn’t go to school but he and my mother wanted their children to learn. We were four, one boy and three girls. The boy is in 12th grade, one sister is in 8th grade, one in first year of nursing, and I am in the third year of nursing. My father was very supportive of us going to school but he died. My mother is now with my father’s brother. He is not educated either but he is supportive of us being educated. He is a trader.

The important thing has been the opportunity to discuss issues openly, I want to be able to finish my studies and then help my family but the issue of marriage is being decided for me – this is a difficult issue for me, Although discussing openly with my parents about school was possible and I have been able to get this far, I do not think I will be able to persuade them to let me make my own choice in marriage, the culture is very strong on this, this is difficult and on my mind.’

Young men are also starting to question tradition, even absuma: One male student at Samara Nursing College who is studying midwifery said: ‘We, students, are outside the confines of our culture. We have the choice of following tradition or what we learn from school, the media, etc and against the wishes of our families and clan. I don’t know what I will do about absuma marriage for example - it is difficult to know what to do, what is right.’

The case studies show the important role that parents (either the father or the mother) can play in protecting a girl from clan pressure to marry. They also show that even though Afari women are still expected to marry an absuma, being educated will give them some choice within the system.

Fatuma Abdu, Bedulale kebele, Amibara woreda. ‘I am 15 yrs old and not married. In the past I would have been married by now. Instead I am going to school. I have reached 7th grade.’ Intervention by Ato Mohamed, an elderly man in the kebele ‘The Afar have a tradition called absuma whereby the girl is betrothed to the mother’s relatives. Fatuma doesn’t know it, but she has been asked for lots of times and the father has said no, not until she has finished her studies…..We are not like the Amhara, it is not a question of choice by the couple themselves, without family involvement, sometimes only when the

30 Collected by Helen Pankhurst and Charles Hopkins, January 2010.

29

parents have organised things will the girl know that she is being married. If they let her know before hand, she can go to the Women’s Affairs office and sue’.

We asked if her being educated made any difference ‘Yes Afar women are starting to be educated. If she is going to school she can let her parents know that she wants her husband to be educated as well. If she is going to school and the obvious close absuma relative is not married, this might even result in the boy starting school so that he is more suitable for her.’ Fatuma told us that she knows her absuma and he is studying at school and is in grade 10. ‘Educated to educated marriage is better.’

Note also that Fatuma is also the health extension worker for her village. She studies in the morning and does the health extension work in the afternoon. She therefore has a salary.

In both Afar and Borana, family and/ or clan pressure for girls to get married may begin as young as 12 or 13. Early marriage (marriage below age 18) brings pride and also the bride price of cows/oxen in Borana and Borana mothers start to pray intensively for their daughters if they are not married by the age of 15. This is dreaded by the girls - one girl in Borana said, I am happy that I was married at the age of 15, before my mother started to pray for my marriage. Even if a girl is attending school, allowing her to stay with her family after 18, when she is supposed to be married, is taboo. In traditional Afar society, parents should not keep a girl in the family after her first menstruation31. However, although early marriage is still common, women and men in Amibara woreda and near Awash in Afar suggested that the age of girls’ marriage is increasing – whilst it used to be around 15 to 16, it is now not normally until a girl is at least 17 or 18, or even up to 20 to 25 – mainly they said, ‘because we have seen and been taught (by government and NGOs) about the problems brought about by women giving birth when they are too young’.32

In addition to the pressure for early marriage of a girl, traditional marriage customs and the inter-clan/ inter-family marriage system means that cross-generational marriage (Y’alacha gabcha in Afar) is also common, whereby elderly men, whether already married, divorced or widowed, may marry a young girl, often without her consent. ‘Inheritance’ and ‘replacement’ marriages tend to encourage this practice.

For example, in Borana, when a man’s wife dies, he is entitled to marry another girl from that family (‘Hibruu’). In another case (‘Fulkaya’), he is entitled to the ‘replacement’ of his deceased wife by her younger sister. In Afar too, if a woman’s husband dies she is often obliged to marry a relative, usually a husband’s brother (‘inheritance marriage’33) and a man whose wife has died, is entitled to marry her sister, however young the

31 Note that menstruation can start anywhere between 12 to 18 years due to diet and other factors. 32 FGD by Helen Pankhurst and Charles Hopkins, Bedulale kebele, Amibara woreda, Afar; Jan. 201033 Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women’s Empowerment in Relation to FGC Elimination Project, Awash.

30

girl. These systems of ‘inheritance’ and ‘replacement’ marriage are supported for several reasons: to maintain kinship ties; to ensure that the marriage property stays in the husband’s family; to make sure that a pastoralist man always has a wife to support him; and to ensure that the children from a marriage are taken care of. At the same time, the lack of choice for girls and women within these traditions reinforce that women and girls themselves are the property of men/ a man’s clan.

Again, there have always been ways to avoid or challenge these arrangements. For example, a girl in Borana can marry a husband of her choice through a secret agreement with him whereby she goes to her husband’s home through ‘consented abduction’. In such a case, the bride price will be increased as punishment. In Afar, if a girl falls in love with someone outside their Abino and they decide to marry, the man’s clan will contribute cattle to pay compensation to the girl’s Abino for the wrongdoing. However, there is always serious clan pressure to conform and a girl and her family have to endure clan disapproval and censure if they go against the norm. Other forms of marriage, more to do with economic pressures than choice, are emerging. for example, the practice of ‘awadi’ in Borana. This practice involves ‘brokers’, either men or women, purposely putting pressure on a girl to marry a young man by deceiving her – telling her of his wealth and so on. This usually happens without the knowledge or consent of the girl’s family and can result in either consensual sex and/or consented abduction between the couple or forced abduction and rape. Both ‘awadi’ and physical abduction of girls often occurs when a man is too poor to pay the bride price. This may happen with the girls’ agreement, but whether forced or not, it will result in the punishment of ‘chebena’ for her, and for the abductor (see below). Although not common, there is also marriage by abduction in Afar. Girls might be abducted by either an Abino relative who is in second or lower ‘place’ to marry the girl, or by someone from outside her Abino relatives. In both cases this will cause conflict between the two families. If the abductor is from outside her Abino, the conflict may end in one or other family members being killed, or in a serious fine.

Bride PriceEth. Constitution Article 35 - Women have equal rights with men in marriage

Bride price is an important part of the marriage system in both Afar and Borana and takes different forms. Particularly in traditional rural communities in Borana, bride price (Guuraguuraa Duubaaraa) literally means selling a girl in exchange for livestock. Currently in Borana, there are two forms of bride price – ‘Gebera’, a voluntary payment negotiated between the two families, which seals the intent of the couple to marry. This is usually paid in cattle, and the number depends on the family’s wealth and ability to pay. The other payment – ‘Kerete’ - is a compulsory

31

payment set by the clan leaders, which is paid to the girl’s family the day after the marriage and signifies the ‘sale’ of the girl and subsequent ‘ownership’ by her husband. This currently amounts to between three and six cattle. Once the kerete payment is made, a traditional Borana husband believes that his wife is his property and that therefore he has all rights - physical, social and economic - over her. She must tolerate any treatment that he may subject her to and she can have no recourse to her former family. If a married girl is abandoned or divorced, this is a great source of shame to her family and she cannot return to her parents’ home.

In practice, bride price payments are more complex. For example, in Afar, after the marriage a new husband stays the night in his wife’s house and then goes back to his home for the day. This pattern continues until the birth of the first child. Then the wife and child join the husband in his home. Although the bride price is paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s family, when the mother and child move to the husband’s home the livestock (bride price) tends to go with the new family to the groom’s house. Note that this system is very supportive of a young newly married woman, compared to the pattern elsewhere of a new bride moving to her husband’s family immediately. If, during the period that a bride is still at her own home, her husband mistreats her, then her mother can close the door on the new husband and not let him in.

Despite the variations, bride price is tied to the inter clan and inter-family systems of marriage and can be seen as one of the mechanisms to balance resources (livestock) between the two clans in Borana, and/or to maintain kinship ties between families, in the Afar context.

Female Genital CuttingEth. Constitution Article 35 – Laws, customs and practices that oppress or cause bodily or mental harm to women are prohibited

CARE’s Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women’s Empowerment (SII) conducted in Afar in 2005 and 2006, showed that despite widespread understanding amongst communities of the harmful effects of FGC, it is still widely practiced. FGC is the norm in both Afar and Borana, and the most severe form of the practice – infibulation is still common in Afar. In this case a women’s vagina will be sewn and re-sewn after the birth of each child, particularly if her husband is leaving far from the family in search of pasture for livestock, or for business. Cultural beliefs around the practice include:

that reducing the vaginal opening will prevent high bleeding during menstruation

that FGC will reduce girls’ sexual feelings and thus prevent them from having sex before marriage or from committing adultery

The age at which girls undergo FGC varies from community to community. In some communities in Afar girls are circumcised within a few days of

32

birth, whilst in others the girl should be between 7 and 9 years old. In practice, cutting can happen at any age up to marriage.

There is appreciation of the harmful effects of FGC – many informants in Afar explained that girls may suffer from severe pain during urination, menstruation, sexual intercourse and child birth – and the overall view seems to be that FGC (at least the most severe form) is shameful and should not be practiced34. Religious leaders in Afar have also now openly condemned the practice and are beginning to recognize that banning only infibulation, and not the ‘sunna’ practice, may have left the door open for continued practice of the severe form under the guise of ‘sunna’.

However, although infibulation is illegal, and those who practice it may be imprisoned, there are still relatively few cases of people being taken to court for practicing circumcision. Young Afari female students at Samara University said that the idea of training traditional circumcisers into alternative employment doesn’t work – there are many experiences of the women circumcisers pretending to change, taking the training and the money but then continuing with their old employment. The general conclusion was that despite some significant positive changes in attitudes and practices, continued work in this area by government and NGOs is still very much required.

One of the major reasons why FGC is still practiced is because in both Afar and Borana, a girl cannot get married unless she has been circumcised – ‘it is a demand from men and a requirement for women’. Marriage is essential - if a girl is not married she will never be respected as a women, neither will her family receive the bride price. Marriage brings a woman respect, status and voice – according to CARE’s SII, marriage is a prerequisite for Afar women to feel ‘empowered’35.

‘How are we expected to leave our girls with an organ like men? I would rather my daughter die than not have her circumcised. If we don’t she will not be able to be married. There is no girl who is uncircumcised. ‘

‘It is cultural, and males refuse to marry uncircumcised women. Influence from male has become an obstacle not to stop it (FGC)’.36

As with other traditions, there are women and girls who have spoken and acted out against FGC. During discussions in Afar, one of CARE’s staff, working in three kebeles in Amibara woreda mentioned 60 girls that have not been circumcised, but was not able to give a figure of how many girls have been circumcised. However, even if girls are not circumcised when they are younger, they must still be circumcised before they can get married. The importance of this is recognized both by women and men.34 Women and girls interviewed in Afar suggested that the practice may be most common in the most mobile pastoralist communities35 According to the SII, Afar definitions of empowerment for women include ‘Hilaly’ and ‘Dieto’ – a status that can only be gained through marriage36 Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women’s Empowerment in Relation to FGC Elimination Project, Awash.

33

Changing men’s and boy’s attitudes to female circumcision is the biggest challenge to eliminating FGC. A senior CARE staff told of an occasion in Borana when he asked a group of men if any single one of them would be ready to marry a girl who was not circumcised. None of them would even consider it. CARE’s SII in Afar emphasized the inseparability of religion, marriage (and therefore FGC) and a woman’s standing and value in the community. Women said that ‘even if a father stated that there was to be no cutting, a mother may oppose him in order to make her daughter more acceptable for marriage in the future’37.

A successful Afari woman – the Head of the Regional Women’s Affairs Bureau in Samara – said that for things to change it is important to educate everyone about FGC including male leaders, and boys – “they don’t know what we experience….. we have talked to the university students for example, and they have no idea what the consequences are of FGM and all the pain, danger, and lifelong problems caused’.

Protection of girls and ‘chebena’In Borana society, traditionally, one of the worst punishments that can fall on a girl is if she gets pregnant or has sex before marriage. This is called “chebena” (shame). As in many societies, one of the things that parents in Borana fear most is that their daughters will have sex and become pregnant before marriage. In Borana society, a girl who is a virgin is expected to be able to turn to the protection of her family if she faces unwanted sexual advances and therefore if she does have sex and/ or become pregnant, this is seen as being with her consent. ‘Chebena’ leads to huge social stigma and a loss of respect for the girl and her family. One way of trying to ‘protect’ girls from chebena is through a traditional system of punishment for the girl, which more or less treats chebena as the ‘death’ of the girl, who is then cast out of the community. If chebena happens, the girl’s parents will organize a type of funeral ceremony at their house and other community members will attend to comfort the family. The girl will then leave the house during a public ritual, by a separate gateway and someone will follow her cleaning her footprints. She will be taken away by her family and given or sold to another ethnic group, either in marriage or as a house maid. The girl is considered to transmit the shame of chebena to other family members; for example it is believed that if she urinates inside the compound then the family will lose their cattle. After chebena, a girl is no longer considered a Borana and will never be allowed to see her family or village again.

Chebena also traditionally applies to the boy who has had sex with the unmarried girl. In his case his parents will slaughter an animal for the “funeral” ceremony as he is also considered to have died. The ‘shame’ lasts for the boy’s lifetime - when he dies, there is no proper burial ceremony but he will be simply buried under wood. Chebena men are not 37 Ibid

34

allowed to participate in any social activity, nobody goes to his house and he is not welcomed in others’ houses either. 38

Again, as in many societies, if a girl becomes pregnant before marriage, in most cases the boy will be required to marry her. However, the study team also received information that a girl may still be punished, even if she is a victim of forced abduction and rape. To avoid punishment, a girl may attempt abortion – almost always unsafe and potentially life threatening. The following case story shows the potential terrible consequences of chebena and the punishment attached to it. A girl and a boy came to Yabello town for their secondary education and they became friends. Unfortunately she became pregnant, and both of them were in great fear of being outcast from the community. The boy was especially tormented and discussed the issue with his friend. After a long discussion and argument they decided to kill the pregnant girl. They killed the girl to make the boy safe from social outcast.39

There is conflicting information as to how widespread chebena is, and how severe the punishment, with some telling the study team that it happens rarely, whilst others saying that the practice is increasing, particularly where communities are close to urban or peri-urban areas. In any case, parents and girls themselves regularly mentioned fear of chebena as a factor governing girls’ behaviour and acceptance of social norms, as well as their ability to go to, and stay in school (see section 3.4 Access to Education). Whilst in Afar, there is no commensurate punishment, again there is a huge fear of a girl becoming pregnant or having sex before marriage. Such a girl will be stigmatized, she will be unable to marry her absuma and her mother and family will be shamed. Fear of such community wide censure is usually enough to make sure that a girl conforms to accepted social norms.

Participation, voice and self-esteemArticle 19 – Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression

The most important figures in the life of a pastoralist girl, as in most societies, are her father and mother. Girls are closest to their mothers, and her agreement is needed to make any changes in a girl’s life. Day to day relations between girls and their fathers are minimal, and a girl must show due respect to her father and brothers. However, once married, a girl’s connection with her parents will be very limited. During discussions with women and girls in Afar, various examples were found of mothers having a real influence on key decisions affecting girls (such as her marriage). Mothers have found ways of supporting daughters against the knowledge/ wishes of their father or powerful clan/ family members:38 This needs further investigation as it there was some information that there are hidden practices that can protect the boy.39 Report from CARE Healthy Unions Project, Borana, December 2009.

35

Fatuma Yusuf 22, Samara Nursing College, Dubdi HospitalMy father who was a nurse, went to school but not my mother. He didn’t allow me to go to school, I was the eldest. My mother wanted me to go. He only thought I should learn a bit of ‘khoran’ So my mother helped me go to school without my father knowing that this was going on. We did this until I had passed my third grade and was going into fourth grade. Then my mother organised for a friend of my father’s to talk to him and explain and allow me to continue school, This happened, he was told and there was a big argument and it was difficult for a while but in the end he came round and allowed me to continue going to school. After my experience it was easier for my brother, he is now in 11th grade – there were also two siblings that died and my father has also died since then.

In Afar, a girl’s uncle is also an important influence in her life. As a girl’s future family member (ie. the father of her husband or the husband himself), the abino (uncle) will closely follow a girl throughout her young life to protect her from sex before marriage, forced or consented abduction and to prepare her psychologically for marriage.

Girls, in their day to day life constantly think about their behavior in relation to maintaining their parents’ pride and respect in the community. This is reinforced by the fact that they are subjected to collective disapproval if they are seen to be ‘outside the norm’ or challenging the status quo; for example going to school rather than getting married, having sex before marriage, marrying outside the traditional system or speaking out for their rights. Girls in Borana who had dropped out of school mentioned in one of the focus group discussions that because of a few cases of pregnancies before marriage in one school, the community began talking about all girls at that school as having lost the Borana values and spread rumours about the girls being unfit for marriage. As a result, the girls felt that they had no choice but to leave school and focus on getting married so that they could maintain their respect and value in the community.

Parents can play a huge role in protecting girls from clan pressure. The story of Halima, the student from Afar (human conditions section) shows the potential for girls’ mothers to influence change positively, but also the extent of pressure to conform that is placed on families by their clan. As in Borana, the girl and her family are threatened with being considered ‘out of the clan’, which means they will no longer be part of the clan’s social and economic support systems.

Acceptance within their communities is paramount to a pastoralist girl’s and woman’s well being and overall existence. At the same time, acceptance of cultural pressure can limit the opportunity for women and girls to be their own change agents. Their lack of voice in the family, limited close social ties within their communities and the barriers to their public expression and participation exacerbate their comparatively low

36

social status and self-esteem. This is not to say that women have no agency or power – as in many societies, women have ‘informal’ sources of power and can influence their families and communities through their husbands and through building respect in their communities as a strong or wise women40. CARE’s SII and discussions with CARE community facilitators (Afari men and women) and Afari women emphasized the strength of Afar women and their ability to express themselves freely: ‘Afari women speak up within the household, they are not shy like in some other societies. Also they are strong, as strong as the men’.

This strong voice is generally heard within a limited sphere of influence defined by culture and the clan – for example, it is not acceptable for girls and women to challenge the fundamental norms that affect their lives: arranged marriage, gender-based roles and responsibilities, the leadership of men. However, pastoralist women do have influence in other areas and are able to support each other through recognized social networks. For example, during times of drought, women traditionally establish networks for the distribution of milk to those in need. Women also organize the provision of labour in the form of fuel wood and water collection for those who are pregnant or sick41 - “Though these redistribution networks are a feature of Boran society throughout the year, they are vital during times of drought and help to lessen the effects of environmental and other shocks on poorer households. It is at these times, and when men are often absent for long periods, that women are given greater opportunities to organize and assert themselves in decision making than they would under normal conditions”42.

Although pastoralist girls have few networks for social support outside of the family, these kinds of women’s networks may be an acceptable, safe starting point for supporting the establishment of stronger social support networks for girls. The idea of supporting girls through women was also raised by a group of students in Afar:

“One woman at the meeting raised the example of a grown up girl from a rural area who was being forced into circumcision (avoided so far) and a marriage. She didn’t want either of this. Who should she go to? We discussed the point that family was not going to help as they were the ones planning the circumcision and marriage, that the Women’s Affairs office and police are too far and ineffective given the ability of family to make life very difficult for the girl. In the end the group thought that there was a need for informal or formal women’s groups within the community that could help the girl, if there was someone that the girl could turn to quietly and who could work ‘behind the scenes’ on the family

40 Brocklesby, Hobley and Scott-Villiers (2009) Raising voice – Securing a Livelihood: The role of diverse voices in developing secure livelihoods in pastoralist areas of Ethiopia – A Summary Paper; DFID41 Lemlem et al. (2007) cited in International Change Management Consultant (ICMC) desk review for CARE Ethiopia, April 2009.42 Ibid

37

as well as more openly as required. Also, the importance of educating parents was raised.”43

During the UCPV, girls and women all stressed the importance of education in enabling girls to have more influence in their families and more choice in key areas of their life such as marriage. Afari women students at Samara University (the only women in their batch) also stressed the importance of girls becoming confident and that this only happens if they go to school and are given different experiences. But when girls start doing this they can quickly be labelled as ‘stepping out of line’ ‘out of the clan’ or ‘out of the religion’

3.5 ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR PASTORALIST GIRLS

Formal policies, laws and institutionsThere are a number of international laws to which Ethiopia is a signatory that affect girls’ rights. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, signed by Ethiopia in 1980 and ratified in 1981). Others have not yet been ratified – for example, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) which reinforces commitments made under CEDAW but which is more specific to the African context since articles specifically address HTP and marriage. The Ethiopian Constitution and the 1960 Civil Code are other important pieces of legislation that define and determine women’s rights in Ethiopia.

At the federal level, the Government of Ethiopia’s Family law (2000), the National Policy on Women (?), the National Action Plan for Women (x) and Youth policies such as xxxx aim to promote the fulfillment of many of these rights and to protect women (and girls) from rights’ violations. Some regional governments have translated these federal level laws and policies into development ‘packages’ or programs for implementation. However, these may still not adequately take into account the variation of women’s needs from region to region, and socio-cultural taboos44.

In theory, a regional law cannot give fewer rights than are embodied in the Constitution and international instruments ratified by Ethiopia. Some regional governments have issued specific laws against FGC. For example, CARE Ethiopia was instrumental in working with the Afar Regional Women’s Affairs Bureau and the Afar Islamic Affairs and Justice Bureau for the development of a regional law to eliminate FGC. However, many of these laws are not practically implemented or enforced and customary/

43 Discussion with students at Samara Nursing College, Dubdi Hospital; Helen Pankhurst and Charles Hopkins, Jan. 201044 Flintan et al (2008) Study on Women’s Property Rights in Afar and Oromiya Regions, Ethiopia.

38

traditional laws, which are relatively more important to pastoralist communities, do not necessarily work in harmony with the ‘formal’ system to promote, protect and enforce girls’ rights. As yet, there are no laws against bride price. The Afar regional state is currently in the process of developing a regional family law which will incorporate cultural/traditional, religious and formal law, and it was suggested that it will be important to work with customary, religious and formal governance structures to support the implementation of this new law.

The institutions primarily responsible for upholding women’s/ youth policies and laws at the regional and woreda levels include the Bureaus and Offices of Women’s Affairs, Youth and Sport, and Education, as well as the Police and Justice Offices. Government sectoral offices are aware of the challenges facing women, and to some extent girls, in pastoralist areas and most development interventions are planned with gender mainstreaming in mind. One of the practical examples in Borana is the Food for Work campaign called “Men work – women receive” which is based on the premise that women are more responsible in using resources. The government’s health extension program is also working in communities through the health extension workers, to raise awareness of the harmful consequences and reduce the acceptance and practice of harmful traditional practices such as FGC and early marriage, in collaboration with the Women’s Affairs and Education offices. Generally, however, females are treated as a single group and there are few girls-specific strategies or interventions.

Those development packages and plans that are present are sometimes difficult to enforce because of a lack of capacity within the relevant government bodies. For example, the Women’s Affairs Bureau in Afar has a five year strategic plan (1998-2002 EC) that contains strategies/ activities directed at the development of pastoral girls. Representatives of the Bureau stated staff shortages, lack of budget and lack of roads to reach rural communities as the main constraints to the effective implementation of the plan. With regard to health and education services provision, problems due to the inability to attract staff to remote, under-serviced rural locations, poor staff motivation and inappropriateness of services for mobile populations, have already been described above.

In addition to the resource and budget limitations, local government bodies generally lack accountability or responsiveness to their constituents. Afar respondents during the UCP/V assessment said “Government officials come to our village very rarely with their Cobra Land Cruiser. They have no time to hear us, let alone respond to our questions”. Respondents described poor targeting of food aid during emergencies or crises, particularly in times of drought, saying that the poorest, most vulnerable households such as female headed households are not given priority. They also complained of improper handling, administration and reporting of periodic livestock vaccinations by the Woreda Health Office; since staff may not be able to reach remote areas during annual vaccination campaigns due to inaccessibility/lack of roads,

39

shortage of transportation facilities or insecurity, they have been known to dispose of vaccines before reaching the remoter areas and present false vaccination reports and empty vaccine bottles.

In terms of social protection, the Police office in Borana has a community policing department which reaches down to the kebele, gere and allas45

level, and also to schools; through this department, the police are working on awareness creation for communities on how to protect girls from rape, abduction and other forms of girls’ rights violations. These community policing structures are responsible for reporting any incidences in relation to girls and children’s abuse, as well as other crimes. At woreda level, the police office also has a focal person specifically for women and children’s affairs. This person works closely with the Women’s Affairs office and follows cases to the courts. The same department is raising awareness of legal issues and consequences in the community at different levels.

Both the Justice Office and Police at zonal and woreda level raise awareness of criminal and family law and investigate criminal reports brought to the courts in relation to the violation of girls’ rights. However, communities often prefer to bring such cases to the traditional courts rather than to the formal legal system. In Afar, women felt that there was a lack of information and opportunity for legal consultation regarding women’s rights and rights of recourse to justice at kebele level. In a discussion with some CARE community facilitators in Afar, they described one case of a woman who is relentlessly and determinedly pursuing her husband through the formal court system, for her right to

????. This women is being strongly supported by the Women’s Affairs Bureau and a female judge at the regional level court. Generally, the formal legal system is seen as being less accessible but more favorable to women than the traditional justice system, which is widely accepted to be almost totally biased in favor of men.

Customary institutions and lawsEnvironmentalTraditional customary governance institutions - the Gada in Borana and the Edola Haada in Afar are extremely important. They have played and continue to play a crucial role in protecting pastoralists’ mobility and livelihoods systems, and particularly in natural resources and rangeland management. They are of utmost importance in times of drought or crisis, enabling traditional coping strategies and ensuring clan support for the poorest and most vulnerable families. However, pastoralists’ traditional governance structures are arguably losing some of their power. A recent DFID study46 finds that the traditional institutions seem unable to respond adequately to the increasing pressure on pastoralist livelihoods and resulting increase in drop outs from traditional

45 Explain gare, allas etc levels46 Brocklesby, Hobley and Scott-Villiers (2009) Raising voice – Securing a Livelihood: The role of diverse voices in developing secure livelihoods in pastoralist areas of Ethiopia – A Summary Paper; DFID

40

pastoralism. This means that many pastoralists are losing their connection to the clan and losing the livelihood support that this connection brings. At the same time, it seems that in some instances clan leaders have not been able to protect pastoralists’ rights to grazing land and other natural resources or to stop the privatization of natural resources – for example, the conversion of traditional pastureland into large-scale farming enterprises in Afar. Traditionally, clan leaders are responsible for sharing the benefits of any external investments in their area to the community; however, Afar respondents said that in some cases, clan leaders abuse these resources. Clan members usually excuse and protect their leaders and will not expose them to ‘external’ bodies, such as local government to take action.

One study cited in the UCPV desk review47 suggests that in most pastoralist areas formal government institutions, especially the Kebeles, are gradually replacing the functions of traditional leadership. In terms of natural resources management, this may be a problem: “.. indigenous institutions are run by elders who have accumulated knowledge of the ecology and adapting the production systems based on experiences. They have structures up to grassroots level to handle different issues being near the community members. It was observed, on the other hand, that younger people who lack the knowledge and experiences lead pastoral associations i.e. Kebeles. The structure of formal administration is not compatible with pastoralism, which is mobile”.

However, the study goes on to say that there are areas in which indigenous institutions and kebele leaders are working together harmoniously, especially in Afar region. It suggests that effective natural resources management and pastoral development could be achieved through integration of the indigenous institutions with formal government structures and cites the case of Afar, where traditional leaders are assigned as advisors at woreda level to establish good links to the communities they represent. In Oromia, the integration is only informal, whilst in Somali region, the role of traditional and religious leadership overlaps to a high degree.

EconomicAs described above in the ‘human conditions’ section, in both Borana and Afar, girls and women traditionally have limited or no rights to own or inherit property or resources, although there are some signs of change.

Flintan et al (2008) describes women’s customary rights to resources in Afar and the interplay between customary, religious and formal rights: Afari women have no customary right to property ownership; under Sharia Law, however, she can usually keep the money and property she owns, and on marriage is usually given a financial sum or property (known as the ‘Haq Mehr’) to allow her to survive in the event of divorce or widowhood; although under the constitution all women have a right to 47 Bizabih et al cited in ICMC Desk review for CARE Ethiopia, April 2009

41

own and inherit property, in Ethiopia the provisions allowed under Sharia law were abolished by the Civil Code of 1960, which makes all rights in the case of divorce uniform regardless of whether the marriage was civil, religious or customary48.

SocialIn terms of social protection of girls, the Borana Gada leadership and decision making institution is regarded as the responsible body. This protection largely focuses around controlling girls’ sexuality and preventing them from being exposed to or engaging in sex before marriage (the penalty system, chebena, is part of this). The Gada sets the mandatory bride price that signifies the ‘sale’ of a girl to her husband and thus governs the use of girls in maintaining the balance of resources between the two major clans.

In Afar, the Finaa is the clan defence and community policing institution that is primarily responsible for the social protection of girls and women. It consists of a principal leader (feima-abba), a deputy leader (erenna-abba) and ordinary clan members. Breaking of customary law/community values and respect for tradition results in punishment. The reasons for punishment are usually non-cooperation, inter and intra-clan activities and also adultery, mistreatment of a wife and mismanagement of family livestock49. In Afar, the absuma system also protects a girl from the risk of sex before marriage and maintains a girl’s value as an asset to her future in-laws, her mother’s relatives.

In Afar region particularly, many cultural and social norms are supported by Islamic laws. For example, although religious leaders have banned infibulation and are more and more speaking out against all forms of FGC, many Afar communities still justify FGC with the Sunna of the Holy Quoran. At the UCPV assessment feedback workshop in Afar, the religious leaders admitted that there is still debate amongst themselves whether sunna is acceptable, but said that most leaders would agree that allowing sunna leads many people to continue to practice infibulation. Rather than protecting girls’ rights or preventing rights violations, religious (Sharia) and traditional (Edola Haada) laws in Afar are more likely to be used to seek justice after a violation has taken place. In such cases it is generally agreed that both the traditional and religious justice systems generally seek reconciliation rather than redress and as such favour men.

Pastoral communities have strong ties with indigenous and religious institutions and these institutions have a critical influence in bringing change: “The influences of the indigenous institutions in Afar and Oromia and Islam religion in Afar and Somali are crucial in an attempt to bring social changes needed for development. Policies that acknowledge and associate development efforts with indigenous institutions in a way that their values and roles are appreciated would be fundamental”. 50

48 Flintan et al (2008) Study on Women’s Property Rights in Afar and Oromiya Regions, Ethiopia.49 Ibid50 Bizabih et al cited in ICMC Desk review for CARE Ethiopia, April 2009

42

Political In Oromiya, social organization is based on the gada, a system of generational classes that succeed each other every eight years in assuming political, military and judicial, legislative and ritual responsibilities. This is still adhered to in most rural parts of Borana. The Gumii Assembly meets once every eight years in the middle of the gada’s period in power; this is a pan-Borana general assembly held to resolve conflict, review customary laws, make new laws and review the gada in power. The largest Gumii is the Gumii Gaayoo Assembly – the last one was held in 2004 and lasted one month and the next one will be held in 2012. This would be an important time to try to influence opinion and advocate for changes in customary law related to pastoralist girls’ rights. Women are allowed to attend the event but must be accompanied by their husbands and clan councillors. However, women are not involved in public decision making processes and have no authority within the structure.

In Afar, there are different political and governance structures. The customary law is called either madqua or Afar ada and is used to administer Afari society, including governance of resources. The hierarchical leadership includes the Sultan (with the highest power), the Makkabuntu, responsible for upholding the Afari culture (qaada) and law (madqa), and the Fiamata abba, responsible for implementing law and meting out punishment. There is also the Finaa - the clan defence and community policing institution. As mentioned above, the Islamic religious structures and Sharia law are extremely influential. Again, women have no official role in any of these structures.

However, as mentioned in the social positions section, whilst women may not have any official or formal role in pastoralist governance systems, it is recognized that they do wield a level of ‘informal’ power through their husbands, sons and other male relatives.

4.0 ANALYSISWhat do the findings mean for the long-term development of pastoralist girls and their communities? The UCP/V analysis matrix below summarises the analysis of findings from the UCP/V assessments in Afar and Borana, the feedback workshop in Afar and various staff discussion forums (within the PDQS unit as well as at the senior staff meeting). The matrix has undergone a number of revisions, with the latest revision recognizing the trends in some of the UCPVs. For example, whilst FGC is still common, communities are increasingly aware of the negative health impacts on girls; whilst the number of pastoralist girls in education is still relatively low, the importance of educating girls is increasingly recognized by their families and communities. In terms of human conditions, there are increasing trends of rangeland encroachment and natural resource degradation, whilst under the enabling environment section, whilst there

43

is no doubt that pastoralists have suffered from political marginalization in the past, the current government is giving increasing attention to the development of pastoral areas.

The findings from the UCPV assessment, supported by CARE’s desk review and other literature, clearly show that life is becoming harder for pastoralists and that their mobile way of life is under pressure due to drought, the increased cost of living, and as their traditional rangelands are taken over either for agriculture, through privatization, bush encroachment, prosopis or degradation. Although the UCPV study did not specifically compare the livelihood and social status of more mobile and less mobile girls, subsequent discussions with staff and government and partner organizations suggested that girls in more mobile pastoral communities are more likely to be vulnerable to poor health, education and livelihood outcomes. Increasing pressure on livelihoods is, however, also providing opportunities also for positive change for women and girls – for example, men sharing some of the domestic workload and women gaining more control over cash.

Pastoralist girls’ inequality is manifested in their low educational status, low social status in terms of civic leadership or decision-making power within their communities and their low health status. The social positions section of the matrix suggests that girls’ inequality is deep rooted in social and cultural norms and values. Many of these norms and values relate to the paramount importance of marriage in the life of a girl in terms of her social acceptance and status, her economic security (or insecurity since she becomes almost completely dependent on her husband’s economic status on marriage), and her sense of self. Although traditional marriage systems also have positive aspects – all girls are guaranteed a marriage

44

UNIFYING FRAMEWORK FOR PASTORALIST GIRLS (AFAR AND BORANA)Human condition Social position Enabling environment

IMMEDIATECAUSES

Lack of family/ community support for girls’ education - though increasing

Low visibility and support for women’s and girls’ health issues (e.g FGC, fistula)

Limited participation of women in policy formulation - though increasing

Little relationship between formal or traditional governance inst’ns and girls

Girls have no ‘voice’ before marriage

Low number and poor quality of education facilities, (distance to 2y schools, low teachers’ attendance, poor sanitary facilities)

Poor access/ quality of sexual reproductive health and maternal health services

INTERMEDIATE CAUSES

Pastoralists’ mobility increases vulnerability of girls (access to education, services, water, info)

Low livestock production and productivity

Low household income and limited livelihoods alternatives

Conflict

Lack of community awareness of the health impact of FGM - though increasing

Low girls’ self esteem (to challenge norms)

Low girls’ life skills Lack of knowledge (and

acknowledgement) of girls’ rights and supporting formal legal frameworks

Education policies and practice not appropriate to mobile lifestyle (location, times, language, content)

Lack of mechanisms for women to participate in policy formation - though increasing

Poor implementation capacity at kebele/PA level (staff numbers, skills, resources)

Woreda Women’s Affairs office lacks power and resources

UNDERLYING CAUSES

Rangeland encroachment (farm expansion/privatization of land, prosopis) – all worsening

Rangeland and resource degradation

Arid land and cycles of drought

Inherent low resistance to disasters

Lack of parents’ education (reinforces harmful social and cultural norms)

Marginalised, remote land and

Cultural & social norms support gender inequity Unequal allocation of resources

(boys vs girls) Girls valued less than boys in the

family High value attributed to FGM,

laws not enforced Girls valued primarily as an

‘asset’ (bride price) Fear of girls becoming sexually

active and challenging norms Reinforced by traditional laws ‘Absuma’ marriage system (Afar)

Historical political marginalization of pastoral areas - though more attention being given by current government

Poor governance by local government (diversion of community resources, weak supervision of social services by line ministries and woreda offices, lack of accountability)

Weakening traditional governance structures (diversion of community resources in some cases, lack of accountability of leaders, loss of authority)

Formal legal frameworks related to women and girls (GBV, FGC, inheritance law) are

45

Human condition Social position Enabling environmentresources Inter-clan marriage system

(Borana) Widow/ widower inheritance -

reducing Sharia law (perceptions/

confusions re. FGM) No rights to own or inherit

property

not supported or enforced by customary law

Limited social support systems for girls Poor communication & coordination

between development actors (INGOs, local NGOs, CBOs, government, private sector)

46

partner, marriage partners can be vetted by families to ensure they are suitable and able to support girls, newly married girls are closely supported – they also allow and sustain practices such as FGC, cross-generational marriage, inheritance marriage and early and forced marriage. These systems institutionalize girls’ women’s lack of inheritance rights and rights to marriage property, limit girls’ aspirations and opportunities to participate in public life, and reduce their educational and economic opportunities. Ultimately they limit the growth and development not just of girls, but of the families to whom pastoralist girls and the women they grow into contribute.

Education was seen by all – by girls and boys, parents, students, government bodies, workshop participants, CARE staff etc. - as absolutely central to changing the lives and livelihoods of pastoralist girls, and as the key to enabling girls to have more choice and voice in the decisions that affect them. Although there are some fears around the impact of education on traditional values and norms, it seems to be generally accepted that educating girls will bring benefits both for the girl and her family. At this stage the focus is on access to education rather than on the quality of the education, though there are major quality issues – services are not appropriate in terms of pastoralists’ mobility, language or content. Access to higher education for pastoralist communities is still very limited and as yet, there are few educated role models for girls or boys from within their communities51. Mothers and other women are a crucial target group that can be a counterpoint to clan pressure to conform and influence the choices that girls have over education and marriage, create opportunities, raise aspirations and potentially support and protect girls through their own social networks. At the same time, changing boys and men’s attitudes through education and advocacy is fundamental to stopping FGC and other harmful traditional practices.

Empowering girls and women economically, reducing their almost absolute dependence on their husbands, sons or other male relatives, was also seen as a priority in addressing their poverty and vulnerability.

None of these changes can happen unless formal and customary laws and institutions that govern different spheres of pastoralists’ livelihoods and societies begin to complement rather that work against each other. For example, with regard to social issues, traditional/ customary laws need to be brought more into harmony with formal laws designed to protect girls from HTPs and enforce their equal status and rights with boys. Support from customary institutions is needed to ensure that formal laws are systematically and practically enforced, as well as to begin to change the social attitudes and norms that bias current traditional justice systems towards men. On the other hand, with regard to the environment, formal laws need to legally recognize the role and importance of customary 51 Note that women students in Afar were very keen to be involved in any future initiatives as role models for Afari girls, especially in rural areas.

47

systems of natural resource and rangeland management and customary institutions need to be formalized as a natural resource management body52.

There will need to be additional analysis around the policy/ legal frameworks (both formal and customary) that affect pastoral girls.

Finally, an important lesson from the UCP/V assessment and situational analysis is that focusing on the underlying causes of poverty and vulnerability can lead us to focus too much on analyzing the problem and prevent us from seeing the positive changes, the trends and strengths within the impact populations (and their families and communities) that can balance the analysis and point to the ways forward in the design of programs that can really bring significant, lasting change. As part of future assessments it will be important to specifically focus on trends, changes and deviations from the ‘norm’ and opportunities for building on positive changes. This could be done through systematically collecting and including case stories and practical examples of change at each level – the impact population and most vulnerable sub-groups, the target populations, and stakeholders.

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCHWebsites The pastoralist initiative has some interesting publications dealing mainly

with conflict and law within Ethiopia and Kenya: http://www.pastoralists.org The Pastoralist Women’s Council, in Tanzania is the only indigenous women-

led pastoralist organization in Tanzania. Working in remote rural locations of the Arusha region in Northern Tanzania, PWC aims to reduce the barriers faced by pastoralist women in accessing their rights to education, productive resources, security and participationhttp://www.tanzaniapwc.org/

Pastoral Policy Initiative: ochaonline.un.org/rocea/PastoralPolicy/tabid/4428/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Publications Bredin, Miles (2005), The Roots of Modern Government in Ethiopia, UN OCHA-

PCI, 2005

Brocklesby, Hobley and Scott-Villiers (2009), Raising voice – Securing a Livelihood: The role of diverse voices in developing secure livelihoods in pastoralist areas of Ethiopia, A Summary Paper, DFID

CARE Ethiopia (2006), Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women’s Empowerment in Relation to FGC Elimination Project, Awash

52 Muir, Ann (200?)

48

CARE Ethiopia (2009), An assessment to understand the underlying causes of poverty of pastoralist girls, Desk review, International Change Management Consultants (ICMC)

Crewett et al (2008), Land Tenure in Ethiopia, Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington

Dhadacha Nagaya (?) The Acacia of Peace, Pastoralist Communication Initiative

DFID (2008). Finding the way forward. Pastoralist Communication Initiative, Oxfam, August 2008. Discussions articulated in this paper describe pastoralists’ wish to be recognized by the law: Ethiopian pastoralists want a governance structure which supports them. “We have livestock but we don’t have a system in place, or laws and a constitution to protect us. Those who grow coffee and tea are protected by certain laws. And we, as pastoralists, would also like to be protected by similar laws and regulations”

Flintan et al (2008), Women’s Empowerment in Pastoral Societies

Flintan et al. (2008), Study on Women’s Property Rights in Afar and Oromiya Regions, Ethiopia

Halake Bante (no date), Women and Property Rights in Borana

Helland, Johan (2006), International Research Workshop on Property Rights, Collective Action and Poverty Reduction in Pastoral Areas of Afar and Somali National Regional State, Ethiopia

Howard, Sarah (2003), Communities and Customs: Change for Women in the 21st Century? WOMANKIND Worldwide, Women speak about their lives in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Somaliland, and Sudan. March 2003.

Humanitarian Policy Group (2009), Pastoralist voices: For a Policy Framework on Pastoralism in Africa. ECHO

International Change Management Consultants (2009), Desk Review

Ibrahim Amae Elemo (2005), HIV/AIDS, Gender and Reproductive Health Promotion. The Roles of Traditional Institutions Among the Borana Oromo, Southern Ethiopia. Contemporary Issues in Borana and the 38th Gumii Gaayoo Assembly. Addis Ababa.

Lister, Sarah (2004), IDS Working Paper 220: The Processes and Dynamics of Pastoralist Representation in Ethiopia, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, Sussex, England

Muir, Ann (2006), Customary Pastoralist Institutions Study, SC-US PLI Consortium/ CARE PLI Consortium / SOS Sahel/Ethiopia Borana Program

Mussa, Mohammed (2004), A Comparative Study of Pastoralist Parliamentary Groups: Case Study on Pastoral Affairs Standing Committee of Ethiopia

49

Oxfam GB. (2005), Beyond the mainstream: education for nomadic and pastoralist girls and boys. Program insights. Education and Gender Equality Series, Oxfam GB. December 2005 http://www.eldis.org/go/country-profiles&id=21687&type=Document

Ridgewell et al (2007), Gender and Pastoralism: Rangeland and Resource Management in Ethiopia. Volumes 1 and 2, SOS Sahel Ethiopia

Save the Children UK, CARE (2009), Climate-related vulnerability and adaptive capacity in Ethiopia’s Boran and Somali, Final assessment report.

UNDP (2003), The Global Drylands Second Cihmalpleernaget Pivapeer Series. Canadian International Development Agency

UNOCHA (2007), The Future of Pastoralism in Ethiopia: Four possible scenarios, Pastoralist Communication Initiative, January 2007

50