September 2008

Strengthening the humanity and dignity of people in crisis through knowledge and practice

Three Year Plan: January 2009 to December 2011

Vision
We have a vision of a future in which famine, widespread
violations of human rights, extreme suffering, and
crimes against humanity are held to be self-evidently
unacceptable by states and their peoples. A vision in
which nation states, and the international community,
in all its manifestations, feel duty-bound to act – and
do act – to prevent and alleviate such abuses.
©2008 Feinstein International Center. All Rights Reserved.

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Feinstein International Center

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Contents

Introduction 3

PART I
Research and Institutional Change Programs 4
Introduction 4
Livelihoods and Nutrition of Marginalized People (Program Overview) 5
Darfur: Livelihoods,Vulnerability, and Choice (Program Overview) 8
Understanding the future of pastoralism in Africa (Program Overview) 12
Uganda: Upholding Rights in the Face of Violence (Program Overview) 16
The Evolving Global Environment of Crisis and Crisis Response (Program Overview) 18

Education, outreach, and collaboration 20

Teaching at Tufts 20
The Masters in Humanitarian Assistance (MAHA) 20
Food Policy and Nutrition Masters (FPAN) 20
Humanitarian Field of Study 20
Humanitarian Studies and Field Practice Initiative 21
Support for Student Research 21

International Outreach 21
The Summer School 21
Visiting Fellows and Practitioner Expert Programs 21
Books in progress 22

Collaboration and networking 23

Collaboration with Southern Researchers and Institutions 23
Collaboration with the International Humanitarian Community 23
Effecting Change at Tufts 24

Center staffing and infrastructure 25

Staffing and infrastructure 25
Budget 25

(continued)
Contents (continued)

PART II
Livelihoods and Nutrition of Marginalized People 26
Advancing Financial Resilience (Karen Jacobsen, Kim Wilson) 26
Linking Microfinance to Mobile Payphones: The Impact on Livelihoods 27
(Karen Jacobsen, Daryl Collins and Kim Wilson)
Livelihoods Change over Time: Responses of Communities and Agencies to 28
Chronic Crisis (Dan Maxwell, Jennie Coates)
Longitudinal Study of Market- and Credit-Based Livelihood Interventions 29
in Ethiopia (John Burns)
Profiling Internally Displaced Persons in Urban Areas, Phase II (Karen Jacobsen) 30
Building Capacity among Refugee Mutual Aid Associations in Maine (Lacey Gale) 31
Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Bangladesh: 32
Reducing Vulnerability to Malnutrition in Poor Cyclone-prone
Communities (Kate Sadler)
Promoting Evidence-based Livelihood Programming in Karamoja, 33
Uganda (Elizabeth Stites)
Livelihoods-based Programming and Impact Assessment in Pastoral Areas 35
of the Horn of Africa (Andy Catley, Berhanu Admassu and Yacob Aklilu)
Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards: Raising Awareness, Ensuring 36
Uptake (Andy Catley)

Darfur: Livelihoods, Vulnerability, and Choice 38

Markets, Trade, and Livelihoods: Darfur, Sudan (Helen Young, Margie Buchanan-Smith) 38
Pastoral Perspectives:Vulnerability, Power, and Choice (Helen Young) 39
Conflict, Livelihoods, and Household Food Security in Darfur (Helen Young) 40
Livelihoods, Migration, and the Environment (Helen Young) 41
Remittances to Conflict Zones: Phase 2: Transition Countries: 43
the Sudanese Diaspora in Cairo (Karen Jacobsen, Helen Young)
Markets, Information, and Mobile Phones: Darfur, Sudan (Jenny Aker, Helen Young) 44
Understanding the future of pastoralism in Africa 46
Regional Policy Support on Food Security in Pastoral Areas with the Common 46
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Andy Catley, Dawit Abebe, and Yacob Aklilu)
Towards Pro-Pastoralist Policies in Ethiopia (Berhanu Admassu,Yacob Aklilu, 47
and Andy Catley)
Cross-sectoral Learning for Service Provision in the Somali Region of Ethiopia 49
(Andy Catley, Berhanu Admassu)
Pastoral Livelihoods and Destitution in Northern Kenya (Andy Catley) 50
Alternative Approaches to International Trade in Livestock Products: 51
Commodity-based Trade (Andy Catley,Yacob Aklilu)
Camel Marketing and Pastoral Livelihoods in Ethiopia (Yacob Aklilu) 52
Cattle and Meat Value Chain Assessment in Ethiopia (Yacob Aklilu) 53
Livelihoods, Trade, and Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Ethiopia 54
(Andy Catley, Berhanu Admassu)
Milk Matters: Improving the Health and Nutritional Status of Children 56
in Pastoral Communities (Andy Catley, Kate Sadler)
Seers as War Makers, Peace Makers, and Leaders within the Karamoja Cluster 57
(Darlington Akabwai, Khristopher Carlson)
Livelihoods and Insecurity in Northeastern Uganda (Elizabeth Stites) 59

Uganda: Upholding Rights in the Face of Violence 62

Formal Justice and Accountability for People in Northern Uganda 62
(Dyan Mazurana, Teddy Atim)
Traditional Justice and Accountability in Northern Uganda (Khristopher 64
Carlson, Teddy Atim)

The Evolving Global Environment of Crisis and Crisis Response 66

Preparing for Humanitarian Crises of the Future (Peter Walker) 66
The Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Principles, Power, and Perceptions (Antonio Donini) 67
“Winning Hearts and Minds?” Understanding the Relationship between Aid 68
and Security (Andrew Wilder)
Humanitarianism and Corporate Social Responsibility (Lynellyn D. Long) 70
Crisis and Social Transformation in Nepal (Antonio Donini) 73

ACRONYMS 76
INTRODUCTION
We crafted our vision statement, which appears
on the inside cover, three years ago. It still inspires
us. It is why we do what we do. We believe that
evidence-driven, field-based research must play a
central role in addressing the suffering found in
humanitarian crises, human right failures, and war.
Research which asks why and how, but then goes
on to also ask “so what” is the hallmark of the
Center.
We have proven over the past years that good
research can be directly linked to programs which
effect change in the systems, organizations, and
policies that constrain the futures of communities
on the margins.
Over the next three years we will be driving
five major research and institutional change
programs, encompassing a total of 34 projects, to
better understand the world of crises, and to effect
positive change in the lives of those caught up in
these crises.
In keeping with our grounded approach, we
actively build partnerships with local researchers
and civil groups, seeking to empower them
through the knowledge we jointly generate. Using
our university base, we are also privileged to invest
in the next generation of researchers and aid
workers through the educational programs we run
and the courses we teach.
Research and education should make a
difference. They are tools for social change, not
just personal advancement. This is why we believe
our work will make a difference. This is why we
do what we do.
We have reshaped Tufts/FIC in the past three
years, evolving it from a collection of individual
researchers studying famine and complex
emergencies to a coherent body focused on
marginalized communities. We have built an
integrated program of research, institutional
change, and education. We have also greatly
increased our standing with the international
community we seek to influence. We now occupy
a key position at the intersection of research and
institutional change. We are increasingly looked to
by aid agencies, UN bodies, donor institutions,
and national agencies to provide evidence-based,
impartial knowledge and advice on livelihoods,
rights, and organizational issues. We have greatly
expanded our networking with local researchers,
community-based organizations, national govern-
ment teams, and universities in the marginal
environments where we work.
Over the next three years we will:
1. Deepen the quality of our research
2. Strengthen the linkages between research
and institutional change
3. Continue to improve our educational
mission within The Friedman School of
Nutrition Science and Policy
4. Use partnerships with Southern-based
researchers, local associations, and aid agencies
to both improve the quality of our work and
promote the evidence-based changes we
believe are needed and possible.
With the recent addition of one senior faculty,
who focuses on the interface of the corporate
world and humanitarian crises, and the pending
appointment of another, who studies climate
change and political violence, we will have
achieved our full complement of senior staff. Over
the next three years we will be adding more
junior-level researchers to existing teams rather
than adding new teams, seeking to deepen the
work of our research teams, and at the same time
providing opportunities for young researchers to
move from graduate studies to internships to
junior research positions and on into the main-
stream of action-oriented research. We will also be
focusing on increasing our links with other
like-minded institutions and individuals to
increase the influence of our work through local
and global coalitions.
Part one of this document outlines our five
planned research programs and linked institutional
change. It also describes our educational mission
and partnership-building along with a review of
our staffing and institutional needs, and our
expected budget.
Part two contains detailed descriptions of
each of the planned 34 projects which make up
the five key research and institutional change
programs.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 3
Part I
RESEARCH AND
INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE PROGRAMS
This section, the bulk of the plan and our work, is
organized into five programs. Each program
contains a number of discrete projects. For those
readers who want an overview of the planned
work, focus on the program descriptions,
presented here. For those who want to go into
the detail of specific projects, each project is
presented in detail in Part II, covering its
background, proposed work, and expected
outcomes.
Introduction
The Feinstein International Center at Tufts is
fundamentally a research-based organization. We
seek to understand what really goes on in margin-
alized communities and complex crises, focusing
on the communities’ own understanding of these
crises and the linkages into regional, national, and
global processes. We seek to effect institutional
change, through the participatory way we do our
research, through the alliances we build with other
institutions, and through our publications, semi-
nars, and briefings. Effecting change involves three
key elements: first, we must gain a rigorously
researched, evidence-based and tested body of
knowledge which better explains the complexity
of processes which shape the lives of those caught
up in crisis. This knowledge must then be put
into the hands of those who should be effecting
change, which includes the crisis-affected com-
munity, those agencies closely associated with
interventions in these crises, the funders of such
actions, and state authorities who shape the crisis
environment. This process is achieved through
participatory research, seminars, publications,
one-on-one briefings, field visits, and a myriad of
other techniques. Finally, from the research, we
identify the promising leverage points in the crisis
dynamic where the application of this knowledge
through these actors can effect change. Change
can happen when the right knowledge is applied
by the right people in the right way at the right
place and time.
Projects can be either research-led or institu-
tional change-led. Research-led projects start
with a desire to better understand a process or
environment and identify potential change agents
and leverage points as they emerge. Much of our
4 Feinstein International Center
research in Darfur falls into this category. In this
style of project, the research objectives are clear
from the start but the institutional change objec-
tives may emerge later as we gain a greater
understanding of the field.
Alternatively, projects may be institutional
change-led, as is much of our work in Ethiopia.
Here, a collective of operational agencies and
funders has identified a set of problems and
change processes. We then use research as one tool
to help these partners identify and adopt effective
institutional change strategies.
Individual projects develop against three
criteria. First, they must be of considerable interest
to the researcher leading the project. We are
neither an advocacy organization nor a consul-
tancy, but rather an academic institution, premised
on the notion of individual inquiry. Second, we
have collectively agreed on some overarching
principles for projects within Tufts/FIC, expressed
in our mission statement. All new projects need to
be in line with these common goals. Finally,
pragmatically, we need to be able to interest an
external source in funding the research.
The useful tension between individual
inquiry and common goals has shaped our
portfolio of projects around a number of foci,
some geographical, some methodological, some
issue-based. These foci allow us to group projects
into programs. Some programs, like the work in
Darfur, have a high degree of internal cohesive-
ness, with each project supporting the others.
Other programs, like the work on the global crisis
environment, are collections of individual projects
which complement each other. We believe that
while cohesiveness and synergy between projects
is desirable, it cannot be forced. It happens only
when it makes sense for the researchers involved
and the subjects being researched.
We describe below the five research and
institutional change programs which will domi-
nate our work over the next three years. We need
to highlight one caveat. Most of our field research
takes place in conflict-dominated environments.
As we constantly preach to our partners, under-
standing and working to context is everything.
The plans we present here are correct, given our
present assessment of risk and opportunity, but all
this can change in an instant as conflicts flare up,
or peace agreements are signed.
LIVELIHOODS AND NUTRITION OF MARGINALIZED PEOPLE (PROGRAM OVERVIEW)
The cumulative research and field experience
of the Tufts/FIC team points strongly to the
importance of focusing not only on the basic
needs of marginalized communities, but also on
the livelihood systems of these people and the
ways in which livelihoods shift, adapt, and evolve
under stress. This approach prioritizes affected
communities through ‘bottom-up’ analysis, but
includes close attention to the policies and
institutions at the national, regional, and interna-
tional levels that determine the economic, social,
and political context in which people pursue their
livelihood strategies. By understanding the
complexity and nuance of livelihood strategies we
are better able to support, protect, or promote the
livelihoods that have been pursued with success
by local communities and to take steps to ensure
that policies and programs do not undermine or
threaten these strategies. While not all Tufts/FIC
projects focus specifically on livelihoods or
employ a livelihoods approach, the unifying aspect
of our work is to strengthen the lives and liveli-
hoods of the communities we study or work
within.
The projects under this program take into
account the broad range of inputs, processes, and
institutions that inform and influence livelihood
strategies. Together, the projects aim to better
understand how these strategies evolve in situa-
tions of stress and change. In the coming three
years we will be working to better understand
pastoral and community-based nutrition, to
examine the impacts of financial resilience on
marginalized and poor communities, to improve
market and financial interventions, to understand
the economic and social strategies of urban
displaced populations, to gather longitudinal
information on how communities and agencies
adapt over time in situations of chronic crisis, and
to improve programming, policy making, and
standards for interventions in pastoral areas. A
brief overview of each of these projects is
provided here. Full details can be found in Part II
of this document.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 5
Part I
Advancing Financial Resilience
The Financial Resilience (FiRe) project aims
to improve understanding of the properties of
financial resilience in marginalized populations in
high-risk or high-stress environments. How do
households and communities prevent, sustain, or
recover from financial shocks? How does financial
resilience relate to household vulnerability in the
face of crisis? We seek to provide field-based
evidence on the impact of technological innova-
tions among these populations, particularly
communications technology and microfinance
interventions, and to explore how these advances
influence household resilience.
Linking Microfinance To Mobile
Payphones: The Impact On Livelihoods
In collaboration with UNDP, the Central
Bank of Sudan (CBOS), and several INGOs,
Tufts/FIC will investigate the impact of an
ambitious new mobile payphone pilot program,
linked to microfinance, which will be rolled out
by the mobile phone corporation, Zain, in several
areas of Sudan. Tufts/FIC has designed a rigorous
impact study employing random assignment of
payphones and a control group, that will allow us
to determine the financial and livelihood impact
of the pilot program on poor and displaced
clients.
Livelihoods Change Over Time:
Responses Of Communities And
Agencies To Chronic Crisis
The ‘Livelihoods Change over Time’ project is
designed to fill the gap in institutional and agency
knowledge as to how livelihoods change in
response to crisis over an extended period. By
capturing information on change through repeat-
ed and regular site visits, the project seeks to
improve our knowledge of how crisis affects the
livelihoods of communities, to enable humanitar-
ian agencies to better protect livelihoods, and to
inform policy makers on the institutional drivers
of livelihood change. A combined team of re-
searchers from Tufts/FIC and the Friedman
School of Nutrition Science and Policy will work
in collaboration with humanitarian agencies and
research institutes in the host countries, antici-
pated to include Sudan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and
Haiti.
6 Feinstein International Center
Longitudinal Study Of Market- And Credit-
Based Livelihood Interventions In Ethiopia
This research will generate evidence on the
effectiveness of market-oriented microfinance
interventions in reducing chronic food insecurity
in Ethiopia. Through a comparison of interven-
tion and non-intervention households, the project
seeks to provide concrete information on the
impact of microfinance interventions on poverty
reduction. This improved understanding will
inform the government’s national poverty reduc-
tion strategy, the policies of international donors,
and the programs of humanitarian agencies.
Profiling Internally Displaced
Persons In Urban Areas, Phase II
This project responds to the lack of knowl-
edge on the experiences of displaced populations
living in urban areas and expands upon work
conducted in three cities (Khartoum, Sudan;
Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; Santa Marta, Colombia).
Under Phase II we will expand into a fourth city
and, in close collaboration with aid agencies and
donors, develop practical program and policy
initiatives based on the data from the four cases.
One of the main objectives of the study is to
assist governments and humanitarian organizations
to better understand the challenges facing them
and to protect the rights of urban displaced
populations.
Building Capacity Among Refugee
Mutual Aid Associations In Maine
This project seeks to establish a baseline of
information concerning the current activities and
capacity of refugee mutual aid associations
(MAAs) in Maine as well as best practices among
MAAs nationwide. This baseline information will
be used by Tufts/FIC and project partners the
Maine Association for Nonprofits (MANP) and
the State of Maine Office of Multicultural Affairs
(MOMA) to create and deliver a series of
comprehensive training programs for refugees
designed to build peer networks, connect refugee
participants to statewide funding, mentoring,
and advocacy resources, and to build leadership
and organizational capacity within the refugee
communities.
Community-Based Management Of
Severe Acute Malnutrition In Bangladesh:
Reducing Vulnerabilty To Malnutrition In
Poor Cyclone-Prone Communities
This study aims to test the effectiveness of
new models for the diagnosis and treatment of
severe acute malnutrition (SAM) by community
health volunteers. Malnutrition is an underlying
factor in over 50% of deaths of the 10-11 million
children who die each year of preventable causes.
In many areas, however, there are inadequate
strategies to identify severe acute malnutrition in
children and to deliver appropriate treatments.
Working in poor and disaster-prone areas of
Bangladesh, this project will explore the ways in
which community volunteers can provide criti-
cally needed services in areas far from formal
health care facilities. The findings from this
research will be used to inform policy and
practice for the diagnosis and treatment of SAM
in Bangladesh and across the developing world.
Promoting Evidence-Based Livelihood
Programming In Karamoja, Uganda
Insecurity in northeastern Uganda over the
past thirty years has hampered the collection of
quality data on key livelihood and human security
issues. Donors, programmers, and policy makers
have relatively little information for program
design, multi-year plans, and advocacy strategies.
This project works in conjunction with Save the
Children in Uganda to gather qualitative data on
livelihood trends and patterns, shifts in coping
strategies among different population groups, and
the impact of specific livelihood interventions. In
particular, the research aims to better understand
the role of women and children within house-
holds and communities and how the position of
the strategies, risks, and threats faced by these
groups has evolved over time. Findings will
influence the programming and policy making of
Save the Children in Uganda but will also be
shared with local and national authorities and
other agencies working in the region. This
research is particularly important in this three-year
period as a growing number of international
agencies seek to expand into Karamoja.
Livelihoods-Based Programming And
Impact Assessment In Pastoral Areas Of The
Horn Of Africa
This institutional change project builds on
Tufts/FIC’s long tradition of providing coordina-
tion, technical, and impact assessment support to
large-scale pastoral programs in the Horn of Africa.
From 2009 to 2011 it focuses on Ethiopia, Kenya,
and Somalia and assists donors and NGOs by
providing overall technical coordination to pasto-
ralists’ livelihoods programs, and by ensuring that
best-practice livelihoods approaches are applied,
evaluated, and continuously refined. At the national
level, we work with governments to produce
official best-practice guidelines and strengthen
government capacity to coordinate development
and relief programs. With international and local
NGOs we provide hands-on field-level technical
support and assist them in conducting impact
assessments of their work as a means to improve
future programming. The work involves collabora-
tion with a wide range of central and local govern-
ment partners, NGOs, and local research institutes.
Livestock Emergency Guidelines And Stan-
dards: Raising Awareness, Ensuring Uptake
The Livestock Emergency Guidelines and
Standards (LEGS) are being developed as standards
and guidelines for the assessment, design, imple-
mentation, and evaluation of livestock interven-
tions in humanitarian crises around the world.
The LEGS process grew out of the recognition
that although livestock are a crucial livelihoods
asset and livestock interventions are often a feature
of relief responses, there are no international
guidelines for the implementation of livestock
interventions in disasters.
Tufts/FIC initiated the LEGS process in early
2006. The process mirrors the development of the
Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards
in Disaster Response—the Sphere Project—and
intends to become one of the first Sphere ‘Com-
panion Modules.’ The process is based on multi-
agency contributions, broad reviews and collation
of practitioner experience. Recognizing the value
of livelihoods approaches, LEGS is an institutional
change project that aims to promote more
long-term thinking and response in emergencies.
This approach is particularly important as climatic
trends are causing more frequent and varied
humanitarian crises with pronounced effects for
communities who rely heavily on livestock.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 7
Part I
DARFUR: LIVELIHOODS, VULNERABILITY, AND CHOICE (PROGRAM OVERVIEW)
Darfur is an extreme example of how conflict
destroys livelihoods and how pressures on liveli-
hoods combined with a governance gap can
generate conflict. Decisions and choices at inter-
national, national, and local levels perpetuate this
vicious livelihoods-conflict cycle. In Darfur
different livelihood groups find themselves
increasingly polarized, socially, economically, and
8 Feinstein International Center
politically, which puts them and their leaders at
odds with one another. In a context of limited
options and increasing vulnerability, livelihood
choices can be maladaptive, especially when they
tip over into violence and asset-stripping, thereby
exacerbating vulnerability for both victims and
perpetrators.
The Tufts/FIC three-year Darfur program
aims to reduce the vulnerability of livelihoods in
conflict settings by widening livelihood options
and enabling more informed choice. A large part
of widening options is concerned with re-estab-
lishing relationships, supporting networks, and
strengthening local capacities and local gover-
nance. The program has three components:
research projects; technical support/capacity
development; and Darfur university development.
Tufts/FIC will work closely with core partners in
implementing this program, including civil society
groups, national and Darfur-based universities,
government, UN agencies (UNOCHA (United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humani-
tarian Affairs), UNEP (United Nations Environ-
mental Programme), and IOM (International
Organization for Migration)), and INGOs. A wide
range of stakeholders will be engaged from the
beginning to maximize knowledge transfer and
shared understanding and to develop a shared
strategic direction for policies and programs in
Darfur. While directed at the Darfur context, the
lessons learned will be widely applicable to the
increasing number of contexts where a gover-
nance gap and livelihood maladaptations are
generating conflict and destroying livelihoods.
The Tufts/FIC study ‘Livelihoods under Siege’
in 2004 confirmed the centrality and importance
of livelihoods in relation to the Darfur conflict.
Livelihoods are integral to the causes of conflict in
Darfur and the devastating impact it has had on
loss of livelihoods, and therefore the need to
address livelihood issues is central to any lasting
solutions to the conflict. Recently Tufts/FIC
conducted three major research studies on:
pastoral perspectives; conflict, markets, and trade;
and the livelihoods of IDPs (Internally Displaced
Persons). These three research pillars build on the
earlier foundations of ‘Livelihoods under Siege,’
and provide excellent foundations for informing
policy and programs, expanding and deepening
research, and developing local research capacities.
In 2007, a series of four workshops designed
and implemented by Tufts/FIC and UNRCO/
OCHA set the strategic direction of livelihoods
programming in Darfur and incorporated liveli-
hoods approaches within the UN work plan. As
part of this UNOCHA/RCO is about to take
forward a capacity development and coordination
initiative which calls for technical support from
Tufts/FIC. Increasingly, livelihoods approaches
have gained recognition among local and interna-
tional stakeholders, and have been adopted and
promoted by the UNRCO/OCHA, UNEP, and
IOM and by a wide range of local, national, and
international stakeholders, including Darfur and
Khartoum universities. Agencies are paying more
attention to livelihoods because Darfur is now a
protracted crisis with no immediate peace deal in
sight. Agencies are concerned about moving from
immediate life-saving interventions focusing on
the IDPs to a range of interventions that support
recovery more broadly throughout Darfur.
Resources are now finally being made available
for this kind of work as evidenced by the multi-
donor Peace and Development Stability Fund and
the recent livelihoods programming initiative of
UNDP. Furthermore, the state-level government
ministries in Darfur have requested UNRCO/
OCHA to provide capacity development in
livelihoods assessment and coordination. Similarly,
the Vice Chancellors of two Darfur universities
are supporting the Darfur university capacity
development proposed by Tufts/FIC and Ahfad
University for Women (based in Khartoum).
Tufts/FIC has a strong and long-standing
track record of field-based research, of building
long-term relationships with local and national
institutions, and of influencing programs and
policies on Darfur through dissemination in
English and Arabic, using a variety of means. As a
result Tufts/FIC is able to provide long-term
knowledge and support on Darfur. Tufts/FIC’s
commitment to explore and investigate priority
areas that have simply been ignored (our work on
markets and trade) or are potentially controversial
or among groups that are hard to reach (our work
with Arab pastoralists) ensures greater objectivity,
breadth, and depth of analysis.
With these solid foundations Tufts/FIC and
partners are well placed to move forward with a
more strategic livelihoods initiative in Darfur
which will generate needed research and policy
change, contribute to international debates and
discourses, and develop local capacities. The
program is designed to promote joint or co-learn-
ing about livelihoods, vulnerability, and conflict
among the partners, stakeholders, and even local
livelihood groups in Darfur. It is only with
understanding and engagement that shifts in
thinking and opportunities for change are pos-
sible. This is expected to generate a strategic and
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 9
Part I
innovative approach to programming and policy
change linked to humanitarian action, local peace-
building, recovery activities, and wider peace
processes. This shift in thinking will be accompa-
nied by enhanced capacities based on engagement
with the project and its activities.
The Darfur program’s three areas are designed
to be complementary and mutually supporting.
Each is necessary yet on its own insufficient to
achieve the desired project outcomes. The program
will develop and foster professional and academic
networks, and a Darfur Resource Network (a
consortium of local NGOs) whose enhanced
capacities will contribute to the various activities.
Enhanced academic and research capacities will
contribute to the technical assistance and also to
the research and institutional development.
Technical Assistance To Support Coordination And
Capacity Development In Relation To Livelihoods
The UN Resident Coordinators Office
(RCO) has committed to enhancing livelihood
and protection support activities through im-
proved coordination, livelihood assessments, and
information management by UNOCHA. Gov-
ernment ministries at the state level have ex-
pressed an increased desire to be more engaged
technically in such assessments, which will require
capacity building and orientation. UNOCHA has
invited Tufts/FIC to provide technical support in
three areas: developing capacity in livelihoods
assessment and coordination; information man-
agement and development of a virtual, real-time
database; and inter-sectoral coordination for
humanitarian and early recovery activities.
The first area, capacity development in
livelihoods assessment, will require coordination
with the Darfur Resource Network and local
government through workshops and inter-agency
livelihoods assessments through UNOCHA.
Training and materials will be generated to
support assessments, programming, monitoring,
and evaluation. For the second area of informa-
tion management and development of a virtual
real-time database, Tufts/FIC will provide profes-
sional support to design and establish the system,
to be lodged with UNDP and FAO (Food and
Agriculture Organization) in coordination with
local technical assistance and universities. The
system will respond to agencies’ need for more
10 Feinstein International Center
systematic organization of and access to informa-
tion and local resources essential for Darfur early
recovery planning and programming purposes. To
promote inter-sectoral coordination for humani-
tarian and early recovery activities, the third area
of technical support, UNOCHA (with technical
support from Tufts/FIC) will engage directly with
GoS (government of Sudan) Ministries across the
various sectors as part of an initiative and request
from the GoS for greater involvement and
capacity development. This is supported by FAO
and agencies in Darfur. This technical assistance to
UNRCO/OCHA will be undertaken in collabo-
ration with the Darfur Resource Network and
local universities.
Darfur University Development
Tufts/FIC has a long record of supporting and
working in partnership with Sudanese academics
from Khartoum and Darfur. The Universities of
Nyala in South Darfur, Zalingei in West Darfur,
and Ahfad University for Women are now seeking
stronger institutional relationships and support to
enable them to strengthen their academic, re-
search, and networking capacities. In addition to
developing academic capacities, this program aims
to build bridges and strengthen relationships
between the Sudan universities, agencies, and
government with wider international networks.
Three program areas have been identified: aca-
demic support, including curricula review and
development, a program of scholarships, and
targeted training of academic staff; development of
research, including support of PhD supervision,
development of research capacities, initiating of
national and regional workshops to disseminate
research and bring together academic, professional,
and international networks; and strengthening
academic resources, including development of a
digital library, academic networks, and research
guides in core thematic areas.
Research Projects
The six priority research areas have been
identified with partners (including UNEP, IOM,
UNOCHA, and local actors) and build on the
growing body of earlier research by Tufts/FIC and
others working in Darfur. All the research projects
aim to deepen understanding and knowledge in
order to inform policies, program strategies, and
implementation. Several of the projects are core to
the purpose of specific UN agencies and govern-
ment departments, and will also include support
to initiatives such as: Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and
Consultation, Darfur Community Peace and
Stability Fund, ENTEC (Environmental Technol-
ogy Task Force), the UNDP livelihoods program,
and the UNEP/UNICEF IWRM (Integrated
Water Resources Management) program. A brief
overview of the research projects is provided here,
followed by a more in-depth description in Part II.
Markets, Trade, And Livelihoods: Darfur, Sudan
Building on the earlier Tufts/FIC study
‘Adaptation and Devastation: Impact of Conflict
on Trade and Markets in Darfur’, this second stage
will deepen the analysis by gaining more under-
standing of market transactions outside the main
urban markets, and will review how ongoing
monitoring systems (by UNDP and others) can
integrate data collection and analysis of these
important and insightful market trends. This
second phase will include a capacity development
component by working collaboratively with the
Darfur Resource Network to run training work-
shops and offer mentoring support.
Pastoral Perspectives: Vulnerability,
Power, And Choice
This research will build on the earlier 2008
scoping study by Tufts/FIC that analyzed the causes
of vulnerability, both pre-conflict and currently,
among specific pastoral groups of the Darfur
region. This study will focus on a gender analysis of
current adaptations to conflict, climate variability
(and by implication climate change), and processes
of marginalization, with the aim of re-building
social capital and re-establishing local governance.
Conflict, Livelihoods, And Household
Food Security In Darfur
This research will examine the nature of the
conflict in Darfur and undertake a comparative
analysis of its effect on the livelihoods and food
security situation of different groups living in
North Darfur state, including IDPs, farmers living
under coercion of other groups, pro-government
rural farmers, and pastoral groups. The research
will inform policies that seek to establish liveli-
hoods security, reliable entitlements, and access to
sufficient food as part of the peace processes.
Livelihoods, Migration, And The Environment
This research builds on earlier work by Tufts/
FIC, UNEP, and Tear Fund and will investigate
previous and current adaptations to climate
variability and conflict, particularly focusing on
local systems of natural resource management and
how to strengthen their inclusiveness. It will also
look at processes of labor migration and remit-
tance flows as an adaptation to environmental
degradation, climate variability, and natural re-
source conflict.
Remittances To Conflict Zones: Phase 2:
Transition Countries: The Sudanese
Diaspora In Cairo
The proposed study is the second phase of a
larger study of remittances to Darfur, Sudan
conducted by Tufts/FIC. For the proposed Cairo
study, the research will be extended to explore
remittance patterns of different Sudanese groups.
Refugees and migrants in transit countries like
Egypt are linked into wider diaspora networks
that help support them, and in turn enable the
migrants to support their families and communi-
ties back home. We will explore the significance
of remittances for Sudanese in Cairo, to under-
stand whether and how remittances impact their
urban livelihoods and influence migrants’ political
involvement in their home regions.
Markets, Information, And Mobile Phones:
Darfur, Sudan
The goal of this research is to investigate the
impact of mobile phones on market performance
for key agro-food products (cereals, cash crops,
and livestock), as well on different livelihood
groups’ trading behavior and welfare. This project
will work closely with UN price monitoring
systems, the local Darfur Resource Network and
mobile phone companies (such as Zain) to
determine how mobile phones might be used to
collect and share market information among
different livelihood groups.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 11
Part I
UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE OF PASTORALISM IN AFRICA (PROGRAM OVERVIEW)
Pastoralists in Africa are among the most
marginalized and vulnerable communities.
Countries with large pastoral populations are
usually found towards the bottom of international
development indices such as the UN Human
Development Index. Within these countries,
pastoralists often have far worse health, education,
and other indicators of development relative to
urban or sedentary areas. In some regions, particu-
larly the Horn of Africa, pastoralists continue to
be directly affected by large-scale, long-term
conflict which in terms of aid interventions are
labeled ‘complex emergencies.’ Superimposed on
12 Feinstein International Center
conflict are both climatic trends which may be
leading to increasing variability in rainfall and
more frequent and severe droughts, and human
population growth. Given these concerns, what is
the future of pastoralism in Africa?
At the policy and institutional level, African
pastoralists are often misunderstood and regarded
by policy makers as problematic, irrational, and
backward.Yet during the last 25 years or more,
research conducted by anthropologists, rangeland
scientists, ecologists, and economists has contested
the deeply entrenched views on the viability and
efficiency of pastoralism in fragile, arid environ-
ments. Despite the rigor and scale of this academ-
ic output, supportive policies for pastoralists are
virtually nonexistent. Instead, a series of starkly
contrasting policy narratives and perceptions
continue to paralyze the policy debate, and
pastoral communities continue to receive inappro-
priate development support from government,
often under policies which promote sedentary
livelihoods.
The Feinstein International Center at Tufts’
work on pastoralism falls into two categories.
First, we have a broad multi-faceted program on
‘Pastoralism, Controversies, and Policy Process in
Africa,’ described further below. Second, we have
a range of initiatives that seek to identify and
explore key and emerging areas in pastoral
research. These initiatives include: ‘Milk Matters,’ a
project to better understand and improve the
health and nutrition of children in pastoral areas;
‘Livelihoods and Insecurity in Northeastern
Uganda,’ a study of the social and economic
factors leading to engagement in violent liveli-
hood strategies in northeastern Uganda and the
cyclical relationship between these livelihoods and
insecurity; and ‘Seers as War Makers, Peace
Makers, and Leaders within the Karamoja Cluster,’
an analysis of ‘seers,’ an important traditional
authority system in the Karamoja Cluster, in order
to better understand how these systems contribute
to or mitigate violence.
The program ‘Pastoralism, Controversies and
Policy Process in Africa’ began in 2005 and works
with national and regional policy actors in Africa
to develop more supportive policies and institu-
tional arrangements for pastoralism. The program
builds on the Tufts/FIC’s experience in pastoral
areas of Africa since 1996, and links community-
level research and experience to policy reform
and development. The overall strategy is to work
directly with African institutions and facilitate
evidence-based analysis, and promote inputs from
multiple and diverse stakeholders. The program
draws on existing research while also conducting
new strategic research to fill information gaps.
Examples of this process between 2005 and 2008
exist at continental, national, and regional levels.
At the continental level is the support given to
the African Union (AU) to begin development of
the AU Policy Framework for Pastoralism. At the
national level in Ethiopia, capacity-building
support to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development and the Ministry of Federal Affairs
is provided to review scientific evidence related to
pastoralism in Ethiopia and policy options. At the
regional level, capacity-building support to the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA) led to the inclusion of pastoralism
issues into the Framework for African Food
Security under the Comprehensive African
Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
Within this program we will also assess the
impact of growing international livestock trade
markets on marginalized and conflict-prone
pastoral communities in trans-boundary areas of
the Horn of Africa, and examine the constraints
to market access for these communities. While
international trade is often promoted by donors
and African governments as a means to reduce
poverty and vulnerability, the poor and socially
excluded are often isolated from such markets.
Initial evidence from Somalia, Sudan, and Ethio-
pia indicates that the benefits of new trade are
easily captured by a powerful political elite. Trends
such as the private enclosure of communal land
and environmental degradation increase the risk
of resource-based conflict. As commodities
acquire a high market value, pastoral women lose
ownership and control of assets, and become more
vulnerable and exploited. A new component of
our work on pastoralism and trade focuses on the
impact of livestock diseases on market access, and
alternative science-based international standards
which would improve market access. This work
includes a specific research project on foot-and-
mouth disease, and the impact of the disease on
pastoralists’ livelihoods.
From 2009 to 2011 the overall goal of the
program is to strengthen pastoralists’ livelihoods in
Africa through policy and institutional reform
with African institutions. Livelihoods analysis in
pastoral areas since the late 1990s has shown that
the key development constraints relate to an
inappropriate policy and institutional environ-
ment, and the limited representation of pastoralists
in policy debate. The range of policy challenges is
broad and at the national level covers basic service
delivery in health, education, and veterinary
services, plus infrastructure development and
communication, marketing and trade, and natural
resource management. At the regional level,
cross-border and regional approaches to aspects of
pastoralism such as livestock marketing are crucial,
as are regional and international efforts to reduce
and prevent conflict. In terms of linkages between
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 13
Part I
food security, humanitarian assistance, and devel-
opment strategies, the institutional focus remains
locked into emergency responses and the business
of food aid. Few actors are taking a long-term
perspective which views events such as drought as
inevitable and therefore, to be anticipated and
planned for. Through policy reform at different
levels—government, donors, and aid agencies—
the program aims to strengthen pastoralists’
livelihoods, and foster more long-term develop-
ment planning and implementing capacity. A brief
description of each project follows. Full details can
be found in part II of this document.
Regional Policy Support On Food Security
In Pastoral Areas With The Common
Market For Eastern And Southern Africa
The livelihoods of many pastoral communi-
ties in Africa are cross-border in nature. Pastoralists
are often geographically located at the margins of
countries and their livelihood depends on the
movement of livestock to and from seasonal
grazing areas, which in turn may require move-
ment across national boundaries. The cross-border
nature of pastoralism indicates that regional
approaches to both development policy and
humanitarian assistance are needed. The goal of
this project is to improve the food security of
pastoral communities in the COMESA region
through facilitating the development of pro-pasto-
ralist regional food security policy.
Towards Pro-Pastoralist Policies In Ethiopia
This project builds on Tufts/FIC’s work with
the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Develop-
ment and the Ministry of Federal Affairs (MoFA)
in Ethiopia under the Pastoralist Livelihoods
Initiative, in which strong relationships were
developed with these ministries at the federal
level, and with relevant pastoral and livestock
development bureaus at the regional level. Al-
though the MoFA role covers the promotion of
good governance and pastoral development
policies, its policies reflect limited understanding
of pastoralism. The goal of this project is to raise
understanding of the benefits of pastoralism
among senior federal-level policy makers and
incorporate pro-pastoralist policies into national
development policies.
14 Feinstein International Center
Cross-Sectoral Learning For Service Provi-
sion In The Somali Region Of Ethiopia
This project aims to conduct comprehensive
participatory impact assessments of veterinary and
human health and education services in the Somali
region, and identify cross-cutting lessons to be
shared and applied between sectors. In the mid
1990s Save the Children UK and the Somali
regional government embarked on an alternative
approach to delivering primary veterinary services.
Rather than relying on fixed-point government
clinics and a very limited government budget for
medicines and equipment, a privatized and com-
munity-based approach was designed. Rapid and
superficial assessments by Tufts/FIC indicate that
the approach has been successful, but a comprehen-
sive impact assessment has not been conducted.
Pastoral Livelihoods And Destitution In
Northern Kenya
This research was initially developed with
FAO Kenya and aims to clarify the extent and
characteristics of destitution in the settlements of
northern Kenya, and potential ways to help
communities out of extreme poverty. The goal of
the research is to generate quantitative informa-
tion of the extent and causes of pastoral destitu-
tion in northern Kenya, describe the aspirations of
pastoralists who opt to leave the pastoral system,
and review the success of alternative livelihoods
strategies adopted by former pastoralists. The
research findings are intended to inform policies
and programming in Kenya related to pastoral
development and alternative pastoral livelihoods.
Alternative Approaches To International
Trade In Livestock Products: Commodity-
Based Trade
The current international standards governing
trade in livestock commodities insist that animal
products be derived from areas which are free
from certain animal diseases. In partnership with
the African Union, Tufts/FIC conducted a review
of international standards in 2003 which conclud-
ed that safe trade in livestock products need not
depend on the disease situation in the area of
product origin. The goal of this project on
commodity-based trade is to contribute to a
growing international, but largely Africa-driven
effort, to revise the international standards on
livestock trade, and to clarify the standards related
to trade in livestock commodities.
Camel Marketing And Pastoral Livelihoods
In Ethiopia
There is an ongoing vibrant camel trade in
Ethiopia involving some twenty or more chain
markets with a trade volume of about 3,000
camels per week in the peak seasons. Regrettably,
this important camel market chain is virtually
unknown to outsiders like scholars, policy makers,
NGOs, donors, and academic or research institu-
tions. The goal of this project is to promote
understanding of the camel market chain that
impacts the livelihoods of tens of thousands of
pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, farmers, and traders
living in diverse agro-ecological regions of
Ethiopia.
Cattle And Meat Value Chain Assessment In
Ethiopia
As one of its economic objectives, the gov-
ernment of Ethiopia is pursuing a policy of
maximizing revenues through meat and live
animal exports. In the past few years, Ethiopia’s
volume of meat exports has been rising steadily,
though its live animal exports have varied due to
external factors that include trade bans by import-
ing countries. This initiative is challenged, how-
ever, by rising domestic beef prices, well above the
world beef market price. The goal of this project is
to analyze incremental values along the cattle and
meat supply chains at each level of transaction to
promote understanding of why beef prices have
risen to such a high level despite the huge re-
source potential in the country.
Livelihoods, Trade, And Foot-And-Mouth
Disease In Ethiopia
In pastoral areas of Africa foot-and-mouth
disease is usually by ranked by pastoralists them-
selves as among the top five diseases affecting their
livestock and livelihoods. The sudden loss of milk
in affected animals has a direct impact on the
nutrition of pastoralist households, particularly
children. FMD also contributes to isolation of
pastoral areas from international markets, because
more developed regions fear the introduction of
the disease. The community-based strategy to be
used in the project draws on Tufts/FIC’s experi-
ence of rinderpest eradication in South Sudan, in
which participatory approaches were highly
effective. The goal of the project is to identify
FMD control strategies to reduce the impact of
the disease on pastoralists’ livelihoods.
Milk Matters: Improving The Health And
Nutritional Status Of Children In Pastoral
Communities
In pastoral communities milk is well known
as the staple food of children’s diets and therefore
is directly linked with the nutritional status of
young children. In order to improve nutritional
status in children who live in pastoral communi-
ties, this project aims to take a critical look at the
factors that affect the quality, quantity, and access
to human and animal milk across all seasons,
particularly during drought, and among various
wealth groups.
Seers As War Makers, Peace Makers, And
Leaders Within The Karamoja Cluster
Pastoral populations living within the Kara-
moja Cluster (namely Uganda, South Sudan,
Kenya, and Ethiopia) believe that particular people
known as ‘seers’ possess special capacities that
enable them to foresee and manipulate the future.
With this ability, seers perform an important role
within communities, but are regarded with
suspicion by the government and NGOs. This
project will help lay the groundwork for future
strategies that seek to help better network seers
with local leaders, government agencies, and
NGO activities whose aim is peaceful resolution
to conflict and peaceful co-existence among
pastoral groups in the Karamoja Cluster.
Livelihoods And Insecurity In Northeastern
Uganda
The Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda
is the poorest and least developed region of the
country and is host to the worst human develop-
ment indicators in key areas, including primary
school enrollment, maternal and infant mortality,
and life expectancy. This research aims to improve
the understanding of livelihoods and security in
Karamoja, and how livelihoods have shifted over
time. We are particularly interested in the dynamic
links between conflict and livelihood strategies,
and how these two aspects may perpetuate or
mitigate each other.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 15
Part I
UGANDA: UPHOLDING RIGHTS IN THE FACE OF VIOLENCE (PROGRAM OVERVIEW)
Accountability and redress for grave rights
violations and crimes committed against war-
affected populations remains a key priority for
Tufts/FIC. For nearly a decade, our teams have
been working in northern Uganda, and more
recently in South Sudan, to document and report
on grave violations against civilians during the
decades-long wars. Building on our in-depth
work in this area, we plan to engage with local
populations on the ground to better understand
16 Feinstein International Center
their needs and priorities for accountability and
redress stemming from these violations. We then
plan to take these findings to key national and
international agencies and donors to help inform
policy and institutional development to best
ensure that those who have suffered these grave
violations have access to systems of accountability
and redress, and are treated with dignity as they
participate within those systems.
 The rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has
waged a brutal guerrilla war for two decades
against the government of Uganda and the
citizenry of northern Uganda. The government of
Uganda responded by forcibly displacing most of
the citizenry into camps which were soon over-
run with disease and despair. Between 1987 and
2008, nearly two million people were displaced
and impoverished, over 60,000 youth kidnapped
and forced to serve in the LRA, and untold
thousands killed. Still thousands more experienced
torture, rape, sexual slavery, inhuman and degrad-
ing treatment, and abuse, or saw their family
members, friends, and neighbors killed, raped, or
beaten. Nearly everyone felt the effects as health,
education, and social welfare systems collapsed
and were left to crumble by a government that
turned its priorities elsewhere.
Several forces are pushing the war to a close.
A weakened LRA drastically reduced its abduc-
tions and attacks in 2005-2008. The International
Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against the
top LRA leadership. A formal ceasefire was
reached in mid-2006, and negotiations between
the government of Uganda and the LRA began,
brokered by the government of Southern Sudan.
At the writing of this report, the peace talks have
failed to produce a final peace agreement.
With the failure of the talks to bring closure,
many are hesitant to return to their rural homes,
fearing renewed conflict.Yet many are determined
to see accountability and justice for the grave
rights violations and crimes they suffered at the
hands of both the LRA and the government of
Uganda. To date, almost none have seen justice or
received compensation or reparation in any form.
Despite the final peace agreement not being
signed, which contained ground breaking mecha-
nisms and guidelines for accountability and
reconciliation, there is increased movement within
Uganda for the government and traditional
leadership to move forward on providing ac-
countability, redress, and reparation. Our larger
research program intends to document these
processes both at formal and traditional levels of
justice.
This larger research program has two main
projects summarized below. Full details can be
found in part II of this document.
Formal Justice And Accountability For
People In Northern Uganda
This research seeks to document and analyze
the formal justice mechanisms that will be
established by the government of Uganda in
response to the widespread grave crimes and
human rights violations that occurred during the
22-year war in northern Uganda. Our project
seeks to provide timely, precise, and insightful
documentary evidence and analysis, drawing on
our investigation into how victims and survivors
view and experience these justice mechanisms. We
aim to inform the processes as well as the policies
and responses that emerge as the processes unfold.
Additionally, the final report and publications will
serve as an important historical document for the
people of Uganda and those in the international
community concerned with formal systems of
accountability and justice in post-war societies.
Traditional Justice And Accountability In
Northern Uganda
This research will document and analyze how
traditional justice and accountability systems in
northern Uganda address war-related crimes and
harms committed during the region’s conflict.
Special attention will be given to how these
informal systems take up rebel and government
perpetrated crimes against women and girls. As
traditional systems in the north have not evolved
to deal with widespread and systematic violence
like that experienced and perpetrated in this
conflict, it is our intention to provide timely
information on the formation of these mecha-
nisms and examine their application of local
customary law. Our prior research supports claims
that among the different ethnic groups in the
north there are dissimilar notions regarding the
‘road map’ to attain justice and accountability for
war-related crimes and, ultimately, for the forma-
tion of sustainable peace. How traditional systems
handle war-related crimes will have social, eco-
nomic, and political implications nationally and
regionally.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 17
Part I
THE EVOLVING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OF CRISIS AND CRISIS RESPONSE
(PROGRAM OVERVIEW)
In most of the contexts where we work, crises
are visible at the local level. Livelihoods are
eroding or being lost, human rights are under fire
and protection is not being provided. Increasingly,
however, we see that these local manifestations of
crisis are linked to and driven, at least in part, by
global processes. Many of the opportunities for
intervention in these crises are therefore at the
global or regional level. Over the next three years
we seek to continue and expand upon our
practice of thinking globally but analyzing locally.
This dual lens allows us to better understand the
18 Feinstein International Center
impact of global processes on marginalized
communities and to inform global institutions
such as international aid agencies, military forces,
and corporate bodies on how they might better
promote sustainable livelihoods and protect
human rights.
This program emerged from our previous
work on ‘Humanitarian Agenda 2015,’ the ‘Ambi-
guity and Change’ project, and the earlier work of
the ‘Humanitarianism and War’ project. These
projects sought to understand local perceptions of
international processes, global drivers of crisis, and
the relationship between international institutions
(such as armed forces and humanitarian actors)
and crisis-affected populations. The five projects
included in our plan for 2009-2011 continue with
these basic themes, but further develop our depth
of knowledge in these areas. We will then use this
knowledge to inform the debate around the
future of humanitarian aid in crisis and also to
better inform the actions of aid agencies, military
forces, and the corporate sector.
The five projects in this program are summa-
rized below. Full details can be found in part II of
this document.
Preparing For Humanitarian Crises Of The
Future
The shape of humanitarian crises are evolving,
with climate change and globalization set to have
a profound impact upon community vulnerability.
Humanitarian agencies will also need to evolve
and change if they are to meet the challenges of
the next several decades. This research seeks to
understand the impact climate change and
globalization will have on future humanitarian
crises, focusing initially on Bangladesh and
Ethiopia. The project will also examine the
present capacity of key humanitarian agencies to
meet these expected challenges and will develop
strategies to assist agencies in institutional change
to better respond to these emerging issues.
The Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Principles,
Power, And Perceptions
The evolution of the humanitarian enterprise,
the power relationships that it entails, and the
perceptions of communities affected by crisis and
conflict remain priority concerns of Tufts/FIC.
Building on the evidence-based findings on the
views from below from our prior research, we
intend to continue to engage in policy and
institutional development actions with donors,
UN agencies, and NGOs, with a view to improv-
ing the effectiveness of assistance and protection
activities for the most vulnerable.
“Winning Hearts And Minds?”
Understanding The Relationship Between
Aid And Security
There is a widely held assumption in military
and foreign policy circles that reconstruction and
development assistance is an important soft power
tool to promote stabilization and security. This
assumption has a major policy impact on how
development assistance is apportioned and spent
and provides an important rationale for the
growing securitization of development assistance.
However, there is surprisingly little empirical
evidence that supports the assumption of a causal
relationship between increased aid and improved
stabilization and security in counterinsurgency
contexts. This research project aims to address this
evidence gap through a comparative study in the
three counterinsurgency contexts, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa, to examine the
assumption that aid projects contribute to im-
proved stabilization and security.
Humanitarianism And Corporate Social
Responsibility
Major international private corporations are
increasingly aware that their investments and
performance may have positive and sustained
humanitarian outcomes. Investors also recognize
that a lack of due diligence often has negative
consequences. Thus, corporate social responsibility
(CSR) to promote humanitarian objectives is
considered good business practice. This research
analyzes CSR investments to identify cost-effec-
tive and sustainable humanitarian investments in
mining, manufacturing, and financial services. The
purpose of this project is to generate policy
guidelines and recommendations for improving
corporate responsibility and due diligence to
achieve sustained humanitarian and institutional
change.
Crisis And Social Transformation In Nepal
How does the work of aid agencies during
and after conflict affect people’s perceptions of
change? What can we learn from recent experi-
ence? Our work in Nepal has uncovered a
number of interesting issues around the humani-
tarian-development relationship and the chal-
lenges of social transformation in a (hopefully)
post-conflict environment. These issues are largely
unexplored but have potentially important policy
implications. Two themes in particular will be
pursued in this research: the relationship between
aid policies and violence in Nepal; and conflict,
gender, and social transformation in Nepal.
Knowledge generated by this research will be fed
back into the aid community working in Nepal.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 19
Part I
EDUCATION, OUTREACH, AND COLLABORATION
Teaching At Tufts
The Masters In Humanitarian Assistance
(Maha)
We will continue to offer the nine-month
Masters in Humanitarian Assistance degree,
enrolling five to seven students a year. Our goal is
to become more rigorous and diverse in our
selection of students, to ensure that they are able
to cope with the strenuous academic environment
of the University. As in the past year, we will
require that one of Tufts/FIC’s faculty act as
academic advisor and mentor to the MAHA
students. We have also secured the voluntary
support of a writing coach.
A key obstacle to MAHA success is insuffi-
cient funds to allow students to focus on their
studies and not have to work to support them-
selves. MAHA costs about $40,000 for tuition and
living. Scholarship funding for the degree remains
a challenge. Funds from Tufts/FIC and the
Fletcher School have allowed us to subsidize on
average 70% of the tuition fee, thus reducing the
students’ financial burden to around $20,000.
None of our students in the past three years have
found independent funding. There is an urgent
need for MAHA scholarships.
We are continually looking to improve this
degree offering. Over the next two years we will
be actively exploring the possibility of offering it
as a distance learning degree, targeted at students
who for logistical or financial reasons find it hard
to join a residential degree program in the USA.
Part of what the MAHA offers is its alumni
network. We intend to strengthen our follow-up
and communication with alumni, and hold
regular reunions that could be focused around
particular issues in the humanitarian field.
20 Feinstein International Center
Food Policy And Nutrition Masters (Fpan)
The 2008 world food crisis reminded us of
the central role of food in people’s lives and that
food is not just a tradable commodity but a
human right. Thus nutritionists, and particularly
emergency nutritionists, play a significant role in
responding to complex emergencies. The Human-
itarian Concentration, consisting of courses
offered by Tufts/FIC faculty, within the Friedman
School’s Food Policy and Nutrition Masters
degree allows students to specialize in emergency
nutrition, equipping them to work with aid
agencies on food and nutrition program design
and implementation. At present 30% of all FPAN
graduates take this concentration. We hope to
maintain that level of interest. Students graduating
have been employed by UNICEF, WFP (World
Food Programme), and many NGOs and are
presently working in Sudan, Ethiopia, and
Afghanistan to name but a few locations.
Humanitarian Field Of Study
Within the Fletcher School’s Masters in Law
& Diplomacy (MALD) we have now established a
full Humanitarian Field of Study alongside the
already established Human Security Concentra-
tion. All MALD students are required to take two
study fields, each consisting of three specific
courses. We now have a package of six courses
offered by Tufts/FIC faculty, enabling students to
develop a focused specialization within the
humanitarian area. Our aim over the next three
years is to increase the number of students taking
the concentration from the present 6% of Fletcher
graduates to 15%. We also see this field as a
starting point for students wishing to do their
PhDs in the humanitarian area.
Humanitarian Studies And Field Practice
Initiative
We will continue to partner with Harvard
University and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology to run the Humanitarian Studies and
Field Practice Initiative. This training initiative,
which involves both formal classroom education
and a field simulation exercise, draws students
from Masters programs at the three universities
and, as of 2008, includes resident physicians from
Harvard’s School of Medicine. In 2009 we hope
to add resident physicians from Tufts School of
Medicine. In 2008 a total of 63 students partici-
pated in the training. We expect this number to
increase to about 90 over the next two years.
In addition, we are in discussion with a
number of leading aid agencies about including
their expertise in building and running the
simulation exercise. There is potential to develop
the exercise as a product which can be supplied to
aid agencies for their own training initiatives.
Support For Student Research
Helping students move from Masters to PhD
to full-time researcher is part of our mission, and a
key tool for effecting institutional change. We
provide a small number of grants for Tufts students
(both graduate students and occasionally strong
undergraduates) to carry out field research,
normally as part of their summer internship.
Typically, we have sponsored between five and ten
students a year, at around $3,000 per student. We
would like to increase this to allow us to offer up
to 20 students a year the opportunity to undertake
research in the humanitarian and human security
area. Our hope is that many of these students will
then go on to seek PhDs at Tufts and elsewhere.
Tufts/FIC faculty is on the advisory commit-
tees of a number of PhD students in both the
Fletcher School and the Friedman School. Many
good students, particularity from the South, find
themselves blocked from doing PhDs because of
the cost, typically $100,000 over three years. Over
the next three years we hope to build space for
PhD students into our research programs and
budgeting so that we are able to offer both
funding and a research area for them to work.
We have supported one post-doctoral posi-
tion in the past two years, and this person also
supported the MAHA program while she con-
ducted her own research and writing. We would
like Tufts/FIC to support two Post-Doctoral
students, one from the global North, and another
from the global South.
International Outreach
The Summer School
Tufts/FIC held its first Summer Institute on
Livelihoods Under Stress (SILUS) for twelve days
in June, 2008. Thirty-seven participants from
international NGOs, UN agencies, and local
universities joined nine Tufts/FIC faculty mem-
bers on the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa. The
agenda joined solid experience to new thinking
and practical breakthroughs relevant to popula-
tions in marginal and high stress environments.
The faculty was extremely pleased with the
overall course evaluation rating of 4.6 of a possible
5, especially for a first-year effort.
Tufts/FIC plans to continue SILUS with
course options for both new and prior partici-
pants. Future sessions will include cutting-edge
practices in disaster preparedness and risk manage-
ment. Since many of this year’s participants asked
for more cases on Asia and Latin America, Tufts/
FIC is researching course material to include in
the next institute. The objective of SILUS will
continue to be to bring the most relevant research
and experience to academics and practitioners in
humanitarian assistance, particularly those inter-
ested in understanding and supporting highly
marginalized groups. Building on the success of
the 2008 Summer School, we are actively explor-
ing the possibility of converting it into a true
Tufts-accredited certificate. This would both allow
those graduating from the summer school to have
a formal qualification and would earn them
credits towards a future degree.
Visiting Fellows And Practitioner Expert
Programs
In 2007 we initiated a program of Visiting
Fellows. This program allows researchers from
outside Tufts/FIC and Tufts University, who
collaborate regularly with us, to have something
more than a contractual relationship. The Visiting
Fellows program is a tangible way of building a
networked research community beyond Tufts/
FIC.Visiting fellows acquire access to the Tufts
University on-campus and on-line library systems,
an invaluable asset for researchers based in less-
developed nations. They are listed on Tufts/FIC’s
website and have the right to use the title in
association with their work.Visiting Fellows are
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 21
Part I
invited to participate in Tufts/FIC events and
encouraged to comment freely on and look for
collaboration on research programs across Tufts/
FIC. A full list of Visiting Fellows can be found on
our website.
Recognizing the dynamic nature of relief
work, the high turnover of staff, and the need for
reflection and learning, we will continue the
Practitioner Expert Program, whereby returning
field workers can be in residence at the Center for
four to twelve weeks.Visiting practitioners are
supported in reflecting, learning, writing, and
discussing their experiences, thus building agency
institutional memory through papers written by
the practitioners. The program is open to practi-
tioners and experts who work for an organization,
agency, or institution and who fully expect to
return to their agency upon completion of this
program.
Books In Progress
As leading experts in their fields, Tufts/FIC
researchers regularly publish in the academic press
and contribute chapters to edited volumes. In
addition, we are planning and working on a
number of key book publications.
Pastoral Futures: Seers Within the Karamoja
Cluster (Darlington Akabwai, Khristopher
Carlson)
Within pastoral communities throughout the
Karamoja Cluster are men and women believed to
have the ability to see into and influence the
future. These people are known as ‘seers.’ Within
their communities, areas of South Sudan, north-
east Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia, seers hold
positions of great influence and power. To people
outside of the Karamoja Cluster region, little is
known of how seers work or what their lives
entail. Through carefully crafted photography and
text, this book provides an intimate look into the
lives of seers and their relationship to the lands
they inhabit and the people they live among. It
explores the possibilities that exist for seers within
these distinctly different communities to realize
together a more stable, peaceful future. The
forthcoming book (to be published in 2010)
combines text written by Tufts/FIC field re-
searchers who have decades of experience work-
ing in the Karamoja Cluster with illuminating
photography of seers’ communities and radiant
cultural landscapes.
22 Feinstein International Center
Humanitarianism and Unending War
(Antonio Donini)
Capitalizing on the evidence gathered in the
HA2015 research, work on a book on humanitar-
ian action and the changing nature of vulnerabil-
ity in the age of terror and globalization will start
in 2009. The book will investigate the pressures
on those who attempt to provide succor in the
world’s disparate crises, whether man-made or
exacerbated by human action. Using the HA2015
case studies as its raw material, the book will
conduct a more ambitious exploration of what we
have learned through our research in terms of
global humanitarian issues, the evolution of the
humanitarian enterprise, and the manipulations to
which it is subjected in the context of the global
war on terror.
Refugee Camps: A Problem of Our Time
(Karen Jacobsen)
Refugee camps begin in conditions of crisis
and emergency but persist for many years after the
emergency is contained. The camp experience has
affected millions of people in every region of the
world.Yet despite their ubiquity and persistence,
and despite the popular media images, the general
public knows relatively little about camps: why
they exist, how they function, what life is like
inside them, how they differ from each other, and
what role they play in the conflicts that generate
them. This book, scheduled for publication in
2009, addresses these gaps, and seeks also to
document this unique human experience.
Emergency Food Security Interventions
(Daniel Maxwell, Kate Sadler, Amanda Sim,
Mercy Mutonyi, Rebecca Egan, and Mackinnon
Webster)
This book is a state-of-the-art review of food
security concepts, analytical methods, and pro-
gramming interventions for use in humanitarian
emergencies. Interventions covered include food
aid, nutritional programming, cash programs,
agricultural and livestock interventions, and other
approaches to supporting livelihood strategies or
assets in emergencies. This will be published in
2009 as part of the Good Practice Review series
from the Humanitarian Practice Network in
London.
A View from Below: Research in Conflict Zones
(Dyan Mazurana, Karen Jacobsen)
There are increased calls by governments, the
UN and non-governmental organizations for high
quality field-based research to inform policy and
programming in fragile states and states experienc-
ing high levels of conflict and protracted crises.  Yet
conducting rigorous field-based research in such
locations presents challenges that traditional
methodological approaches have not considered
and largely do not take into account. Likewise, little
is written on how to use such research to best
inform policy and practice.  This international
anthology presents writings on conducting rigor-
ous, field-based research in conflict zones, as well as
with populations created by conflict, such as IDPs
and refugees. The book’s contributors privilege “a
view from below,” which strives to present analyses
of the situation grounded in the lives and experi-
ences of marginalized people living the conflict.
Importantly, the collection includes how the
researchers sought to use the knowledge generated
to improve policy and practice from the local to
international levels. The book’s contributors are
among the leading researchers in their respective
fields working in conflict areas and the collection
grounds itself in crises affected countries around
the world including Afghanistan, Burundi, Colom-
bia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia,
Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, Sierra
Leone, Sudan, and Uganda, among others.
Borderlands: Marginalization,Violence, and
Response in Uganda and Sudan (Elizabeth Stites,
Dyan Mazurana)
The nations of Uganda and Sudan both have
a long history of internal conflict, upheaval, and
insecurity. Faced with protracted crisis, communi-
ties and individuals develop strategies to try to
manage their livelihoods and security, in an often
tenuous present and future. This edited volume
(planned for release in 2010) focuses on war-
affected communities in northern Uganda, ethnic
minorities in areas of continuing insecurity in
South Sudan, displaced and marginalized popula-
tions in Darfur, and pastoral and agro-pastoral
communities in the volatile Karamoja region of
northeastern Uganda. Highlighting the voices and
experiences of the people themselves, and richly
illustrated with photographs, this book provides a
grassroots analysis of what local people do in the
face of marginalization and violence, and why.
Public Nutrition in Emergencies: Policies, Practice,
and Decision-making: A New Textbook for the
Academic and Practitioner Community (Helen
Young, Annalies Borrel, and Kate Sadler)
This text book will examine the central role
and importance of food and nutrition in humani-
tarian emergencies, and more broadly among
marginalized and crisis-affected populations. It
will introduce the concept of public nutrition and
will describe the implications of this approach for
nutrition assessment and interventions, policy
development, and program design and implemen-
tation. While academic institutions, including Tufts
University, are increasingly including courses on
humanitarian action in their curricula, there is
currently no single up-to-date textbook that
describes the breadth and scope of public nutri-
tion in emergencies. We have identified more than
20 Masters-level programs at American and
European universities that would benefit from
such a text. There are at least 40 courses that
specialize in nutrition, or public health nutrition,
and there are others that incorporate nutrition
and food security within wider programs of study
(public health, epidemiology, agriculture, anthro-
pology, humanitarian studies, forced migration,
etc). Tufts University also has partnerships and
working relationships with local universities in
crisis-affected regions, particularly in east and
southern Africa. The lack of an appropriate
textbook is particularly felt among this audience
as they do not have the resources to assemble
diverse reading packets covering the topic. The
book is expected to be published by the end of
2010.
Collaboration And Networking
Collaboration With Southern Researchers
And Institutions
A key part of our research strategy is to
partner with African universities, particularly those
outside of capital cities. Tufts/FIC researchers are
currently cooperating with universities in Sudan,
Ethiopia, South Africa, and Egypt, and are explor-
ing opportunities with a university in Libya. We
see these partnerships as a two-way process
whereby we learn from our partners about doing
academic research in a specific African context,
and we contribute to capacity building for our
partners, through training and collaboration.
Our field research always engages directly
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 23
Part I
with community-based organizations, working
with them to build research capacity and benefit-
ing from their local knowledge. These relation-
ships often become long-term partnerships, with
research project building on earlier ones. We seek
to provide education opportunities, through the
MAHA, to the individuals we work with.
In addition, Tufts/FIC works closely with a
number of African intergovernmental institutions
to effect policy change. We are collaborating
directly with COMESA, the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa, which promotes
regional economic integration through trade and
investment, and with the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights.
In Afghanistan we also partner directly with
the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, both
for research and outreach agendas.
Collaboration With The International
Humanitarian Community
Because our research agenda is aimed at
institutional change, including improving the
effectiveness of the humanitarian enterprise,
interaction with donors, UN agencies, and NGOs
is a key feature of our work. In the field, we often
rely on aid agency staff and networks to feel the
pulse of local situations, including advice on dos
and don’ts. We also bring back the results of our
work to those who have helped us through
presentations and workshops, whether in the
capital or at the community level. We present our
findings regularly at high-level briefings for
donors in their capitals and in New York and
Geneva, as well as at the UN and with NGO or
independent think tanks. Our influence is demon-
strated by the fact that we are increasingly called
upon to advise donors and agencies on policy
issues. For example, two years in a row senior
center staff were asked to provide the keynote
speech at the Global Humanitarian Platform, an
annual meeting of the CEOs of UN, Red Cross,
and NGO humanitarian agencies. Some of our
projects like ‘Preparing for Humanitarian Crises
of the Future’ directly engage with agencies (in
this case a coalition of seven NGOs) on issues of
institutional change and adaptation.
Effecting Change At Tufts
With the maturing of the Center we are now
in a position to increase our involvement in the life
of Tufts University. We will do this in three ways.
24 Feinstein International Center
Cross-registered Courses
We will continue to offer our courses,
cross-registered to both the Fletcher and Fried-
man Schools, thus maximizing student access to
them. We will also continue to draw upon stu-
dents from the two schools to act as research
assistants within Tufts/FIC and to offer internships
and scholarships for summer student-led field
research.
Tufts/FIC University-wide Promotion
We will start a program of promoting our
work, publications, and events more broadly across
the university. This will allow the undergraduate
community to access some of our seminars and
will increase recognition of our work beyond the
Fletcher and Friedman Schools.
Promoting Research for Social Change
Under the leadership of the Tufts/FIC
Director and in collaboration with the Dr. Robert
Hollister, Dean of Tisch College, we want to
explore creating a Tufts-based network of re-
searchers concerned with effecting social change.
Within the research community at Tufts,
many individuals and centers seek social engage-
ment or change with their work and seek to do it
in a way that does not compromise the principles
of objective and independent inquiry but that
indeed is guided by and takes advantage of
standards of objective and independent inquiry. As
a university we have developed standard proce-
dures and institutions for linking our research to
wealth generation, through the protection of
patent rights, copyrights and the like, but to date
we have not systematically explored how to
promote and support knowledge generation for
social change.
Tufts/FIC is uniquely positioned to promote
such a development, because it fits with our
overall university mission. The university has a suf-
ficiently diverse yet relatively small body of
researchers such that we could make real progress
on developing this issue.
Under the leadership of Provost Jamshed
Bharucha we intend to initiate an initial one-year
project to answer three questions related to this
social change issue: How do researchers at Tufts
presently link their work to social change? What
can we learn from this diversity of research about
how to make such linkages without compromis-
ing either the quality of research or the effective-
ness of social change, and in a way that in fact willcan gain experience and their researchers can
enhance research quality and impacts? acquire data, which are both essentially extractive
and are often short-lived processes tied to the
Exploring Tufts Involvement in South vagaries of funding interest. We do not want to
Sudan fall into that trap.
Over the past two years a growing body of At the bequest of the University Provost and
students has urged the university to become more in collaboration with the Institute for Global
involved in Sudan county-wide, not just in Darfur. Leadership at the university, we will be convening
Our faculty and researchers who work in and a small working group of university faculty to
around Sudan have consistently advocated for a think through the process of how Tufts might start
country- and region-wide approach to under- to engage in South Sudan, in a responsible,
standing the problems, needs, and potentials in sustained process led by the needs and aspirations
Southern Sudan. of that country, while also informing and educat-
We are only too well aware that in the past ing our student population. This process is purely
US universities have often unwittingly used exploratory at this stage.
African states as a destination where their students

CENTER STAFFING AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Staffing And Infrastructure
Tufts/FIC has two basic categories of staff,
those who are part of its long-term planning, and
those who are hired to work on specific projects
within Tufts/FIC. Within each of these categories
there is both research faculty and support staff.
We do not envisage major changes in our
core staffing over the next three years, but do
envisage an increase in project staff, including
project managers and research assistants. We
presently have ten core researchers and eight core
support staff, with one vacant research and one
vacant support post waiting to be filled as of late
2008. In addition we have eight project research-
ers as of late 2008.
In 2009 we plan to fill the vacant core
research (on climate change and political vio-
lence) and support posts and hire an additional
support person to build our communications and
outreach area. If the research outlined above goes
according to plan, we would hire up to five
additional researchers and three support staff, the
latter as program managers, based both in
Medford and in the research field areas.
Tufts/FIC will continue with its present
infrastructure of a prime office on the Tufts
University Medford campus and a secondary
office in Addis Ababa. We will also continue our
practice of having researchers based both in these
offices and dispersed around the world as fits the
individual research agendas.
Budget
Tufts/FIC uses two budgets: an operating
budget which includes all the expenses associated
with the core staffing mentioned above and
expenses relating to our educational agenda; and
research budgets, which cover the additional
expenses needed to run the projected research
projects.
The three-year projections for the operating
and research budgets and indirect costs are shown
below.

Feinstein International Center projected Operating and Research Budget 2009-2011

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Operating Projected Budget $2,364,977 $2,412,277 $2,460,522
Research Projected Budget $6,422,000 $6,550,440 $6,681,449
Total Direct Costs $8,786,977 $8,962,717 $9,141,971
Facilities and Administration @26% $2,284,614 $2,330,306 $2,376,912
Total Projected Budget $11,071,591 $11,293,023 $11,518,883

September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 25

Part II Project Details
LIVELIHOODS AND NUTRITION
OF MARGINALIZED PEOPLE
Advancing Financial Resilience
(Karen Jacobsen, Kim Wilson)
Goal and Rationale
The Financial Resilience program seeks to
promote understanding of financial resilience—
the ability of a household or community to
prevent, sustain, or recover from financial
shocks—in marginalized populations in high-risk/
high-stress environments. In particular, we seek to
explore how communications technology and
externally driven microfinance interventions
influence household resilience.
The field of microfinance is bursting with
pioneering products, services, and breakthrough
technologies, yet the industry still lacks hard
evidence about the impact of these innovations.
The FiRe program is a direct response to this
need. We seek to conduct a series of rigorous
impact assessments and identify specific measures
of service effectiveness. We believe that better
understanding of interventions and the market
will enable providers to better serve unbanked and
underbanked populations.
Background
In 2007-8, Tufts/FIC conducted a literature
review of financial resilience and preliminary field
studies in Haiti, Sudan, and Ethiopia. We found
that suppliers of financial services and technolo-
gies operate on several assumptions: increased
access to credit, savings services, and insurance
26 Feinstein International Center
improves a household’s ability to increase assets;
increased assets alone lead to financial resilience;
improved technologies help bring quality financial
services to previously underserved populations.
However, there is almost no empirical re-
search that tests these assumptions. We lack
evidence that increased access to financial services
increases the assets of marginalized households. A
microcredit loan can increase assets but also
increase household debt; increased savings could
simply substitute for other important, perhaps
more secure, household assets. Nor do we know if
increased assets lead to increased net worth (assets
minus liabilities), our indicator of financial
resilience. In order to understand the true impact
of financial interventions on household resilience,
we need a firmer base of evidence.
Overview
FiRe’s central objective is to enlarge the base of
knowledge about what increases the financial
resilience of poor households. We have identified
three areas for research. Mapping the inputs
(causes) and outputs (effects) of financial resilience
as a way to understand household vulnerability is
one area. We will also look at how various
microfinance products and services impact
household resilience. We are specifically interested
in whether and how savings groups (both sponta-
neously or intentionally organized) can increase
resilience by acting as: a medium of financial
education for poor households; a stepping stone
to more secure or diverse savings services; a safety
net for households in times of emergency (i.e. a
form of insurance); and a means to mediate and
build local financial capital. We will also study
technology and connectivity and their roles in
increasing financial resilience. Specifically, we will
look at communications technology as an efficient
distributor of financial surpluses or economic
wages (remittances), as a means to create new,
profitable livelihoods, and as a tool to protect
financial assets through good information.
Our initial plan is to conduct a series of
exploratory studies, using mixed research methods
which will include financial diaries, community-
based focus group discussions, and in-depth
interviews with key informants. Once these
studies have refined researchable hypotheses, we
will take the research to a wider level, and will
conduct surveys, including some with large
randomized samples, in selected areas.
Outputs
The products of FiRe will include case studies
that elucidate specific practices and impacts of
suppliers, and ones on financial resilience and
local practices leading to or damaging resilience.
Other products will be reports on survey results,
guidelines on new study methodologies (in the
form of modified group-based financial journals
and financial diaries), and practical exercises for
training purposes on financial resilience.
Impact
Our primary area of focus is South/Central Asia
and Sub-Saharan Africa, yet because we will be
exploring and disseminating work on new
data-gathering and analytical methods, we plan to
reach a geographically wider audience. Our
audiences include: humanitarian, development,
and microfinance practitioners; donors and
investors; policy-makers; and academics and
graduate students. We will support briefings and
workshops with open-source cases on the Tufts/
FIC website and in journal articles.
Collaboration
To implement FiRe, we will take advantage of
Tufts/FIC’s existing relationships with microfi-
nance institutions, research institutions and
universities, international NGOs and agencies, and
government ministries.
Linking Microfinance To Mobile
Payphones: The Impact On Livelihoods
(Karen Jacobsen, Daryl Collins
And Kim Wilson)
Goal and Rationale
The rapid arrival of mobile phones in Sudan is
having a profound effect of people’s ability to
communicate, to share information, and to facili-
tate financial transfers, essential to the household
economies of the region. In collaboration with
UNDP, the Central Bank of Sudan and several
INGOs, Tufts/FIC will investigate the impact of an
ambitious new mobile payphone pilot program
linked to microfinance, which will be rolled out by
the mobile phone corporation, Zain, in several
areas of Sudan. Tufts/FIC has designed a rigorous
impact study employing random assignment of
payphones and a control group that will allow us
to determine the financial and livelihood impact
of on poor and displaced clients.
Background
Tufts/FIC’s ‘Advancing Financial Resilience’
project, to which this research is closely linked,
seeks to understand the impact of communica-
tions technology and microfinance innovations on
the livelihood and household finances of margin-
alized and conflict-affected communities. The
introduction of microfinance initiatives linked to
mobile phone technology is one of the most
exciting and promising ways to enhance connec-
tivity and expand livelihoods in the developing
world. The Zain mobile payphone initiative,
which will begin in the fall of 2008, promises to
enhance efficiency and lower costs in financial
transactions, and to generate a new income stream
for clients. However, operational challenges
confront the initiative, and it is not clear whether
it will have a real impact on poverty alleviation.
Given the fast-moving pace of technology and
rapid increase in competition for mobile telepho-
ny, the payphones might not create a viable new
source of income before becoming obsolete. The
initiative also raises questions about how poor and
displaced microentrepreneurs will manage this
new stream of income, and whether it might
create new risks for them. Will they diversify their
income streams, markets, and financial manage-
ment strategies to give them increased security in
the future, or will they invest everything in the
new business, leaving them vulnerable to less
security should the business fail? These questions
make it important to carefully evaluate the impact
of the payphone-microfinance initiative on the
poor clients it targets.
Overview
Tufts/FIC has designed a rigorous impact study
that aims to shed light on these questions. The
study employs an initial baseline survey, followed
by a first-round random assignment of the pay
phones to poor clients and beneficiaries of several
NGOs and banking institutions. A full evaluation
in early 2009 will assess changes upon the initial
baseline data occurring after the payphone
initiative. This approach will allow us to measure
the impact of the payphone initiative on those
clients who got the payphones in the first round
compared with those who had to wait for the
second round. A simultaneous systems evaluation
will be conducted through monthly monitoring
of the operations of both Zain and the microfi-
nance providers. In addition, random in-depth
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 27
Part II Project Details
qualitative interviews will be done during the
follow-up survey, in order to explore the views of
the entrepreneurs that cannot be uncovered by
the survey questionnaire, such as their plans for
the future, views about successes or failures in the
individual’s management of this new business, and
what the most important impacts were to the
individual.
Outputs
Outputs will include a full report, with summaries
translated into Arabic, to be shared with mobile
phone companies and other UN agencies. This
work will contribute to the ongoing market mon-
itoring by UNDP and others in the Darfur region
and elsewhere in Sudan. We anticipate debriefings
to be held in Khartoum and Darfur and New
York (UNDP), and training workshops for the
agencies and banks working with us on the
evaluation.
Impact
The study will allow us to evaluate the impact of
the mobile payphone initiative on both the
operational feasibility for the microfinance
providers and on poverty alleviation and increased
livelihood security of the pay phone operators, in
terms of income generation and risk reduction.
Collaboration
This action research project links closely to the
Tufts/FIC work on livelihoods in Darfur and to
the project ‘Advancing Financial Resilience.’ The
work will be supported locally by UNDP, the
Central Bank of Sudan, and several INGOs, and
we will be collaborating with Zain.
Livelihoods Change Over Time: Responses
Of Communities And Agencies To Chronic
Crisis (Dan Maxwell, Jennie Coates)
Goal and Rationale
Disasters and the ensuing humanitarian response
significantly change the livelihoods, institutions,
and power relations of affected communities.Yet
there are many gaps in the understanding of the
impact of crisis on people’s livelihoods and on the
humanitarian programs designed to address the
impacts of crisis. The study is designed to im-
prove our knowledge of livelihoods in crisis, to
28 Feinstein International Center
enable humanitarian agencies to better address the
protection of livelihoods, and to enable policy
makers to have a better understanding of the
institutional drivers of livelihoods change.
Background
There have been numerous studies of the impact
of recurrent crisis on livelihoods and the institu-
tions that shape livelihoods, but a major constraint
to improved understanding is that most of these
studies are one-off assessments, usually conducted
well after the crisis. Few studies have actually
captured the process of change as it occurs in a
crisis. To address the gaps in current knowledge
about the how livelihoods change in crisis, this
research will include a number of community
studies capturing change over time in response to
crisis and the response to humanitarian program-
ming in crisis and programming aimed at prevent-
ing or mitigating crisis.
The research will be conducted collabora-
tively with humanitarian agencies and research
institutes in the host country. A total of four
country studies are anticipated, including Sudan,
Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Haiti. In each country, a
geographic-area prospective longitudinal study
will be conducted initially over a three-year time
period, with the possibility to extend it to five
years. One of the important elements of the study
will be to ramp up the measurement of change in
the event of a shock or acute crisis, so that change
processes as directly influenced by such crises can
be better understood and mitigated.
Overview
The overarching objective of the proposed
research is to enhance the understanding of how
livelihoods change in response to stress and crisis,
and to improve humanitarian practice in respond-
ing to disaster and improving livelihoods. The
study has four specific objectives: to understand
livelihood changes at both the household and
institutional level, and the factors driving these
changes over the long term; to develop improved
methodologies for measuring livelihood change
over time in crisis situations to facilitate cross-
contextual analysis and permit broader analysis of
livelihoods change; to work with agencies to
improve livelihoods programming in humanitar-
ian emergencies and facilitate institutional change
processes; and to improve the exchange of re-
search results between academia, humanitarian
organizations, and communities. Each study is
preceded by a scoping mission to estimate costs, to
establish field-based partnerships, and to refine
methods and tools.
Outputs
The first output for each case study will be a
baseline assessment report, and change will be
monitored on an annual basis thereafter by
household surveys and qualitative study of the
institutional drivers of change. These will result in
annual reports to the host agency and the relevant
authorities in the host country government.
Beyond these paper outputs, the intent of the
research program is to improve humanitarian
programming and the policy response to prevent-
ing, mitigating, and responding to crises. To this
end, annual or biennial consultations will be held
with all the collaborating agencies, research
institutes, government partners, and others
interested in the question. Other outputs will
include improved methodologies of livelihoods
measurement in crisis and documentation of good
practice in livelihoods programming.
Impact
The intended impact of the project is to improve
both the programmatic means of preventing,
mitigating, and responding to crises, and the
policy response of governments and international
organizations. This will be achieved through
careful documentation of the research itself, and
through outreach mechanisms like the consulta-
tions with partners described above.
Collaboration
This study is a collaborative effort between
members of Tufts/FIC and the Friedman School
of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts Univer-
sity. Each country study under this project will
collaborate with an international humanitarian
agency and its local partners at the level of field
projects, and each will develop partnerships with
in-country universities or research institutes as
well as the relevant in-country disaster manage-
ment or disaster response authority.
Longitudinal Study Of Market- And Credit-
Based Livelihood Interventions In Ethiopia
(John Burns)
Goal and Rationale
The objective of this research is to generate
evidence on the impact of market-oriented
microfinance projects in reducing chronic food
insecurity in Ethiopia. Consistent with this
objective, the overall goal of the research will be
to generate evidence on the effectiveness of
market-oriented microfinance interventions as
part of a national food security and poverty
reduction strategy. The research therefore seeks to
influence and assist humanitarian policy by
informing food security programming at the
national level.
Background
In 2005 the government of Ethiopia (GOE)
launched its Productive Safety Net Programme,
one component of a broader food security
strategy that includes the Voluntary Resettlement
Programme and Other Food Security Pro-
grammes (OFSP). The Productive Safety Net
Programme (PSNP) was designed to assist chroni-
cally or predictably food-insecure households, not
households affected by transitory food deficits
resulting from a specific event. The program
provides either cash or food in exchange for labor
on rural infrastructure projects, or direct cash and
food transfers for households unable to participate
in physical labor. The overall goal of the program
is to address food insecurity through household
asset protection and community asset creation.
Participating households are expected to graduate
from the program within five years. Thresholds for
graduation are based on household asset levels.
It was originally anticipated that graduation
from the PSNP would be facilitated by partici-
pants benefiting from the OFSP which provides
credit and loans for agriculture as well as non-
farm income-generating activities. However,
recent evaluations of the program suggest that this
combination does not guarantee household
graduation from the PSNP. In response to the
findings of these evaluations, and in continuing
their support of the GOE food security strategy, a
number of NGOs have proposed to support
market-oriented microfinance interventions in
Ethiopia. These projects aim to link PSNP
participants to credit and markets through a
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 29
Part II Project Details
variety of interventions. The research aims to
measure the effectiveness of these projects in
addressing food security, asset accumulation, and
PSNP graduation through an independent
livelihoods study.
Overview
The research will test a causal model which
assumes that NGO interventions that link people
to microfinance and markets do indeed result in
asset accumulation and improved food security at
the household level. The research will involve an
investigation of at least three similar market-ori-
ented microfinance projects being implemented
in different geographical locations and livelihoods
zones.
Changes in livelihoods assets which can be
attributed to the project interventions will be
assessed as part of a longitudinal livelihoods study.
This will incorporate a wide range of research and
impact assessment designs and methodologies. The
most compelling evidence on the impact and
effectiveness of the projects will arise from a
randomized case control study in which changes
in intervention households are compared with
changes in non-intervention households, with the
latter acting as a control group. The longitudinal
study will be designed during the early stages of
the projects once the project participants and
specific project activities have been identified. The
study team will work independently of NGO
implementers as a means to improve objectivity.
Outputs
Key outputs will include a number of compre-
hensive reports, including at least one impact
assessment report for each project case study, and
one combined report on lessons learned drawing
from all the case studies. Where relevant and
appropriate, the results of the research will also be
synthesized into policy briefing papers. These
reports will be disseminated among key govern-
ment, donor, and NGO stakeholders in Ethiopia.
Impact
We are seeking primarily to inform the govern-
ment of Ethiopia, key donors, and NGOs involved
in food security and PSNP programming in
Ethiopia. This will be done through workshops,
discussion with relevant stakeholders, and through
the dissemination of reports and briefing notes. It
is anticipated that the findings of the research will
30 Feinstein International Center
influence the formulation of future food security
policies and program design, in Ethiopia and
elsewhere.
Collaboration
This program will involve collaboration with
GOE food security actors at both the federal and
national level. Although the actual research
activities will be carried out independently from
NGO partners, it will require a learning partner-
ship with the NGOs implementing the projects.
The nature of the research and the objectives will
also imply collaboration and a learning partner-
ship with donors involved in food security
programming in Ethiopia. In carrying out the
research Tufts/FIC will seek to work in direct
partnership with regional Ethiopian universities.
Profiling Internally Displaced Persons In
Urban Areas, Phase Ii (Karen Jacobsen)
Goal and Rationale
The first phase of our urban internally displaced
persons (IDP) profiling study conducted surveys
in three cities to develop data-gathering tools and
sets of data that allowed us to make population
estimates of urban IDPs and compare their
experiences with their non-IDP neighbors. In
Phase II, we want to work closely with aid
agencies and donors to conduct a fourth study in
a new city, and to develop practical program and
policy initiatives based on all the data from our
four surveys.
Background
Based on the recognition by the UN Inter-Agen-
cy Standing Committee of the need for better
empirical data about urban internally displaced
people, the Internal Development Monitoring
Center commissioned Tufts/FIC in 2005 to
develop data gathering tools and to conduct
studies of urban IDP populations in conflict-
affected countries. From 2006-08, we conducted
surveys in three urban locations: Khartoum,
Sudan; Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; and Santa Marta,
Colombia. The surveys generated population
estimates of IDPs, and compared the situations of
IDPs and non-IDPs in each city. In addition to
developing tools and generating data, one of the
study’s main objectives is to use the data from the
three case studies to assist governments and
humanitarian organizations in the development of
programs and advocacy strategies that protect the
rights of IDPs.
While our research findings were useful for
operational agencies to understand the situation of
IDPs in relation to non-IDPs, our findings did
not include specific or explicit practical recom-
mendations for the future. This new research aims
to make those recommendations.
Overview
Our overall goal is to improve the tools we have
to generate information about urban IDPs, and to
develop practical program options based on the
data we generate with these tools.
Specific objectives are to work with UN-
HCR (United Nations High Commission for
Refugees) and NRC (Norwegian Refugee
Council) and donors to conduct a fourth survey
in a new city, in which we will add a qualitative
component to our profiling tools that will allow
us to explore specific issues related to the vulner-
ability and protection of urban IDPs. We will
refine the profiling tools to make them more
useable by aid agencies, governments, and other
organizations that want to conduct surveys of
IDPs. Development of explicit programming and
practical recommendations for operational
agencies, based on the data findings, is another
goal.
Outputs
Outputs will include a tested profiling methodol-
ogy that is useable by aid agencies in the field;
policy briefs on the problems (including sources
of insecurity, vulnerability, and livelihoods) facing
urban IDPs and how these compare to non-IDPs;
training materials (a manual) and a workshop; and
specific policy recommendations and initiatives
aimed at operational agencies and donors.
Impact
This research will align with Tufts/FIC project
‘Preparing for Humanitarian Crises of the Future’
in that it will offer NGOs, operational agencies,
UNHCR headquarters, and other UN agencies
increasingly involved with IDPs (such as IOM and
UNOCHR), both a methodology for assessing
the needs and situation of urban IDPs and the
research to work closely with operational partners
and donors to develop new urban programs.
Both at the beginning of the study and
throughout, we will be working closely with our
partner organizations to develop our approach. At
the end, we will conduct workshops, and issue
briefing notes in order to disseminate our find-
ings.
Collaboration
This research aligns with Tufts/FIC projects
‘Preparing for Humanitarian Crises of the Future’
and ‘Livelihoods Change over Time.’ As with our
Phase I study, we will work with a university in
the chosen city, as well as NRC/IDMC (Norwe-
gian Refugee Council/International Displace-
ment Monitoring Centre), who has been our
research partner throughout Phase I.
Building Capacity Among Refugee Mutual
Aid Associations In Maine (Lacey Gale)
Goal and Rationale
This project seeks to establish a baseline of
information concerning the current activities and
capacity of refugee mutual aid associations
(MAAs) in Maine as well as best practices among
MAAs nationwide. This baseline information will
be used by Tufts/FIC and project partners the
Maine Association for Nonprofits (MANP) and
the State of Maine Office of Multicultural Affairs
(MOMA) to create and deliver a series of com-
prehensive training programs for refugees de-
signed to build peer networks, connect refugee
participants to statewide funding, mentoring, and
advocacy resources, and to build leadership and
organizational capacity within the refugee com-
munities.
Background
Tufts/FIC has been conducting research with
Somali and Sudanese refugee groups in Maine
since 1998 in order to better understand the
relationship between this diaspora and their home
country communities.
Overview
While MAAs are well equipped to recognize the
needs of their communities, they lack the organi-
zational knowledge and skills necessary to work
effectively within the structure of their new
environment. As a result, many MAAs struggle to
build their organizational capacity, develop
sustainable programs, and launch community-
based initiatives that will enhance the livelihoods
of their constituents. This is due to the fluctuating
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 31
Part II Project Details
nature of refugee communities (people are on the
move, leadership changes, and organizations
collapse) as well as their limited extra-community
networks.
This project is designed to gather information
about the refugee communities, livelihood
strategies, and MAA structure in Maine and to use
this information to create capacity-building
trainings or Learning Institutes. The project will
generate organizational profiles from the inter-
views that will provide the basis for MANP’s
Learning Institute curriculum as well as provide
feedback to the CBOs. The project will also
evaluate the Learning Institutes and debrief
participants so that lessons learned are incorpo-
rated into the curriculum on an ongoing basis.
The Learning Institutes are based on a weekend
residential, cohort model, designed to build peer
networks, connect participants to statewide
funding, mentoring, advocacy resources, and to
build leadership and organizational capacity
through an experiential program that involves
community leaders in identifying and overcoming
organizational and professional challenges. The
sponsor for this three-year project is the Depart-
ment of State’s Office of Refugee Resettlement
(ORR) as part of their ethnic community self-
help priority area. This project began in October
2008 and will continue through September 2010.
Outputs
Key stakeholders and interested groups will be
consulted throughout the study. These groups
include Maine-based MAAs and key community
members, the funding community in Maine, and
other MAAs across the United States. There has
been positive feedback on the need for such
research and the application it would have to
informing community development. A final
report on the project’s findings will be prepared
for distribution, as well as an article for a peer-
reviewed scholarly publication.
Impact
This project will provide comprehensive training
and direct support to refugee MAAs in Maine in
order to develop and sustain their capacity. In
addition, it is clear that mainstream service provid-
ers, funders, and state and federal government
agencies are eager to learn more about these
MAAs and how to support them. Therefore, the
information that emerges from interviews,
32 Feinstein International Center
organizational profiles, and training evaluations is
valuable for a range of practical purposes as well as
for advancing our understanding of how refugee
MAAs struggle to serve their communities and
create bridges to the mainstream population.
Collaboration
Tufts/FIC is working in partnership with the
Maine Association for Nonprofits and the State of
Maine Office of Multicultural Affairs.
Community-Based Management Of Severe
Acute Malnutrition In Bangladesh: Reduc-
ing Vulnerability To Malnutrition In Poor
Cyclone-Prone Communities (Kate Sadler)
Goal and Rationale
Malnutrition is a major public health problem
throughout the developing world and is an
underlying factor in over 50% of the 10–11
million children under five years of age who die
each year of preventable causes. In many areas
where chronically high levels of acute malnutri-
tion have been identified, there is a dearth of
feasible strategies for identifying the condition
and for delivering treatment within ongoing child
survival programming. Improvements in care at
health facilities are necessary, but in the poorest
areas of the world primary health care facilities are
often a long way from people’s homes and the
opportunity and financial costs of seeking care for
these families are high. This means that children
from the poorest families are significantly less
likely to be brought to health facilities, and may
receive lower quality care once they arrive.
This study aims to test the effectiveness of
adding the diagnosis and treatment of severe acute
malnutrition (SAM) to the integrated manage-
ment of childhood illness package, delivered by
community health volunteers (CHVs) outside
health facilities, against the standard of care for
SAM in Bangladesh, which is referral from
primary health care facilities for treatment in
inpatient centers. The findings will be used to
inform policy and practice for the diagnosis and
treatment of SAM both in Bangladesh and across
the developing world.
Background
The principal investigator on this project has, over
the last six years, been involved with the develop-
ment of a new approach for the treatment of
acute malnutrition in emergencies: community-
based management of acute malnutrition
(CMAM). This model of care is now used widely
across Africa, with identification and treatment of
children suffering from SAM delivered from
primary health care facilities by primary health
care practitioners. CMAM was recently endorsed
by the WHO, UNICEF, and UNHCR. However,
with the problems that many poor families
experience in accessing center-based health
services, there have been calls to implement a
household and community component of the
management of childhood illness. This would
serve the sick children who never reach facility-
based services. Although such a component has
been tested and is now being rolled out for
conditions such as diarrhea and acute respiratory
infections (ARIs), the community-based manage-
ment of SAM remains facility-based with outpa-
tient treatment delivered by, for the most part,
trained health workers working out of these
facilities.
Overview
This is a prospective cohort study that aims to
examine the operational effectiveness of commu-
nity case management (CCM) of SAM delivered
by CHVs.
Community case management of SAM will
be rolled out across 26 of the 61 unions in Bhola
District, Barisal Division by the end of 2009.
These unions (the intervention unions) have been
selected by SCUS because they are deemed to
have poorest health care coverage in the District.
This is deemed to be a feasible roll-out strategy
within the resources and capacities on the ground.
Outcomes from the intervention unions will be
compared with those unions in Bhola District
that are not yet exposed to CCM of SAM (non-
intervention unions) and therefore treat SAM
using the standard of care.
Four hypotheses will be tested during this
17-month study: community case management of
SAM will achieve acceptable clinical outcomes
(recovery and mortality) when compared with
international standards, and better outcomes than
those reported by the standard of care for SAM;
the cost-effectiveness of treating SAM by CCM is
better than that of the standard of care; enabling
community health workers to diagnose and treat
SAM will increase utilization of SAM treatment
services among children under two years com-
pared to the provision of treatment through
standard facility-based inpatient services; and
community health volunteers can treat children
suffering from uncomplicated SAM as effectively
as facility-based health personnel.
Outputs
Final study results will be disseminated in different
formats including short policy briefs, peer re-
viewed for publication by March 2010. Final
results will be presented to the government of
Bangladesh for review and consideration for
national policy and/or guidelines by March 2010.
Impact
We seek primarily to inform a number of key
stakeholders in Bangladesh about the feasibility
and effectiveness of an approach that could reduce
child morbidity and mortality in the country.
These stakeholders include Save the Children US,
their local partners, and the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare (MOHFW), who is respon-
sible for all health and nutrition outreach activities
in Bangladesh. Through workshops, briefing notes,
and discussion we hope to offer the stakeholders
tools that will allow them to develop more
appropriate responses for addressing acute malnu-
trition in the future. We also envisage that this
work will have wider impact on the design of
basic child survival interventions supported by the
international community, particularly UNICEF
and WHO.
Collaboration
Over the next two years this project will work in
collaboration with a large Save the Children US
development assistance program in Southern
Bangladesh. It aims to provide the research setting
for one PhD student from the Freidman School
of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts Univer-
sity, who will provide ongoing support for design,
data collection, and analysis.
Promoting Evidence-Based Livelihood
Programming In Karamoja, Uganda
(Elizabeth Stites)
Goal and Rationale
Insecurity in Karamoja since the 1970s has limited
the collection of data on key livelihood and
human security issues. In particular, there is a
dearth of quality data regarding the mobile cattle
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 33
Part II Project Details
camps, populations living in contested and
insecure areas, and gender and generational
differences. Not surprisingly, major gaps exist in
knowledge regarding livelihood systems, food
security, mobility strategies, decision making, and
gender roles at the household and community
level.
Save the Children in Uganda (SCIU) has
been working in the Karamoja region since 1996,
making it one of the international organizations
with the greatest extent of institutional knowl-
edge on the region. SCIU is currently seeking to
expand and diversify their programs in Karamoja.
The Tufts/FIC team will work in collaboration
with SCIU on a research project designed to
inform programming, policy making, and advo-
cacy through the collection and dissemination of
qualitative data on key livelihood issues. We will
also seek to understand how SCIU livelihood and
food security interventions influence local coping
mechanisms in response to the drought cycle in
Karamoja. The findings from this work will feed
into SCIU programming but will also be shared
with local and national authorities and other
agencies working in the region. This research is
particularly timely, as a growing number of
international agencies are turning their attention
towards Karamoja, but few have in-depth experi-
ence or understanding of the local conflict
dynamics or livelihood constraints. We aim to help
to inform and improve the programming of these
organizations as they expand into the complex
region of Karamoja.
Background
This project builds on the continuing work of
Tufts/FIC in Karamoja and will draw from the
lessons learned by our teams working in other
pastoral areas in the Horn of Africa. We will also
be building on the experience and expertise of
SCIU staff in the Karamoja region and learning
from their past programming and from their
extended network of partners and key informants.
Overview
Our research in collaboration with SCIU will
have two components. First, we will collect and
analyze data on specific aspects of Karamojong
livelihood strategies and how these aspects affect
food security, drought preparedness, crisis mitiga-
tion, and protection threats and responses. We will
seek to understand how these livelihood strategies
34 Feinstein International Center
have changed over time and how households and
communities prepare and respond to the regular
cycles of drought. We will pay particular attention
to the roles of women and children and the
parallel protection threats. Research will be
conducted in both settled villages and mobile
cattle camps.
Second, we will seek to document the impact
and effectiveness of SCIU interventions on
livelihoods and food security in select communi-
ties. This will entail collecting qualitative data on
coping mechanisms, drought mitigation and
preparedness, and drought recovery at the house-
hold and community level. We will explore
communities’ perspectives of the positive, negative,
or zero impact of SCIU’s interventions, and will
seek to document any gender-specific outcomes.
The partnership between SCIU and Tufts/
FIC will be flexible in nature to allow for timely
response to issues that emerge in the regularly
evolving environment of Karamoja. This will give
SCIU and the Tufts/FIC team the ability to
gather information on emerging issues thought to
be indicative of a wider trend to have a broad and
far-reaching impact.
Outputs
Each research trip (estimated at two per year) will
be followed by a concise briefing paper for Save
the Children in Uganda on the specific topic or
area studied. These papers will be shared with
national authorities, other national and interna-
tional agencies working on Karamoja, and inter-
ested donors. Regular formal and informal
briefings will be provided to Save the Children
throughout the partnership. The research will
culminate in a final report of the overall findings
and recommendations where relevant.
Impact
This research collaboration is designed to have an
important impact on the programs of one of the
most experienced international NGOs working in
Karamoja. SCIU is well aware of the importance
of evidence to improve and inform their program
design, policy planning, and advocacy efforts, and
Tufts/FIC is in a unique position to provide this
information. The outcomes of this work are
designed to have a broader influence as well
through sharing of information with national and
international stakeholders currently working in or
expanding their work into Karamoja. Lastly, we
hope to influence the national debate on the
future of Karamoja and to advocate for pro-pasto-
ral policies that aim to protect and enhance
sustainable livelihood strategies while upholding
the rights and needs of the Karamojong popula-
tion.
Collaboration
This project will be conducted in partnership
with Save the Children in Uganda. All informa-
tion will also be publicly available.
Livelihoods-Based Programming And
Impact Assessment In Pastoral Areas Of The
Horn Of Africa (Andy Catley, Berhanu
Admassu And Yacob Aklilu)
Goal and Rationale
Although the language of livelihoods is increas-
ingly present in the strategies and proposals of aid
agencies, the actual application of these approach-
es varies considerably at the community level.
Through coordination and technical support to
multi-actor programs in pastoral regions, our goal
is to improve the quality of aid programming in
pastoral areas, and institutionalize impact assess-
ment as a norm within donors and NGOs.
Background
Tufts/FIC has a long history of coordinating
large-scale programs in pastoral areas of the Horn
of Africa, dating back to 1996. We lead coordina-
tion efforts, provide direct technical support to
implementing agencies, and work with agencies
to assess impact and refine future programming.
Lessons learned are applied locally, but are also fed
into the policy processes at national and regional
levels, which are described under our program
‘Pastoralism, Controversies, and Policy Processes
in Africa,’ and into LEGS.
Overview
Our coordination, technical support, and impact
assessment work between 2009 and 2011 is
provided under two programs covering parts of
Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Both programs
involve international and local NGOs working
with various local government and private sector
partners. The positioning of these programs in
drought-prone areas means that the programs
cover both development and relief interventions,
and therefore, central to our support is the
promotion of livelihoods-based approaches in
context where drought is expected. We work with
NGOs to enhance their capacity to link relief and
development programs and plans under liveli-
hoods frameworks. The longer-term development
interventions include activities related to livestock
marketing, veterinary services, natural resource
and water management, human health care,
human nutrition, organizational development, and
savings and credit schemes. The relief interven-
tions include commercial destocking, slaughter
destocking, livestock feed supplementation, and
emergency veterinary care and restocking. In
Ethiopia and Kenya, we also work with govern-
ment and NGO actors to integrate these activities
into emerging government safety net programs in
pastoral areas.
Outputs
Expected outputs include strong coordination of
government and NGOs in pastoral areas, with
implementation of harmonized best-practice
programs. Between 2009 and 2011, a key activity
is to roll out the best-practice guidelines for
livelihoods-based interventions developed under
the Livestock Policy Forum in Ethiopia and
published by the government of Ethiopia in 2008.
Another output goal is improved capacity of
NGOs and government to conduct and apply
livelihoods analysis. Although the language of
livelihoods is increasingly used by NGOs and
presented in project proposals, understanding of
livelihoods analysis remains limited. This capacity-
building activity initially targets senior NGO
managers and provides training in livelihoods
analysis, followed by actual analyses in the field.
We aim for improved capacity of NGOs to
conduct and institutionalize participatory impact
assessment, and channel assessment findings into
policy dialogue at the level of local and central
government. This work includes training and
mentoring of NGO and local government
partners in participatory impact assessments,
followed by actual assessments with communities.
The assessments are usually written up in three
main forms: first, as reports for immediate use by
local actors; second, as more formal scientific
papers for peer review and publication; third, as a
policy briefing paper targeted at decision makers
in government, donors, and NGOs.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 35
Part II Project Details
Impact
These activities aim to improve the quality of
livelihoods-based programming and thereby
improve the livelihoods of crisis-affected pastoral
communities. The capacity-building element of
the work helps to strengthen government and
NGO implementing agencies, and therefore,
organizational development is a secondary impact.
The participatory impact assessment approach
focuses on the measurement of livelihoods
changes at the community level and the relative
attribution of NGO interventions on such
changes. The approach is integral to the organiza-
tional development aspects of the work, and in
particular, organizational learning leading to
improved programming.
Collaboration
The work involves collaboration with govern-
ment partners such as the Afar Region Pastoralist,
Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau,
Oromiya Pastoral Areas Development Commis-
sion, the Somali Region Livestock, Crop and
Natural Resources Development Bureau, and
NGO partners such as Save the Children US, Save
the Children UK, CARE International, Islamic
Relief, International Rescue Committee, Ogaden
Welfare Development Association, FARM Africa,
Afar Pastoral Development Association, SOS
Sahel, Pastoralist Forum of Ethiopia,Vétérinaires
Sans Frontières Suisse, and Lay Volunteers Interna-
tional Association.
Livestock Emergency Guidelines And
Standards: Raising Awareness, Ensuring
Uptake (Andy Catley)
Goal and Rationale
The Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Stan-
dards (LEGS) are being developed as a set of
international standards and guidelines for the
assessment, design, implementation, and evaluation
of livestock interventions to assist people affected
by humanitarian crises. The overall goal of LEGS
is to improve the quality of livestock-related
programming in humanitarian crises and to have
an impact on the livelihoods of people affected by
such crises.
36 Feinstein International Center
The LEGS process responds to the recogni-
tion that livestock are a crucial livelihoods asset
for people throughout the world, and livestock
interventions are often a feature of relief responses.
Yet to date, there are no widely-available guide-
lines to assist donors, programme managers, or
technical experts in the design or implementation
of livestock interventions in disasters.
LEGS is on track for publication as hard copy
and free-access online copy in early 2009. The
activities described below are for LEGS post-pub-
lication and awareness-raising activities between
2009 and 2011. These activities focus in Africa,
Asia, and Latin America and are designed to
ensure wide uptake of LEGS and correct use.
Background
The LEGS process was initiated by Tufts/FIC in
early 2006 and mirrors the process for developing
the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Stan-
dards in Disaster Response—the Sphere Project.
The process is based on multi-agency contribu-
tions and broad reviews and collation of practitio-
ner experience. LEGS liaises closely with the
Sphere Project and intends to become one of the
first Sphere ‘Companion Modules.’ LEGS also
recognizes the value of livelihoods thinking and
the need to harmonize relief and development
approaches. This means promoting more long-
term thinking and response in emergencies. This
approach is particularly important as climatic
trends are causing more frequent and varied
humanitarian crises, particularly affecting commu-
nities such as pastoral ones that rely heavily on
livestock.
Overview
As a global initiative involving multiple actors, the
LEGS process requires strong coordination and
clear modes of communication. This project
prioritizes continued support to the LEGS
coordination and core functions: the LEGS
website; organization and facilitation of LEGS
Steering Group meetings; awareness-raising;
technical and administrative support to the LEGS
training program; management of LEGS service
partners; fund-raising and donor liaison; technical
backstopping; and monitoring and impact assess-
ments. It also focuses on promoting correct and
wide application of LEGS through translation and
online publication of LEGS in other languages,
and through the LEGS training program.
Outputs Collaboration
Between 2009 and 2011 the expected outputs of A Steering Group has been established to oversee
the LEGS process are to maintain the core the production of LEGS. The role of the Steering
functions of the LEGS process, including manage- Group is to coordinate the production process,
ment and coordination, technical oversight, provide quality control, facilitate consultation
general awareness-raising and information dis- processes with a wide range of stakeholders, and
semination, and fund-raising, and to monitor the foster the establishment of a network. The Steer-
use of LEGS to assist updating the standards in ing Group is made up of representatives from VSF
four years. The correct and wide use of LEGS by (Vétérinaires Sans Frontières) Belgium (a member
humanitarian actors globally will be promoted by: of VSF Europa), Tufts/FIC, the African Union/
translation and publication in three languages and Department for Rural Economy and Agriculture,
enabling free on-line access to these versions; the Food and Agriculture Organization, the
conducting of post-publication training in 12 International Committee for the Red Cross, and
developing regions or country groupings; and the LEGS coordinator.
providing of real-time technical support to In keeping with the Sphere process, LEGS
humanitarian agencies in the areas of emergency seeks inputs from a wide range of actors involved
livestock project design and impact assessment. in humanitarian response generally, or specifically
related to livestock programming. LEGS maintains
Impact an email network of approximately 1600 indi-
LEGS aims to improve the quality and impact of viduals and organizations globally.
livestock-related interventions in humanitarian
crisis globally, but with an emphasis on developing
regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It uses a
livelihoods-based approach to identifying and
designing livestock programs, with a focus on
protecting key livestock assets and encouraging
post-disaster recovery. The two main audiences for
LEGS are humanitarian generalists who may not
know much about livestock, and livestock special-
ists who are not familiar with emergency contexts
or programming. Both audiences are present in a
range of organizations, from international donors
and UN agencies to local NGOs. A secondary
level of impact is the use of LEGS to assist
evaluation of livestock interventions, by providing
standards and guidelines against which programs
can be assessed.

September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 37

Part II Project Details
DARFUR: LIVELIHOODS,
VULNERABILITY, AND CHOICE
Markets, Trade, And Livelihoods: Darfur,
Sudan (Helen Young, Margie Buchanan-
Smith)
Goal and Rationale
Trade is the lifeblood of the economy of the
Darfur region and one of the main ways in which
different livelihood groups interact. Normal
trading patterns have been severely disrupted by
five years of devastating conflict. A growing body
of knowledge on how livelihoods have been
affected by the conflict has fed into livelihoods
programming. Missing from much of the analysis
is a clear understanding of how trade and markets
have been impacted. The goal of this research is to
investigate the shifting patterns of trade and
markets in the Darfur region for the key com-
modities (cereals, livestock, and cash crops)
including trading networks and routes, and
implications of these shifts for different livelihood
groups.
This work will build on the earlier Tufts/FIC
study ‘Adaptation and Devastation: Impact of
Conflict on Trade and Markets in Darfur’ by
Margie Buchanan-Smith and Abdaljabbar Fuddle.
This second stage will deepen the analysis by
gaining more understanding of market transac-
tions outside the main urban markets, and will
review how ongoing monitoring systems (by
UNDP and others) can integrate data collection
and analysis of these important and insightful
market trends. This second phase will include a
38 Feinstein International Center
capacity development component through
collaboration with the local Darfur Resource
Network in running training workshops and
offering mentoring support.
Background
Trade is one of the main ways in which different
livelihood groups interact in Darfur. Farmers and
pastoralists in particular traditionally have been
dependent on one another through market
transactions. In many areas, markets (especially
rural ones) and trade have simply collapsed. In
other areas, markets have adapted and are still
functioning. For example, the private sector has
responded to meet some of the needs of pastoral-
ists. But how trade patterns have shifted, who now
controls them, and the implications for livelihoods
and for understanding conflict dynamics more
generally are still poorly understood.
Tufts/FIC has previously identified various
market adaptations in response to (and to some
extent influencing) security and shifting conflict
dynamics. While trade in some key export com-
modities has declined (livestock, gum arabic,
tombac, and groundnuts), other conflict-related
sectors have increased. This emergence of aspects
of a war economy is of concern: trade in timber
has massively increased as a result of the construc-
tion boom in Darfur’s main towns and in the
absence of other economic opportunities, but the
felling of trees in Darfur is mostly unregulated and
often illegal. The evidence indicates this situation
is destroying some of Darfur’s fragile natural
resource base.
Overview
Much of the ongoing market monitoring in
Darfur is focused on quantitative data such as
prices, rather than on qualitative analysis of trends,
stakeholders, and implications for livelihoods,
peace, and recovery. A more nuanced understand-
ing of market trends is critical for understanding
the dynamics of war economies, and the role of
markets and trade in promoting recovery or in
fuelling conflict. The research will be based on a
more qualitative analysis of changing trade routes,
shifts in the importance of different commodities,
the changing profile of traders, and the implica-
tions for different livelihood groups.
Outputs
The research outputs will be presented in a full
report, with summaries translated into Arabic, for
wider distribution in Sudan and internationally.
This work will support and feed into the ongoing
market monitoring by UNDP and others in the
Darfur region. Debriefings will be organized in
Khartoum, Darfur, and internationally. Training
workshops for agencies and government staff
engaged in market monitoring will ensure these
approaches and lessons are integrated into newly
developing systems. Mentoring support and
coaching will be offered to key technical staff.
Impact
The research team will work closely with local
stakeholders to review the implications of the
research for livelihoods programming and market
monitoring in the region. In particular, researchers
will pay attention to how essential market infra-
structure can be supported and maintained rather
than allowed to disintegrate, in order to be ready
for Darfur’s eventual recovery. The team will also
explore how negotiated access to markets between
warring groups could provide a platform for the
rebuilding of relationships and even local-level
reconciliation. Through local partners within the
Darfur Resource Network, workshops will be
organized to disseminate and discuss findings and
to review and further develop recommendations
and follow-up actions.
Collaboration
This action research project forms a major part of
the wider Tufts/FIC Darfur Livelihoods Program.
The work will be supported locally by UNDP,
UNOCHA, and the Resident Coordinators
Office. The research team will work closely with
a network of local NGOs and resource people
and with the Darfur Resource Network, who will
facilitate access to trader networks.
In the preliminary work the Tufts/FIC Darfur
team has collaborated with two related initiatives:
work by the United Nations Industrial Develop-
ment Organization (UNIDO) to support private
sector development in Darfur, and economic
profiling led by UN-HABITAT to identify areas
of existing and potential economic opportunity.
Pastoral Perspectives: Vulnerability, Power,
And Choice (Helen Young)
Goal and Rationale
This field research will analyze the causes of
vulnerability, pre-conflict and currently, among
specific pastoral groups of the Darfur region.
These causes are often deeply rooted in history
and embedded in complex interactions between
human beings, the environment, and institutional
and policy processes. For future strategic re-
sponses to extreme crises like Darfur, it is critical
that we understand the historical and current
adaptations to climate variability (and by implica-
tion climate change), conflict, and processes of
marginalization.
Background
Despite international attention on the Darfur
conflict during the past five years, little is known
about the lives and livelihoods of the pastoral
groups, including the Northern Rizayqat, the
group that in the minds of many represents one of
the main protagonists in the conflict, the notori-
ous Janjaweed. The impetus for this research is
recognition by a number of local, national, and
international stakeholders that knowledge and
understanding of these pastoral groups is extreme-
ly limited and could be crucial to future peace
and recovery. This particular research will build on
the earlier scoping study of pastoral perspectives
by Tufts/FIC, which was completed in collabora-
tion with local academics and the civil society
group Partners in Development.
In the Darfur region, local conflicts between
pastoralists and farmers have shifted from previous
local-level conflict often settled by tribal mecha-
nisms to the current mistrust and enmity between
tribal groups, often linked to human rights abuses
and insecurity. In general, polarization of tribal
groups has increased over the years, presenting
greater challenges to the international community
in ensuring an impartial humanitarian response
and in promoting the representation of all groups
in wider peace processes. Pastoralists have been
relatively excluded, yet their participation and
engagement in the peace process and humanitar-
ian and recovery efforts is absolutely essential for
longer-term peace, stability, and recovery.
This work will link with regional and inter-
national pastoralist initiatives, including the Tufts/
FIC initiative on ‘Understanding the Future of
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 39
Part II Project Details
Pastoralism in Africa,’ the African Union Pastoral
Policy Framework for Africa (currently being
developed), and the Oxfam GB Regional Pasto-
ralist Initiative for the horn of Africa. It will also
engage with UNEP and others in relation to the
climate variability and climate change component.
Overview
The research will adopt qualitative methods,
building on the earlier Tufts/FIC livelihoods
methodological approach, and will be undertaken
by a multi-disciplinary team drawn from Tufts/
FIC, local academic partners, and the Darfur
Resource Network. Field visits and contacts with
these potentially hard-to-reach groups will be
facilitated by our local contacts and networks in
Khartoum and the Darfur region.
Outputs
A full report and a number of summary briefing
notes in English and Arabic will be produced for
dissemination in Sudan and internationally.
Increasing attention is being given to capturing
raw data, in the form of transcripts, photographs,
etc., which can be carefully coded and analyzed
using qualitative software.
Impact
The camel-herding nomads known as abbala have
been relatively excluded from various forms of
international action on Darfur, including humani-
tarian programming, international peace processes,
and international advocacy campaigns (except as
antagonists). This research will provide evidence
of their real situation, the impact of conflict on
their livelihoods, and their current issues and
future goals, which will directly inform the
international processes. Tufts/FIC will work to
support international and local organizations in
developing and implementing their advocacy
strategy and livelihoods programming in relation
to these pastoral groups.
Collaboration
This action research forms a major part of the
wider Tufts/FIC Darfur Livelihoods Program and
relates directly to the Tufts/FIC program on
‘Understanding the Future of Pastoralism in
Africa.’ The work will be supported locally by
UNOCHA, the Resident Coordinators Office,
UNEP, and a number of local NGOs. By presi-
dential decree, the government of Sudan has
40 Feinstein International Center
recently appointed a Council for the Develop-
ment of Nomads, with whom the research team
already collaborates closely. The research team will
also work closely with the Darfur Resource
Network.
Conflict, Livelihoods, And Household Food
Security In Darfur (Helen Young)
Goal and Rationale
The Darfur conflict and crisis stands as an extreme
example of a complex, protracted political emer-
gency caused by a governance gap, combined
with natural resource conflict between competing
livelihood groups. This presents particular chal-
lenges to humanitarian actors to ensure their
actions are not only humanitarian but also impar-
tial, neutral, and independent. Unwittingly, these
actors can be drawn in and inadvertently fuel local
tensions and conflict unless they have some
understanding of local power dynamics, conflict
between groups, and the links with higher-level
political processes.
This research will examine the nature of the
conflict in Darfur and undertake a comparative
analysis of its effect on the livelihoods and food
security situation of different groups living in
North Darfur state, including IDPs, farmers living
under coercion of other groups, pro-government
rural farmers, and pastoral groups. This work will
build on the earlier Tufts/FIC livelihoods initia-
tives in the Darfur region.
Background
There has been an increasing interest in using a
livelihoods approach as an analytical tool to assess
the nature of violence and its impact on different
social groups and households. The World Food
Program Executive Board recently committed the
agency to combining food security programming
with conflict analysis. International NGOs such
as Oxfam GB are now exploring new ways of
working which incorporate the political economy
of the conflict in their analysis of the situation in
order to create effective strategies for improving
food security.
Overview
This study will investigate the differential impact
of the conflict on the entitlement and access to
food among competing livelihood groups. Al-
though the analysis of livelihoods and food
security in a situation of protracted political
conflicts is becoming a matter of increasing
interest, the focus of the analysis tends to be
limited to macro issues, with limited empirical
evidence. This research provides a unique oppor-
tunity to conduct an empirical study that compre-
hensively investigates a combination of macro-
and micro-level factors influencing the overall
food security situation of households in Darfur.
This type of comparative analysis is lacking
but potentially crucial in the context of worsen-
ing conflict between local livelihood groups,
which is in large part a result of manipulation by
higher level political interests. Consequently,
incorporating a political economy analysis of
protracted political emergencies is critical in order
to design interventions with awareness of the
potential impact on the complex and shifting
structures of power, conflict, and inequality in
these contexts. Such analysis is critical to under-
standing ways to mitigate the impact of power
differentials in the distribution of food aid and
alleviation of food insecurity and famines. Impor-
tantly, it allows humanitarian assistance to be
provided and guided by the humanitarian prin-
ciples of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and
independence.
Outputs
The expected outputs from this work will include
a full report, with summaries in Arabic and
English, for dissemination in Sudan and interna-
tionally. Debriefings and longer meetings will be
organized with the support of the Darfur Re-
source Network and the UNOCHA/RCO to
more fully review the strategic recommendations
and follow-up actions with agencies and govern-
ment departments working in the area.
Impact
In addition to enhancing the scientific knowledge
specific to protracted political emergencies and
vulnerability of households in these settings, the
results of this research have policy and practical
programming implications. Two obvious critical
areas are the targeting of international aid and the
provision of principled humanitarian assistance,
both of which need to be rooted in the dynamics
of vulnerability and power of the crisis settings.
The research also informs policies that seek to
establish livelihoods security, reliable entitlements,
and access to sufficient food as part of the peace
processes. The results of this study speak directly
to the efforts of reconciliation at local levels,
which is usually overshadowed by the focus of
international interventions on the high-level
political peace processes.
The research team will work closely with the
Darfur Resource Network to organize meetings
of local and international stakeholders to review
the study findings and also with the UNOCHA/
RCO team working on livelihoods.
Collaboration
This action research project forms a major part of
the wider Tufts/FIC Darfur Livelihoods Program.
The work will be supported locally in Darfur by a
local NGO, the Kebkabiya Charitable Society, by
UNOCHA, and by the Resident Coordinators
Office.
Livelihoods, Migration, And The
Environment (Helen Young)
Goal and Rationale
Environmental concerns are increasingly recog-
nized as central not only to people’s livelihoods
but also to future peace and stability in the Darfur
region and in Sudan as a whole. As stated by
UNEP, “Long-term peace in the region will not
be possible unless these underlying and closely
linked environmental and livelihood issues are
resolved.” Because it is situated on the edge of the
Sahara with a belt of extreme climate variability
running east to west through the region, Darfur is
particularly vulnerable.
The purpose of this project is to continue and
to deepen the environmental and livelihood
analysis within Darfur, and to integrate this
analysis into practical programming that is core to
the mission of both UNEP and IOM. The aim is
to mitigate displacement and permanent out-
migration by supporting the development of
community environmental action plans and by
enhancing the developmental impact of labor,
migration, and remittance flows. The research will
enable a more informed approach to ongoing and
future return and (re-) integration programming
and to urban planning and rural community
stabilization. This planning and community
stabilization needs to incorporate both the needs
of pastoral communities, whose livelihoods and
migratory routes are adversely affected by conflict,
and the means to address the environmental
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 41
Part II Project Details
repercussions of the displacement, confinement,
and sedentarization of these population groups.
Background
This research builds on earlier work by Tufts/FIC,
UNEP, and Tear Fund investigating the environ-
mental impacts of the conflict and implications for
natural resource management. The main environ-
mental issue caused by the conflict is the unprec-
edented demand for environmental resources such
as water, forest products, and grazing and other
environmental resources, which has resulted from
conflict-induced displacement and the ensuing
humanitarian response. Particularly in areas of
high population concentration, this has caused
significant localized depletion of these resources.
A related issue that has not been considered is the
potential for environmental regeneration in
depopulated rural areas.
So far the focus has been on displacement and
forced migration, with little consideration of other
types of migration, including labor migration
within Darfur or outside, seasonal migration of
pastoralists or agricultural workers, and patterns of
resettlement and voluntary returns. Migration
patterns and environmental issues are key deter-
minants of the livelihood systems of the future,
and therefore must be understood in order to
effectively plan recovery, a program of supporting
returns, and longer-term development initiatives.
Overview
Tufts/FIC and partners will investigate previous
and current adaptations to climate variability and
conflict, particularly focusing on local systems of
natural resource management and how to
strengthen their inclusiveness and on processes of
labor migration and remittance flows as an
adaptation to environmental degradation, climate
variability, and natural resource conflict.
Examples where NRM (Natural Resource
Management) has successfully brought together
the interests of different livelihood groups (for
example, IDP returnees, returned migrants,
residents, and pastoralists) will be explored in
depth in order to learn lessons for successful
adaptations and future community environmental
action plans. The research will undertake a
comparative review of relevant pilot programs,
including Micro-Grant Support for Remittance
Recipients in Environmentally Vulnerable Areas
42 Feinstein International Center
(CBO/NGO (Community Based Organization/
Non-Governmental Organization) training and
supervision).
The target group for the field research
includes returning IDPs, urban IDPs, labor
migrants, (semi-) nomadic pastoralists, and civil
society encompassing rural, peri-urban, and urban
groups.
Outputs
Ongoing advocacy and networking will be
generated by the integration of a strong research
program with close links to ongoing program-
ming through the technical support program, and
also by the strong links with Darfurian profession-
als and representation based in El Fasher, Khar-
toum, London, Geneva, Brussels, Boston, and
Addis Ababa. These networks will provide a
natural route for personal debriefing and wide
dissemination.
The research studies will have outputs in the
form of the design of pilot projects and also the
introduction of new approaches or technologies.
In response to these outputs, UNEP will provide
seed funding for projects providing innovation or
significant technology transfer that address
environmental concerns and governance issues.
Impact
This collaborative initiative will generate en-
hanced knowledge among the core partners,
shared understanding, and a greater coherence in
aid programming relating to livelihoods, migra-
tion, and the environment. Working directly with
at least two UN agencies and government minis-
tries in the Darfur region and linking with federal
departments, will maximize programmatic and
policy impact. The engagement of the Darfur
Resource Network, local academics, and NGO
partners will build capacity and strengthen
networks.
Collaboration
This research is part of a joint program with
UNEP-Sudan and IOM-Sudan and will be
implemented in collaboration with the Ministry
of the Environment and Physical Resources and
the Department of Migration. It will also support
specific national and local initiatives including the
Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation
(DDDC), the Darfur Community Peace and
Stability Fund (DCPSF), ENTEC, the UNDP
livelihoods program, and the UNEP/UNICEF
IWRM program.
The actual research will be implemented with
our academic partners in Darfur and Khartoum,
and members of the Darfur Resource Network.
Within Tufts/FIC, this research links directly with
the research on livelihoods, migration, and
remittance flows currently underway in Cairo
among the Sudanese diaspora, and the work on
cell phones and microfinance in Khartoum, under
the FiRe initiative.
Remittances To Conflict Zones: Phase 2:
Transition Countries: The Sudanese Diaspora
In Cairo (Karen Jacobsen, Helen Young)
Goal and Rationale
Refugees and migrants in transit countries like
Egypt are linked into wider diaspora networks
that help support them, and in turn enable the
migrants to support their families and communi-
ties back home. In this study we will explore the
significance of these transnational linkages,
particularly remittances, for Sudanese refugees and
migrants in Cairo, to understand whether and
how remittances impact their urban livelihoods
and influence migrants’ political involvement in
their home regions.
We selected Cairo as a case study of a transi-
tion, ‘near’ diaspora country and a good example
of a transit country representing South-South
remittance and migration flows. Cairo is a pri-
mary destination of Sudanese migrants and a key
refugee host country.
Background
The proposed study is the second phase of a larger
study of remittances to Darfur conducted by
Tufts/FIC. For the proposed Cairo study, the
research will be extended to explore remittance
patterns of different Sudanese groups. Tufts/FIC
will team up with the Center for Migration and
Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American
University in Cairo (AUC). We will build on our
respective earlier research studies and jointly
design, implement, and disseminate the proposed
project.
Overview
Our three objectives are: to map the extent of
remittance receiving and sending in Cairo’s urban
migrant population; to understand the importance
of remittances in migrants’ urban livelihoods and
whether and how remittances influence migrants’
involvement in their home regions; and to
understand the obstacles to remittance sending
and receiving and how these obstacles could be
addressed by policy or programmatic interven-
tions.
Outputs
On completion of the full study, we will produce
a tested field-based methodology and research
tools (including a survey instrument and qualita-
tive research protocol) for exploring questions
related to remittances and livelihoods that can be
adapted by different researchers and NGOs for
their own purposes. We will also generate a
report of all findings, which will include analysis
of how remittances affect livelihoods in conflict
zones, hypotheses as to whether and how migra-
tion and remittance flows fuel war economies and
recovery from conflict, identification of practical
mechanisms and strategies to promote and
support remittance flows (with endorsements
from international stakeholders). The report will
reflect the experience derived from the collabora-
tive research of the two universities involved.
Subsequent output will include co-authored
academic articles to appear in European, US, and
African peer-reviewed journals, as well as shorter
articles for practitioner publications and web-
based networks.
We will convene two workshops to present
our findings, one in Cairo, and one in North
America. Our target audience for both workshops
will be donors, NGOs, government officials,
banking/remittance organizations, academics, and
the Sudanese diaspora. These workshops will
cover the findings of our Cairo study and will
discuss the learning experience derived from the
collaborative research of the two universities. It is
expected that this collaboration will yield impor-
tant networking opportunities as well as build
research knowledge and capacity at both Tufts/
FIC and AUC.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 43
Part II Project Details
All research outputs, including case-studies,
workshop reports with policy recommendations,
endnotes, and a bibliographic database will be
made available through a CD-ROM and websites
including those of Tufts/FIC, partner universities,
and local humanitarian networks.
Impact
Part of our study will explore the wider processes
(donor and government policies, political and
economic trends, actions of civil society) that
hinder or help the diaspora in transit countries
like Egypt send remittances to their home coun-
tries and receive remittances from the far diaspora.
The goal is to explore ways in which the humani-
tarian system or wider international responses
(humanitarian, development, and recovery) can
enable remittance flows so as to support the
livelihoods of the diaspora in transit countries, and
also support reconstruction and peace processes in
countries of origin (in this case, Sudan). Evidence
from Egypt will allow comparison with other
country case studies, to better understand how to
harness and build on the positive developmental
aspects of remittances and avoid their negative
impact of fostering war.
Collaboration
This research builds on earlier remittance research
conducted in Darfur, and among Sudanese in
Portland, Maine. It also builds on earlier research
on urban refugees (Jacobsen’s ‘African Cities’
project, in collaboration with Univ. of Witwa-
tersrand, Johannesburg).
Markets, Information, And Mobile Phones:
Darfur, Sudan (Jenny Aker, Helen Young)
Goal and Rationale
Trade in agricultural and non-agricultural prod-
ucts is crucial for economic growth and welfare in
the Darfur region. In order for goods to be
traded efficiently from areas of relative abundance
to relative scarcity, farmers, traders, and pastoralists
require accurate and timely access to market
information. Over the past few years, the conflict
in Darfur has severely disrupted trade between
markets and market infrastructure. While an
improved understanding of the linkages between
livelihoods, markets, and conflict has emerged,
much of this analysis does not address how limited
44 Feinstein International Center
access to information has affected market perfor-
mance and hence livelihoods. The arrival of the
mobile phone in Darfur provides a unique
opportunity for farmers, traders, and pastoralists to
obtain and share market information in the face
of insecurity. The goal of this research is to
investigate the impact of mobile phones on
market performance for key agro-food products
(cereals, cash crops, and livestock), as well on
different livelihood group’s trading behavior and
hence welfare.
This work will build upon the earlier Tufts/
FIC study ‘Adaptation and Devastation: Impact of
Conflict on Trade and Markets in Darfur’ by
Margie Buchanan-Smith and Abdaljabbar Fuddle,
and on ‘The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain
Markets in Niger’ by Jenny C. Aker. In collabora-
tion with the Tufts/FIC research project on
‘Markets, Trade, and Livelihoods,’ this research
project will gather information on mobile phone
coverage within and outside the main urban
markets in Darfur and the use of these phones by
different livelihood groups. The project will
analyze how prices and trade flows for key
products change in relation to mobile phone
coverage. This project will work closely with UN
price monitoring systems, the local Darfur
Resource Network and mobile phone companies
(such as Zain) to determine how mobile phones
might be used to collect and share market infor-
mation among different livelihood groups.
Background
Trade in agricultural and non-agricultural prod-
ucts is crucial for economic growth and welfare in
the Darfur region, as it allows goods to travel from
areas of relative abundance to relative scarcity. An
important aspect of trade is access to market
information, which allows farmers, traders, and
pastoralists to decide where, when, and at what
price to buy and sell their agricultural products.
Over the past few years, trade in Darfur has been
severely disrupted by the conflict, and increased
insecurity has affected market actors’ ability to
travel to distant markets. While an improved
understanding of the linkages between livelihoods,
markets, and conflict has emerged in recent years,
much of this work does not address how limited
access to information has affected market actors’
trading patterns, market performance, and liveli-
hoods.
 The arrival of the mobile phone in Darfur the ongoing market monitoring by UNDP and
provides a new opportunity for farmers, traders, others in the Darfur region. Debriefings will be
and pastoralists to obtain and share market infor- organized in Khartoum, Darfur, and internation-
mation in the face of insecurity. In a separate ally. Training workshops for agencies and govern-
study, a Tufts/FIC researcher has assessed the ment staff engaged in market monitoring will
impact of mobile phones on grain markets in ensure these approaches and lessons are integrated
Niger, finding that mobile phones reduce price into newly developing systems, such as the use of
differences between markets. This was primarily mobile phones to disseminate price information
due to a change in traders’ and farmers’ marketing to different markets and livelihood groups.
behavior. In a context with high insecurity, such Mentoring support and coaching will be offered
as Darfur, mobile phones could be an important to key technical staff.
resource for different livelihood groups to obtain
market information. Impact
The research team will work closely with local
Overview stakeholders to review the implications of the
Much of the ongoing market work on Darfur research for livelihoods programming and market
focuses on trading patterns and the impact of monitoring in the region. In particular, they will
conflict on market performance. In the ‘Markets, pay attention to how essential market infrastruc-
Trade, and Livelihoods’ research project, Tufts/FIC ture can be supported and maintained, and the
will focus on a qualitative analysis of trends, way in which mobile phones can be used to
stakeholders, and implications for livelihoods, disseminate market information and agricultural
peace, and recovery. These research projects are and health messages throughout Darfur. The team
crucial for understanding markets in Darfur. How- will also explore how mobile phone technology
ever, they do not focus on the linkages between could be used as a platform for literacy training
conflict and access to information, and how the and for early warning systems in Darfur, in the
arrival of a new technology, the mobile phone, hopes of rebuilding relationships between differ-
could affect market dynamics. An understanding ent groups. The project will work through local
of the impact of this new technology is critical for partners within the Darfur Resource Network to
understanding the dynamics of markets in conflict, organize workshops and discuss findings, review
and the role of information technology in pro- and further develop recommendations and follow-
moting recovery, or in fuelling conflict. up actions.
The research will be based on a quantitative
and qualitative analysis of mobile phone coverage, Collaboration
price dynamics, and the way in which different This action research project forms a major part of
livelihood groups use this technology for their the wider Tufts/FIC Darfur Livelihoods Program.
marketing decisions. The work will be supported locally by UNDP,
UNOCHA, and the Resident Coordinators
Outputs Office. The research team will work closely with
The research outputs will be presented in a full the Darfur Resource Network, who will facilitate
report, with summaries translated into Arabic, for access to trader networks.
wider distribution in Sudan, and internationally.
This work will also be shared with mobile phone
companies. This work will support and feed into

September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 45

Part II Project Details
UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE OF
PASTORALISM IN AFRICA
Regional Policy Support On Food Security
In Pastoral Areas With The Common Mar-
ket For Eastern And Southern Africa (Andy
Catley, Dawit Abebe, And Yacob Aklilu)
Goal and Rationale
The livelihoods of many pastoral communities in
Africa are cross-border in nature. Pastoralists are
often geographically located at the margins of
countries and their livelihood depends on the
movement of livestock to and from seasonal
grazing areas, which in turn may require move-
ment across national boundaries. In times of
drought or conflict, pastoralists may also move in
search of grazing or to avoid violence. Scientific
research shows that the mobility of pastoralists and
their opportunistic use of fragile dryland environ-
ments partly determine the efficiency of their
livestock production systems, yet this movement is
often regarded by government as irrational or
illegal. Similarly, these cross-border pastoral
systems are currently hindered by livestock
marketing policies and regulations which view
cross-border livestock trade as illegal. Such trade is
crucial if pastoralists are to convert livestock into
cash. In some areas, income from seasonal labor is
based on travel to neighboring countries. The
cross-border nature of pastoralism indicates that
regional approaches to both development policy
and humanitarian assistance are needed. The goal
of this project is to improve the food security of
46 Feinstein International Center
pastoral communities in the COMESA region
through facilitating the development of pro-pasto-
ralist regional food security policy.
Background
COMESA is one of Africa’s regional economic
communities with 19 member states covering
parts of north, east, central, and southern Africa.
The COMESA mandate focuses on promoting
trade intra-regionally and internationally, and the
organization has particular experience in develop-
ing free trade areas and working with member
states to promote cross-border trade. Under the
African Union, the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD) includes the Compre-
hensive African Agriculture Development Pro-
gramme (CAADP). Under CAADP, COMESA is
the lead partner for the development of food
security policy frameworks. Within this process is
a specific element dealing with vulnerable com-
munities such as pastoralists. COMESA recognizes
that it has limited in-house technical capacity to
analyze and develop regional policy options to
promote food security in pastoral areas. Under an
existing Memorandum of Understanding with
COMESA, this project builds on previous support
to COMESA by Tufts/FIC.
Overview
This project will improve the capacity of COME-
SA to lead the coordination of pastoral areas
initiatives in the Horn of Africa region, and to
conduct critical analysis and prioritization of
livestock and pastoralism issues with relevant
inclusion in the emerging regional food security
policy frameworks under CAADP Pillar 3.
COMESA’s capacity will be built so that it can
lead regional harmonization of national livestock
trade policies and protocols, with emphasis on
international standards related to animal health in
pastoral areas.
Outputs
The capacity building discussed above is to be
achieved through a variety of activities, which will
lead to a number of outputs. We will work with
COMESA to continue the facilitation of the
Regional Livestock and Pastoralism Forum, as a
multi-stakeholder forum comprising representa-
tives from government, academia, private sector,
non-governmental and international organiza-
tions, and other actors in the COMESA region.
We will assist COMESA to review and analyze
emerging policy documents under CAADP and
ensure relevant inclusion of pastoralism issues into
these documents. Specific training and awareness-
raising events for COMESA staff will be devel-
oped and implemented, including training courses
and study tours. These events use livelihoods
analysis as the basis for examining pastoralists’
livelihoods, the wide range of policy and institu-
tional factors which influence these livelihoods,
and the links between development and humani-
tarian assistance. The training courses use research
findings from studies conducted by Tufts/FIC and
other institutions.
A set of COMESA policy briefing papers on
pastoral food security issues will be disseminated
to policy makers in relevant COMESA member
states. Technical support will be given to COME-
SA to oversee the CAADP roundtable process in
Kenya and Ethiopia, with relevant inclusion of
pastoralism issues into country-level CAADP
investment plans. The project will assist COMESA
in reviewing livestock marketing policies in
selected member states, with emphasis on the
opportunities offered by improved cross-border
trade and international trade. COMESA will
explore new markets for livestock and livestock
products in Africa, with a view to linking produc-
ers in the Horn of Africa to emerging markets
within the COMESA region. Finally, all experi-
ences with COMESA will be channeled to the
African Union Commission (AUC) via an
existing Memorandum of Understanding with the
AUC.
Impact
This component of the program assumes that
governments in Africa are generally receptive to
initiatives and policy direction from higher-level
African regional membership organizations, and
that targeting regional organizations can be a very
efficient way to impact numerous countries
simultaneously. Within the CAADP process led by
COMESA are national-level policy reviews and
analyses, leading to national agricultural develop-
ment investment plans within CAADP at regional
level. Therefore, national policy processes are
inherent in the regional CAADP process, and pro-
vide an opportunity to ensure that pastoralism is
properly represented. Given the controversies
surrounding pastoralism in Africa, clear pro-pasto-
ralist policy statements by respected organizations
such as COMESA and the AU are likely to raise
awareness of the potential for countries to better
integrate pastoral areas into their development
policies and strategies.
At an organizational level, the activity seeks
continue to develop the long-term capacity of
COMESA to lead regional policy analysis and
reform in the areas of pastoralism and livestock
development. The activity builds on Tuft/FIC’s
support to COMESA from 2007, which has led
to COMESA committing to the establishment of
a new Livestock Unit to be staffed in the long-
term with COMESA core staff.
Collaboration
The multi-stakeholder approach to policy dia-
logue promoted by Tufts/FIC automatically
ensures that a wide range of individuals and
organizations are involved. Some of the key actors
at the regional level are: COMESA Secretariat,
African Union Commission, Inter-governmental
Agency for Development, East Africa Community,
World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism
(International Union for Conservation and
Nature), FAO Livestock Policy Initiative, Oxfam
GB Report on the Status of Pastoralism, regional
trade organizations, UNDP, UNOCHA, USAID
East Africa, SIDA (Swedish International Devel-
opment Cooperation Agency, and DFID (UK De-
partment for International Development). At the
national level key actors include: the government
of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,
the government of the Republic of Kenya, Save
the Children US (Ethiopia), and CARE Interna-
tional (Somalia).
Towards Pro-Pastoralist Policies In
Ethiopia (Berhanu Admassu, Yacob Aklilu,
And Andy Catley)
Goal and Rationale
The policy environment for pastoralism in
Ethiopia exemplifies the misunderstandings about
pastoralism found in many other countries, and
the incoherence of policies between line minis-
tries. The mandate of the Ministry of Federal
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 47
Part II Project Details
Affairs (MoFA) includes federal-level support to
regional governments which are perceived to be
weak, including the pastoral and agro-pastoral
regions of Afar, Somali, Borana, South Omo, and
Gambella. Although the MoFA role covers the
promotion of good governance and pastoral
development policies, its policies reflect limited
understanding of pastoralism or dryland ecosys-
tems. Objectives such as sedenterization of
pastoral communities dominate MoFA policy
documents, although there is no evidence which
attributes improved livelihoods or reduced
vulnerability to settlement. Regarding the sensi-
tive issue of land tenure in pastoral areas, the 1997
proclamation of the Federal Rural Land Adminis-
tration states an intention to demarcate land in
accordance with the particular conditions of a
locality and through communal participation.
However, recent appropriation of communal
pastoral grazing land for large-scale irrigation
schemes seems to lack communal participation,
and was at odds with the efforts of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD)
to promote livestock production and trade.
Related to land tenure is land use, and here again
government policies (where they exist) contradict
efforts by pastoralists to protect their livelihoods
and environment. The goal of this project is to
raise understanding of the benefits of pastoralism
among senior federal-level policy makers in
Ethiopia and incorporate pro-pastoralist policies
into national development policies.
Background
Since mid-2007, policy dialogue on pastoralism in
Ethiopia has been further complicated by the
worsening violence in the Somali region of the
country. In April 2007 the separatist Ogaden
National Liberation Front acted on its warning
that it would attack a Chinese-run oil exploration
field, which led to large-scale military operations
by the Ethiopian government and limited access
to much of the Ogaden for humanitarian agen-
cies.
Overview
The three-year activity planned for 2009 to 2011
builds on Tufts/FIC’s work with the MoARD and
MoFA between 2005 and 2008 under the
USAID-funded Pastoralist Livelihoods Initiative,
in which strong relationships were developed with
48 Feinstein International Center
these ministries at the federal level, and with
relevant pastoral and livestock development
bureaus at the regional level in Afar, Oromiya, and
Somali regions.
Outputs
The project intends to implement the Pastoralism
and Policy Course at federal and regional levels,
with prioritization of participants from govern-
ment partners and civil society groups. The
Pastoralism and Policy Course was developed by
Tufts/FIC in collaboration with the International
Institute for Environment and Development
(IIED) under the PLI project. The course has two
main aims: to address entrenched negative atti-
tudes among government policy makers towards
pastoralism; and to better equip civil society to
advocate for pro-pastoral policies. These aims are
both achieved by drawing on a mass of collated
scientific evidence and studies on pastoralism in
Ethiopia, and through the use of adult learning
techniques which ensure that participants revisit
their understanding and perceptions. The course
was run for the first time in Ethiopia in March
2008, and will be offered as a short two-three day
course for senior, federal-level government policy
makers in the MoFA, MoFED (Ministry of
Finance and Economic Development) and
MoARD. A repetition of the full course will be
held in the Afar, Oromiya, and Somali regions for
regional government people and relevant local
and international NGOs.
The project will also begin institutionalizing
the Pastoralism and Policy Course in Ethiopia to
promote its wider and long-term use. The current
strategy is to institutionalize the course in selected
universities and civil society groups in Ethiopia
which either have existing undergraduate or
postgraduate courses related to pastoral develop-
ment or more general development policy, or a
specific aim of promoting pastoralism. Potential
universities include Addis Ababa, Haramaya, and
Mekele, and potential civil society groups include
the Pastoralist Forum of Ethiopia. As a first step,
the course will be run for senior academic staff
and then reviewed with them to determine if and
how the course can be incorporated into existing
teaching programs.
A MoARD livestock marketing strategy will
be put in place for pastoral areas. This output will
use the national Livestock Policy Forum which
was developed with the MoARD under the PLI
program. The membership of the forum will be
reshaped to involve relevant actors in livestock
marketing and pastoralism, although the forum
will still seek to include government, private
sector, research and academics institutions, and
local and international NGOs. Government
involvement will most likely include the MoARD,
MoFA, and Ministry of Trade. Within the forum
and with MoARD support, we will facilitate
reviews, analyses, and impact assessments of
livestock marketing arrangements in pastoral areas,
both past and present, and identify different policy
options with descriptions of the pros and cons of
each option. Given the cross-border nature of
livestock marketing, and the importance of the
Somali livestock export trade, this process will
include analysis of emerging livestock export
systems and capacities in northern Somalia and
Djibouti.
Impact
The key constraints to revising current policies on
pastoralism in Ethiopia relate to the attitudes and
beliefs of senior central policy makers which in
turn are heavily influenced by ethnic, cultural, and
religious backgrounds. The Pastoralism and Policy
Course focuses on attitudinal change and aims to
create a more constructive and informed policy
dialogue which ultimately is based on evidence
rather than beliefs. This process will be reinforced
by two complementary activities: strengthening
the capacity of civil society to advocate for
pro-pastoralist policy; and incorporating the
Pastoralism and Policy Course into Ethiopian
universities with relevant capacity-building
support.
The MoARD livestock marketing strategy for
pastoral areas is intended to enable livestock
off-take and increase the transfer of livestock into
cash, with consequent livelihoods benefits and
diversification.
Collaboration
The activity is based on collaboration with
government partners, notably the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of
Federal Affairs, Parliamentarian Pastoral Affairs
Standing Committee, Ministry of Water Resourc-
es, and Ministry of Trade. The activity also works
with the national Livestock Policy Forum in
Ethiopia. The current membership of the forum is
as follows: CARE Ethiopia, Institute of Biodiver-
sity Conservation, Action Contre La Faim, SOS
Sahel Ethiopia, Save the Children UK, Ethiopian
Wildlife Association, Arbaminch University,
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research,
National Veterinary Institute, Ethiopian Sheep and
Goat Productivity Improvement Program, Addis
Ababa University, Haramaya University, Ethiopian
Veterinary Association, Food and Agriculture
Organisation, Save the Children US, International
Rescue Committee, SPS (Sanitary and Phytosani-
tary Standards) and Livestock Meat Marketing
Project, USAID, Hararghe Catholic Secretariat,
Global Livestock CRSP/PARIMA (Collaborative
Research Support Program/Pastoral Risk Man-
agement), Oxfam Canada, Ethiopian Live Animals
Exporters Association, The World Bank, Amhara
Regional Agriculture Research Institute, Lay
Volunteers International Association, Awassa
University, Mercy Corps, FARM Africa, and the
Africa Development Bank.
The International Institute for Environment
and Development will continue to partner us on
the Pastoralism and Policy Course.
Cross-Sectoral Learning For Service
Provision In The Somali Region Of
Ethiopia (Andy Catley, Berhanu Admassu)
Goal and Rationale
Livelihoods analysis in the Somali region of
Ethiopia indicates that high levels of poverty and
vulnerability are directly related to weak services,
particularly in health and education. Like many
other pastoral areas, the Somali region is charac-
terized by its large geographical size, a relatively
small and mobile human population, and limited
modern infrastructure. In these situations the
transaction costs of service provision are usually
high and governments struggle to provide basic
services. The general approach to service delivery
is a fixed-point approach based on the deploy-
ment of government employees to stationary
facilities such as schools or clinics. For pastoralists,
the key determinant of service usage is probably
accessibility, the physical distance to the service.
Given the large areas to be covered and the
mobility of communities, reasonable levels of
accessibility are difficult to achieve unless a
substantial number of fixed-point facilities are
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 49
Part II Project Details
constructed, staffed, and equipped. Experience
in the region indicates that although government
is often able to construct facilities, such facilities
often become derelict or not staffed or serviced.
The goal of the project is to improve service
provision in the Somali region of Ethiopia
by promoting cross-sectoral learning and
promoting testing of alternative community-
based approaches.
Background
In the mid 1990s Save the Children UK and the
Somali regional government embarked on an
alternative approach to delivering primary veteri-
nary services. Rather than relying on fixed-point
government clinics and a very limited govern-
ment budget for medicines and equipment, a
privatized and community-based approach was
designed. This approach connected networks of
mobile community-based animal health workers
(CAHWs) to private veterinary pharmacies in
urban centers. The overall aim was to improve the
accessibility and quality of primary veterinary care
for pastoralists, and strengthen the capacity of local
government to monitor and regulate this kind of
system. Rapid and superficial assessments by Tufts/
FIC indicate that the volume of veterinary
medicines currently delivered to the Somali
region by the private pharmacy-CAHW system is
approximately ten times the volume delivered by
government in the mid 1990s. However, a com-
prehensive impact assessment has not been
conducted.
Overview
This project aims to conduct comprehensive
participatory impact assessments of veterinary and
human health and education services in the
Somali region, and identify cross-cutting lessons
to be shared and applied between sectors. The
research recognizes that each type of service faces
similar constraints in terms of accessibility, afford-
ability, availability, acceptance, and quality, and that
while primary veterinary care comprises a mix of
private and public goods, health and education are
essentially public goods.
Outputs
Outputs will include a comprehensive, compara-
tive study of health, education, and veterinary
services in the Somali region with emphasis on
50 Feinstein International Center
five key indicators: accessibility, availability,
affordability, acceptance, and quality. There will
also be a stakeholder review of research findings
leading to identification of cross-cutting issues and
opportunities for transferring lessons between
sectors.
Impact
The impact of the research will depend on the
research findings. Should lessons from the com-
munity-based approach to veterinary services be
applicable to other sectors, the research will result
in alternative or adapted approaches to human
health and education to be tested by Save the
Children US in the region.
Collaboration
The main collaborating partner is Save the
Children US in Ethiopia, which is developing its
national and regional strategies for pastoral areas,
and which seeks to improve the livelihoods of
pastoralists’ children. Other key actors include
regional bureaus of agriculture, health and educa-
tion, and universities in Jijiga and Haramaya.
Pastoral Livelihoods And Destitution In
Northern Kenya (Andy Catley)
Goal and Rationale
The phenomenon of pastoralists losing their
livestock and settling is not new, but tends to
accelerate during periods of acute livelihood crisis
as has been experienced during the last few
seasons of drought. The superficial cause is the
obvious one of poorer pastoralists losing all or
most of their livestock, forcing them to settle to
access services, food assistance, and potential
sources of income. However, there are underlying
causes for destitution that contribute to the crisis
of pastoralism in the Horn of Africa. These
include historical marginalization and inequitable
development investments; ecological constraints to
livestock holdings; population growth; expansion
of farming in some of the best dry season grazing
areas; and civil insecurity that limits mobility.
Given the chronic characteristics of these issues,
and their arguably irreversible nature, it is clearly
not enough to invest in rural production: work is
also needed to be directed to address urban/
peri-urban destitution and the dynamics between
impoverished pastoralists’ livelihoods and the
mainstream pastoral economy.
 This research was initially developed with
FAO Kenya and aims to clarify the extent and
characteristics of destitution in the settlements of
northern Kenya, and potential ways to help
communities out of extreme poverty. The goal of
the research is to generate quantitative informa-
tion on the extent and causes of pastoral destitu-
tion in northern Kenya, describe the aspirations of
pastoralists who opt to leave the pastoral system,
and review the success of alternative livelihoods
strategies adopted by former pastoralists. The
research findings are intended to inform policies
and programming in Kenya related to pastoral
development and alternative pastoralists’ liveli-
hoods.
Background
One of the key recommendations from the Kenya
Food Security Steering Group Short Rains
Assessment Report of 2007 was to conduct action
research on the extent of the problem of destitute
pastoralists who have settled around towns and
trading centers in northern Kenya, and to make
recommendations for appropriate interventions to
assist these communities to build their livelihoods.
This project responds to that recommendation.
Overview
The project is based upon a number of research
questions. One set concerns trends in destitution
and the other, pathways out of destitution. The
first set asks questions related to the proportion of
destitute pastoralists who are migrating, where
they are moving to, and how crises such as
drought affect destitution rates. It also asks how
these trends vary by gender. The other set focuses
on survival, livelihoods strategies, and coping
mechanisms. It also asks about escaping destitu-
tion, support for those who do, and whether
gender affects pathways out of destitution. Finally,
given the above pathways and issues, what are the
programming implications in terms of both
humanitarian and development programs?
Outputs
The outputs of the research will include: conduct-
ing a systematic analysis of destitution in three
pastoral districts of Kenya (Turkana, Marsabit, and
Wajir); using research findings to inform the
design of future programs in Kenya targeted
specifically at destitute herding households; and
testing a systematic participatory methodology for
analyzing pastoral destitution which may be
applied to other countries in the region.
Impact
The research will be the first quantitative study on
pastoral destitution in northern Kenya, and
therefore is expected to inform the programming
and policies of a wide range of governmental and
non-governmental actors and aid donors.
Collaboration
This research proposal was initially developed
with FAO Kenya, and it is envisaged that Tufts/
FIC will continue to liaise with FAO to refine the
proposal and source funding. Implementing
partners are likely to be international NGOs with
ongoing programs in northern Kenya, and the
Government of Kenya’s Arid Lands Resource
Management Project.
Alternative Approaches To International
Trade In Livestock Products: Commodity-
Based Trade (Andy Catley, Yacob Aklilu)
Goal and Rationale
The current international standards governing
trade in livestock commodities insist that animal
products be derived from areas which are free
from certain animal diseases. The underlying
principle of the standards is that if an area is free
from disease, it cannot export disease to another
area or country. For Africa and other developing
regions, the implication of the standards is that
these regions need to eradicate numerous animal
diseases before they can engage in international
trade. Unfortunately, such eradication is techni-
cally infeasible and hugely expensive, and there-
fore, millions of livestock producers remain
isolated from lucrative international markets.
The goal of our work on commodity-based
trade is to contribute to a growing international,
but largely Africa-driven, effort to revise the
international standards on livestock trade, and to
clarify the standards related to trade in livestock
commodities.
Background
In partnership with the African Union, Tufts/FIC
conducted a review of international standards in
2003 which concluded that safe trade in livestock
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 51
Part II Project Details
products need not depend on the disease situation
in the area of product origin. If livestock products
were handled and processed using specific and
simple techniques, the risk of transmitting disease
could be reduced to an acceptable level. This
thinking was supported by a mass of scientific
evidence on topics such as the bacterial and viral
content of meat after chilling, deboning, and
maturation. The concept of this so-called com-
modity-based approach was published in scientific
journals in 2004 and has led to heightened
awareness of the need to revise international
standards to provide better guidance on commod-
ity-based trade, and present this approach as a
scientifically-acceptable alternative to disease
eradication.
Overview
Between 2005 and 2008, Tufts/FIC raised aware-
ness of the commodity-based approach to live-
stock trade by working with partners such as the
African Union, COMESA, the East Africa
Community, DFID and the governments of
Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. By
mid-2008, the commodity-based approach was
supported by all of these actors, and pressure was
mounting on the standard-setting bodies to take
action. However, there is a continued need to
assist the AU and COMESA to improve under-
standing of commodity-based trade among
African policy makers, and ensure that a range of
private sector and civil society stakeholders are
aware of the opportunities afforded by this
approach. This process is largely a matter of
presenting existing research rather than conduct-
ing new research, and strengthening the capacity
of the AU and COMESA to respond to queries
and concerns from government and private sector
actors.
Outputs
The main output of the work is an improved
understanding of the technical and economic basis
of commodity-based trade among senior regional
and national policy makers and civil society
groups in eastern and southern Africa, with
consequent improved capacity of these actors to
advocate for changes to international standards.
This output will be achieved by contributing to
technical meetings, educational materials, and
52 Feinstein International Center
publications of other organizations, particularly
African regional economic communities and the
African Union.
Impact
In the event that the standards are revised, a major
constraint to access to international markets for
African producers would be reduced, with
consequent livelihoods benefits.
Collaboration
This project will work with the African Union
Department for Rural Economy and Agriculture,
the Common Market for Eastern and Southern
African, the Intergovernmental Authority for
Development, the East Africa Community,
national governments in eastern and southern
Africa, and the Department for International
Development (UK).
Camel Marketing And Pastoral Livelihoods
In Ethiopia (Yacob Aklilu)
Goal and Rationale
The goal of this project is to promote understand-
ing of the camel market chain that impacts the
livelihoods of tens of thousands of pastoralists,
agro-pastoralists, farmers, and traders living in
diverse agro-ecological regions of Ethiopia. The
research is targeted at national policy makers in
Ethiopia but also, due the cross border nature of
the trade, regional trade organizations such as the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa. Improved awareness of the trade will also
assist policy makers to see how marginalized
pastoral areas can be integrated into mainstream
economies and therefore warrant investment.
Background
Numerous research studies have been undertaken
in the last two decades on domestic, cross-border,
and regional livestock trade within and between
the Horn countries and the Gulf states. Such
studies mainly focus on cattle and also on sheep
and goats (shoats). Studies on camel trade remain
minimal and in most cases limited to camel milk
production. The oversight by researchers to
incorporate camels in livestock trade studies could
be attributed to a host of factors. Camels are
traded in small numbers along numerous chain
markets, leaving the casual observer with the
impression that camels in a specific market are
destined only for local use. Additionally, unlike
cattle or shoats that are transported on trucks,
trade camels are usually trekked on hoof through
inaccessible paths to vehicles, far away from the
prying eyes of scholars. Camels bought from
primary markets are not immediately sold in
terminal markets. They may be used as working
animals or reconditioned to gain body weight at
various transaction points for a year or more
before they are sold again. Because of larger
capital requirements, small traders are not able to
bulk more than 50 camels at most at a time,
compared to cattle and shoats traders who usually
bulk hundreds of cattle or thousands of shoats.
Finally, researchers could be deterred by the low
number of camels (estimated at less than seven
million) compared to cattle and shoat populations
in the Horn (over a hundred million in each case)
on the assumption that the economic contribu-
tion of camel trade may not be that significant.
Overview
In reality, there is an ongoing vibrant camel trade
in Ethiopia involving some twenty or more chain
markets with a trade volume of about 3,000
camels per week in the peak seasons. The volume
of this trade alone could challenge camel popula-
tion estimates in Ethiopia. This trade engages
various actors composed of mixed ethnic groups
with overlapping roles: pastoralists, who are the
primary producers but also double as trekkers;
agro-pastoralists, who play various roles as primary
producers, conditioners, and/or trekkers; and
farmers, who, contrary to past traditions, are
increasingly emerging as camel conditioners,
trekkers, and traders. The trade route runs from
the central eastern parts to northern Ethiopia and
Sudan. Main destination markets are the salt mines
in northeastern Ethiopia and the cross-border
trade to Sudan, with numerous staging and
conditioning points in between that lie across the
twenty or so chain markets en-route. This market
chain generates a transaction of some two to three
million U.S. dollars per month for an average of
nine months per year and involves a forty-day
trekking route from the primary markets in the
central east to the crossing point into Sudan.
Regrettably, this important camel market chain is
virtually unknown to outsiders like scholars,
policy makers, NGOs, donors, and academic or
research institutions, perhaps signifying the fact
that livestock markets can perform better when
left to operate on their own without external
interventions.
Outputs
Outputs will be: an economic impact assessment
of the camel market trade in Ethiopia and Sudan;
an approximation of annual trade volume; the
mapping of trade routes; a value chain assessment,
including transaction costs at various points; and
the identification of market actors, their roles, and
relationships.
Impact
The outputs of this research, while providing new
information to various interested groups, will lead
to an appreciation of the economic importance of
camels which has been lacking so far in govern-
ment circles. A renewed interest in the economic
potential of camels will hopefully persuade the
Government to pay special attention to respond-
ing to specific veterinary requirements of camels,
developing camel husbandry curriculums in
agricultural universities, and providing support to
camel traders. The research findings could also
challenge the official camel population figure in
Ethiopia which may ultimately lead to a review of
camel population estimates. This research will
serve to highlight the attention that camel species
deserve in Ethiopia and provide a case study on
how a camel trade of this magnitude can remain
vibrant with no external support.
Collaboration
This research will be conducted in collaboration
with the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production
and the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia. We
will also take advantage of the existing Tuft/FIC
Famine Center’s relationships with various
institutions when conducting the research in
Sudan.
Cattle And Meat Value Chain Assessment In
Ethiopia (Yacob Aklilu)
Goal and Rationale
The goal of this project is to analyze incremental
values along the cattle and meat supply chains at
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 53
Part II Project Details
each level of transaction to promote understand-
ing of why beef prices have risen to such a high
level despite the huge resource potential in the
country.
Background
As one of its economic objectives, the govern-
ment of Ethiopia is pursuing a policy of maximiz-
ing revenues through meat and live animal
exports. In the past few years, Ethiopia’s volume
of meat exports has been rising steadily, though its
live animal exports have varied due to external
factors that include trade bans by importing coun-
tries. Nearly all the meat exports from Ethiopia
consist of sheep and goat chilled carcasses to the
exclusion of beef. As a land-locked country with
the largest livestock resources in Africa, Ethiopia
would like to tap its huge cattle resources for
increased chilled and frozen beef exports. This
initiative is challenged, however, by rising domes-
tic beef prices, well above the world beef market
price. What is more baffling is that the domestic
price of beef in Ethiopia is twice that of Kenya,
which meets its domestic beef requirements
through cross-border exports from Ethiopia and
Tanzania.
Overview
There exist two supply channels for terminal
domestic beef markets in Ethiopia. The first
involves a direct channel where traders buy cattle
from producers (pastoralists and farmers) and sell
at profit to butchers. The second involves some
value-adding where feedlot operators buy cattle
from producers or cattle traders. In either case,
such cattle are kept in feedlots for three to four
months and sold to live animal exporters or local
butchers after the cattle are reconditioned. Re-
gardless, the price of beef coming through these
two supply routes remains too high to allow beef
exports. Although one expects a rise in the price
of cattle as a result of rising feed costs, the relative
increases in the price of cattle and meat are not
justifiably proportional to that of feed. More
importantly, how beef sourced from primary
producers and feedlot operators fetch the same
price at consumer selling points remains inexpli-
cable. There are a number of actors in the meat
market chain in Ethiopia, including primary cattle
producers, small traders, middlemen, large-scale
traders, feedlot operators, butchers, and supermar-
54 Feinstein International Center
ket outlets. The length of the market chain
depends on proximity between primary producers
and consumers: the longer the distance, the more
actors. Although it is generally thought that those
in the industry are currently making more profit
than they used to, we are not certain which of the
actors in the chain are making more profit, by
what proportion, at which level of transaction, and
above all if the rise in beef prices has translated
into increased income for pastoralists and farmers.
There is also speculation that the price rise is the
result of a supply control system by large-scale
traders, butchers, and final outlet points. This
project will work to understand the supply chain
and price and profit-making issues related to
domestic beef markets in Ethiopia.
Outputs
Outputs from this project will be: improved
understanding of the cattle and meat market value
chain; establishment of the level of returns in
proportion to expenditure at each level of transac-
tion to determine the point at which most costs
are incurred and/or profits are accrued; improved
understanding of key factors contributing to the
inefficiency of cattle and meat market chains.
Impact
The project will inform decision makers on
measures to be taken to streamline cattle and beef
market chains and support a policy review process
to improve the efficiency of livestock marketing
in Ethiopia.
Collaborations
The research will be conducted in collaboration
with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development and the Texas University SPS-LMM
program in Ethiopia, which runs a program to
promote meat exports from Ethiopia.
Livelihoods, Trade, And Foot-And-Mouth
Disease In Ethiopia (Andy Catley, Berhanu
Admassu)
Goal and Rationale
In pastoral areas of Africa foot-and-mouth disease
is usually ranked by pastoralists themselves as
among the top five diseases affecting their live-
stock and livelihoods. The disease is endemic,
meaning that outbreaks appear frequently, and no
effective control measures are supported by
government or international agencies. Disease
outbreaks result in sudden loss of milk in affected
animals, which has a direct impact on the nutri-
tion of pastoral households, particularly children.
The presence of FMD in pastoral areas also
contributes to the isolation of these areas from
international markets, because the disease is
regarded as a major threat to livestock in more
developed regions and these regions fear the
introduction of the disease. In an era of globaliza-
tion and substantial international movement of
livestock products, sometimes through complex
trade routes, the attitude of Western governments
is that FMD in endemic areas should be contained
or eradicated as a means to prevent spread to
other parts of the world. For these actors, the
priority is essentially domestic and the impact of
FMD on the livelihoods of people in endemic
areas is of marginal interest.
Through a collaborative project led by the
University of Oxford, Tufts/FIC is taking a
different perspective on FMD in pastoral areas by
defining the impact of the disease on pastoralists’
livelihoods and by working with pastoralists to
identify ways to reduce the livelihoods impacts of
the disease. In this approach, our researchers aim
first of all to address the direct nutritional and
livelihoods effects of FMD. The community-based
strategy to be used in the research draws on Tufts/
FIC’s experience of rinderpest eradication in
South Sudan, in which participatory approaches
were highly effective. The goal of the research is
to identify FMD control strategies to reduce the
impact of the disease on pastoralists’ livelihoods.
Background
The initial area of research is the Borana plateau
of southern Ethiopia. During the last five years,
the livestock export industry in Ethiopia has been
growing and private export abattoirs around Addis
Ababa have exported chilled beef to the Middle
East and Egypt. This evolving trade has been
extremely valuable for Borana pastoralists, as
traders have moved into Borana areas to purchase
cattle for fattening and export. However, although
this trade has resulted in substantial livelihoods
benefits to pastoralists, in mid-2006 Egypt im-
posed a trade ban due to outbreaks of FMD in
Egypt associated with imports of Ethiopian cattle.
Therefore, in the Borana plateau FMD is now
affecting livelihoods in terms of direct household-
level nutrition, and is limiting the extent to which
Borana cattle can be traded.
Other research partners will conduct similar
research in northern Vietnam, and here Tufts/
FIC’s role is to transfer participatory epidemiology
research approaches and methods to Vietnamese
partners, and to researchers at Murdoch Univer-
sity.
Overview
The research will describe the epidemiology and
economics of FMD in Borana, including the
direct livelihoods impact of the disease on pastoral
communities. Alongside this field work, an
institutional analysis will be conducted to assess
the institutional arrangements and capacities
required to support FMD control programs in the
Borana plateau. Government policies, resources,
and technical capacity will be assessed, as will the
capacity of private sector actors to support FMD
control. At the field level, focus group discussions
with pastoralists and traditional Borana elders will
be used to assess their views on the feasibility and
sustainability of different FMD control options.
This work will compare different vaccination and
movement control options, and assess each option
against indicators provided by pastoralists and
technical staff.
Outputs
The research comprises two main stages, an initial
cross-sectional study to be followed by a longitu-
dinal study. The outputs from the cross-sectional
study will include definition of the basic epidemi-
ology of FMD in the Borana plateau, using
well-tested, standardized participatory epidemiol-
ogy methods. The study will identify FMD virus
types and sub-types, since FMD viruses circulating
in the Borana plateau at the time of the study will
be identified. This component of the study will
include the collection of samples for virus isola-
tion and will require collaboration with the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Devel-
opment in Ethiopia, particularly for the export of
samples to relevant laboratories outside the
country. The team will determine the livelihoods
impact of FMD on Borana pastoral communities,
and conduct cost-benefit analysis of different
FMD vaccination strategies. The final component
of the cross-sectional study will assess the institu-
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 55
Part II Project Details
tional arrangements and capacities required to
support FMD control programs in the Borana
plateau. Government policies, resources, and
technical capacity will be assessed, as will the
capacity of private sector actors to support FMD
control.
Longitudinal study outputs will include
real-time investigation of FMD outbreaks over a
24-month period, using a surveillance system
adapted from the successful system for rinderpest
surveillance developed by Tufts/FIC in South
Sudan, and institutional support for FMD control.
This last component will aim to address key
policy and institutional constraints affecting the
testing and scaling-up of FMD control in the
Borana plateau. In the event that epidemiological
and economic analyses point to the need to
field-test FMD control strategies, this component
will ensure a supportive institutional environment
for field-testing. The work will include stakehold-
er analysis of the results arising from the cross-
sectional study, regular stakeholder consultation
during the longitudinal study, and raising aware-
ness among policy makers of technical, economic,
and social issues related to FMD control. Key
targets for the work are senior federal-level policy
makers in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, the Ministry of Trade and Industry,
and the regional-level Oromia Pastoral Develop-
ment Office.
Impact
The research is intended to impact at different
levels. At the community-level, the research will
produce evidence to inform the design of FMD
control strategies which are appropriate to the
severe resource and logistical constraints in
southern Ethiopia. The participatory research
approach aims to strengthen relationships between
Ethiopian researchers and government veterinary
services, and pastoral communities. At national,
regional, and international levels, the research aims
to raise awareness among international agencies
such as FAO of the need to integrate local
perspectives and needs for FMD control into
regional control efforts. This impact challenges
conventional large-scale disease control programs
in which control strategies are imposed on
communities, often with limited impact. At a
methodological level, the research aims to further
institutionalize participatory epidemiology by
56 Feinstein International Center
working alongside highly respected epidemiolo-
gists, mathematicians, and disease modelers at the
Universities of Glasgow and Warwick, with overall
research management by the University of
Oxford.
Collaboration
This research has been designed in collaboration
with the University of Oxford, National Animal
Health Research Center Ethiopia, the University
of Glasgow, the University of Warwick, the
University of California, Murdoch University, and
the International Livestock Research Institute.
Milk Matters: Improving The Health And
Nutritional Status Of Children In Pastoral
Communities (Andy Catley, Kate Sadler)
Goal and Rationale
Children in pastoral/semi-pastoral areas in the
horn of Africa are particularly vulnerable to
increasingly frequent drought and to chronically
high rates of acute malnutrition. The dominant
response to this from the international commu-
nity continues to be the delivery of large quanti-
ties of food aid each time rains fail and rates of
acute malnutrition peak. Despite acceptance of
the urgent need for risk reduction and drought
mitigation, there is still little understanding of the
causes of malnutrition, and which interventions in
the medium to long term should be prioritized to
improve the health and nutritional status of
children in these settings.
In pastoral communities milk is well known
as the staple food of children’s diets and therefore
is directly linked with the nutritional status of
young children. In some areas, young pastoral
children obtain up to 66 percent of their daily
energy intake from milk. In order to improve
nutritional status in children who live in pastoral
communities, this project aims to take a critical
look at the factors that affect the quality, quantity,
and access to human and animal milk across all
seasons, particularly during drought, and among
various wealth groups.
Background
The Africa Region Pastoral Initiative was created
by the Save the Children Alliance in mid-2007 to
develop the evidence base for programming in
pastoral settings and to use this experience to
advocate for better practices, programs, and
policies. One component of the Regional Initia-
tive is the Pastoral Health and Nutrition Initiative
(PHNI), created in April 2008 to help us under-
stand and prioritize interventions that improve
health and nutritional status of children in pastoral
settings. Within the PHNI, Save the Children US
and UK and Tufts/FIC have joined efforts to
explore interventions related to the most impor-
tant component of children’s diets, milk.
Closely linked to this work is our technical
coordination of USAID’s Pastoral Livelihoods
Initiative (PLI) in Ethiopia, on which Save the
Children was collaborators and for which we have
already produced best-practice guidelines (in
January 2006). Continuing our work with SC to
examine the nutritional impact of livelihood
interventions in pastoral communities is a key step
in producing evidence to inform best-practice.
Overview
Over the next two years Tufts/FIC, in collabora-
tion with Save the Children, will conduct explor-
atory research in Somali Region, Ethiopia,
through primary data collection and a literature
review. The results of the exploratory research will
be used to evaluate programming such that
current interventions may be refined, new inter-
ventions may be introduced, and/or current
interventions may be better assessed. In subse-
quent phases, the study team will implement and
monitor, through operations research, small-scale
activities to promote promising interventions.
Lessons learned will feed into the design and
implementation of interventions at a large scale,
and will be used to advocate for policies that
promote healthy and well-nourished children in
pastoral communities.
Outputs
The planned output for the exploratory research
phase will be a final report detailing up to six
household/community cost-effective interven-
tions which are most likely to impact infant and
child mortality and malnutrition in pastoral
communities. Planned outputs for subsequent
phases include identification of effective and
appropriate strategies to ensure the widespread
adoption in one pastoral community of each
intervention and of key considerations for the
scale-up of successful interventions in other
pastoral areas. Subsequent phases will also produce
a child health and nutrition addendum to the
drought cycle model which will help guide and
improve the quality of emergency response in pas-
toral areas.
Impact
We seek primarily to clarify some of the underly-
ing causes of the chronically high levels of acute
malnutrition found in pastoral regions in Ethiopia
and to help the Save the Children Fund Alliance
and the Regional Health Bureau of Somali
Region in Ethiopia to prioritize interventions
that could improve the health and nutritional
status of children in these settings. Through
workshops, briefing notes, and discussion we hope
to offer them tools to enable them to develop
more appropriate responses for the future. We also
envisage that this work will have wider impact on
the design of interventions supported by the
international community that aim to support
human health, nutrition and livelihoods in these
settings.
Collaboration
The Save the Children Alliance will be the main
collaborating partner for this work which will link
closely to ongoing collaboration under the
Pastoralist Livelihoods Initiative.
Seers As War Makers, Peace Makers, And
Leaders Within The Karamoja Cluster
(Darlington Akabwai, Khristopher Carlson)
Goal and Rationale
Pastoral populations living within the Karamoja
Cluster (namely Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, and
Ethiopia) believe that particular people known as
‘seers’ possess special capacities that enable them
to foresee and manipulate the future. With this
ability, seers perform an important role within
communities as they are central players in deci-
sion-making concerning security, raiding and war
making, peacemaking, and migratory patterns of
people and livestock. Therefore, the Tufts/FIC
research team believes seers are an important
group to engage with in the effort to build greater
regional peace and stability. However, many
government officials and NGOs operating in the
Karamoja Cluster continually marginalize these
influential community leaders, limiting the
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 57
Part II Project Details
amount of knowledge the seers can impart on
regional peace and stability processes. Tufts/FIC
field research throughout the Karamoja region
will allow us to document and analyze how seers
operate within their own communities and shed
light on the complex nature of their relationships
with other tribal groups, both friends and en-
emies. To complement the findings of this work,
we have incorporated a photography component
that will assist in illustrating the daily activities of
seers and other members of their pastoral com-
munities and draw attention to the environmental
and economic challenges that many within the
Karamoja Cluster face today. It is these environ-
mental and economic challenges that spur some
of the armed conflict in the region at present.
With both the written and visual aspects of the
work carried out simultaneously, this project will
help lay the groundwork for future strategies that
seek to help better network seers with local
leaders, government agencies, and NGO activities
whose aim is peaceful resolution to conflict and
peaceful co-existence among pastoral groups in
the Karamoja Cluster.
Background
Tufts/FIC has been conducting research with
pastoral groups in east Africa for over a decade.
Through its commitment to the region and its
innovative research, it has established strong
relationships with many pastoral communities that
live within the Karamoja Cluster. As most groups
within this region are dependent on healthy, large
livestock herds, the work of Tufts/FIC has focused
on helping these groups maintain strong founda-
tions for sustainable livelihoods. Through their
successful research work with pastoral communi-
ties in the eradication of rhinderpest, a devastating
disease among female cows, Tufts/FIC researchers
have achieved the trust and respect of the pastoral
communities. These successes have been enabled
by Tufts/FIC’s ability to move freely among and
between the different pastoral groups in the
region. Without the assistance of seers and their
ability to negotiate between tribes, both friend
and enemy, Tufts/FIC researchers would have
encountered difficulties in gaining access to
certain populations. Therefore, it was during these
earlier research efforts that Tufts/FIC witnessed
first-hand the role of seers as both effective war
makers and, importantly, peacemakers. Seers
58 Feinstein International Center
quickly became important actors in Tuft/FIC
efforts to work with pastoralists to manage
conflict in non-lethal ways and provide safe
passage to vaccinate cattle. Additionally, over the
last four years Tufts/FIC researchers have worked
intensively in the Karamoja region documenting
and analyzing factors contributing to high levels
of violence and conflict. As before, the role of
seers in helping to prevent or perpetuate violence
surfaced as a key factor.
Overview
The greater Karamoja Cluster encompasses
regions within northeastern Uganda, South
Sudan, northwestern Kenya, and southwest
Ethiopia. These regions are inhabited by nomadic
and semi-nomadic pastoral peoples who practice
transhumance in fragile and unpredictable eco-
logical zones. These populations are minorities
within their respective countries, and are often at
odds with or under attack by the governments in
the regions where they live and move with their
animals. Human development indicators rank
these groups among the least developed and most
vulnerable groups within each of their respective
countries.
Local populations believe that seers have a
unique relationship with the future as they ‘see’
into the future and are able to intervene in future
events. As such, seers are involved at a fundamental
level in determining their communities’ security
and well-being, as well as their relations with
other tribes or groups in the region. Seers are also
influential in regards to their communities’
relationship with outsiders such as NGOs or
government agencies. Regardless of their skills, or
perhaps because of them, both colonial powers
and the independent governments of the coun-
tries they reside in have systematically marginal-
ized seers. Our research seeks to better understand
the role of seers as forces for both war and peace,
and to use this information to inform local and
national governments in alternative ways to
engage with pastoral populations to address some
of their most pressing needs of security as many
live in areas that are highly insecure and that lack
any law and order functions.
Year one and two of the research will focus
on working with seers in northern Uganda and
southern Sudan, followed by work with seers in
northeastern Kenya.
Outputs
The Tufts/FIC team working in the Karamoja
Cluster on issues of security has enjoyed collabo-
rating with UN agencies, including UNICEF and
OCHA, in the past few years. The team has also
worked with NGO actors and local government
officials in the region to further its efforts to
inform peace and security initiatives. It remains
the goal of this team to maintain strong links with
policy and programming actors to share findings
and important field data throughout its research
work in the Karamoja Cluster.
A final international report will be published
with findings from the field research and dissemi-
nated within the countries worked in (Uganda,
Sudan, and Kenya) and internationally. Addition-
ally, briefings will be conducted at policy and
programming offices and agencies to influence
developments in the region and in other areas
where pastoral and indigenous populations face
similar challenges.
Photographs taken by the Tufts/FIC team will
accompany both the final report and briefings to
enhance and provide additional context to
research findings. They will also stand alone from
the written research as selected photographs will
be shown in exhibits to raise the awareness of the
public to the experience of being within the
Karamoja region and to the humanity of the
people living there. It is our objective to provide
people both familiar and unfamiliar with the
Karamoja region an opportunity to see the
complex, beautiful, and volatile environment that
is the Karamoja Cluster. It is our desire to produce
a book of photography illustrating the economic,
political, and social ‘face’ of the region through
visual documentation of the diverse cultural
dimensions that make up the Karamoja Cluster.
Impact
Research findings will demonstrate how seers can
be brought into the fold of national and regional
efforts to bring peace and stability to the Kara-
moja Cluster. There are no other research projects
at present looking at the influence and power
seers have within this insecure region. Through
patient and diligent research, Tufts/FIC can build
upon a decade of work in the region to inform its
regional and international partners to develop
practical steps to realize a more stable region in
the near future. In order to confront the environ-
mental challenges due to climate change that are
already underway and impacting the region’s
pastoral groups, political solutions must be found
to ease the social and economic tensions that
persist. This research intends to help find those
solutions.
Collaboration
This research builds on Tufts/FIC’s past three
years of specific research on the causes and effects
of armed conflict among several key pastoral
groups in South Sudan and northeastern Uganda.
It is also complemented by ongoing regional
work region focusing on livelihoods, status, and
conflict in the Karamoja districts of northeastern
Uganda. Tufts/FIC’s research team will work
with local human rights and NGOs in the
Karamoja cluster committed to finding ways to
lessen the areas high levels of violence and
insecurity. Furthermore, and equally important, as
Tufts/FIC has established strong linkages with
local leadership within various Karamoja groups
involved in the study, we will continue to rely on
these relationships to learn from and share infor-
mation with as the study progresses. Finally, as
mentioned above, Tufts/FIC will continue to
work closely with UN agencies with an estab-
lished presence in the Karamoja Cluster including
UNICEF and OCHA.
Livelihoods And Insecurity In Northeastern
Uganda (Elizabeth Stites)
Goal and Rationale
The Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda is
the poorest and least developed region of the
country and is host to the worst human develop-
ment indicators in key areas, including primary
school enrollment, maternal and infant mortality,
and life expectancy. Periodic and extended
droughts and extreme climate variability shape the
pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihood strategies
practiced in the region.Violent cattle raiding and
asset stripping exacerbated by a steady flow of
small arms into the region create extreme insecu-
rity for local populations. Alliances between tribal
and ethnic groups and across national and interna-
tional borders once allowed for drought mitiga-
tion through transhumance, but violence and
conflict over natural resources has led to the
collapse of many of these important relationships.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 59
Part II Project Details
Animal disease, growing inequity in animal
ownership, climate change, and a national disar-
mament program have placed further pressures on
the cattle-based livelihood systems.
This research aims to improve the under-
standing of livelihoods and security in Karamoja,
and how livelihoods have shifted over time. We are
particularly interested in the dynamic links
between conflict and livelihood strategies, and
how these two aspects may perpetuate or mitigate
each other. This nuanced and detailed understand-
ing is critical at a time when a growing number of
international and national stakeholders are ex-
panding their programming into the region. We
will work in consultation and maintain regular
dialogue with key national and international
NGOs and with the primary United Nations
agencies working in the region, in particular
UNICEF, WFP and OCHA.
Background
The three-year plan for research in Karamoja
builds on work conducted by a Tufts/FIC team in
the region from 2005-2008. Over the past three
years our team has documented and analyzed a
wide range of processes that shape livelihoods and
contribute to insecurity in the region. In particu-
lar, we examined the cross-border and local trade
of weapons, the effects of marginalization, shifts in
livelihood strategies over time, and the gender and
generational dimensions of human security.
International organizations are currently using the
outputs of this work to inform their policy and
programming as they expand into the Karamoja
region.
Through our work in the region we have
identified specific aspects that we believe are
critical to understanding the causes and implica-
tions of the links between livelihoods and insecu-
rity. For instance, we believe that a more thorough
understanding of the factors influencing liveli-
hoods strategies for male youth will illustrate both
the underlying factors in the violence and possible
avenues for intervention. In parallel, a focus on the
implications of livelihood shifts and insecurity for
women and children will enable more appropriate
strategies for social service delivery and protec-
tion.
60 Feinstein International Center
Overview
The research aims to better understand the
underlying social and economic factors contribut-
ing to the increase in violence in Karamoja over
the past thirty years and to make policy recom-
mendations as to points of intervention. We will
focus on the response of individuals, households,
and communities to the deterioration of pastoral
livelihoods, endemic poverty, environmental
degradation, climate change, and constraints on
mobility. These stresses have occurred in an
environment defined by rising insecurity and the
ready availability of small arms, and many young
men have adopted violent livelihood strategies as
a means of economic and physical survival and to
acquire social status. We will examine these issues
from the perspective of male youth (as both the
main perpetrators and most frequent victims of
armed violence) but will also seek to understand
the effects upon and roles of the wider communi-
ties, including women, children, and the elders. In
particular, we will be seeking to understand the
implications of changing male livelihood strategies
on the livelihood choices available to women and
children and the shifts in protection threats for
this population.
Outputs
The outputs from this phase of research in
Karamoja will be both formal and informal in
nature. Formal outputs will include an interna-
tional report on the links between livelihood
strategies and insecurity, a chapter in an edited
volume on the region, and one to two peer-re-
viewed journal articles. Formal briefings will be
held in Uganda and in international capitals for
interested audiences. Informal outputs will be
produced throughout the project in response to
emerging issues and requests from partners and
stakeholders. These will include briefing reports,
public and private briefing sessions on specific
issues for relevant stakeholders and actors, advice
and collaboration on advocacy efforts, and review
of program documents.
Impact
The planned research in Karamoja over the next
three years aims to bring institutional change at
multiple levels. Within Uganda, we hope to
inform the emerging strategies of national and
international agencies expanding their reach into
Karamoja. The movement of new agencies into
Karamoja provides both opportunities and
challenges, and we seek to inform this process and
to highlight some of the important challenges. For
instance, in dialogue with international organiza-
tions we stress the importance of conflict analysis
in the design and implementation of interven-
tions. We also aim to contribute to a more positive
and pro-pastoral national dialogue regarding the
Karamojong region and people in order to
decrease negative stereotypes and discriminatory
national policies.
Regionally we are seeking to promote a
better understanding of the cross-border dimen-
sions of livelihoods and insecurity, including the
importance of cross-border cattle movement,
implications of the spread of animal disease for
human health and food security, and the impacts
of weapons trafficking through the Horn of
Africa. Without a regional perspective on these
issues there is little hope of improved security and
development over the long term. At the interna-
tional level, we are working with donors to
encourage a greater focus on the development
and security challenges in Karamoja.
Collaboration
This research is complemented by the work of
larger Tufts/FIC Uganda/Sudan team as we seek
to understand regional dimensions and processes
of insecurity. We are in regular and ongoing
consultation with national and international
NGOs, UN agencies (primarily UNICEF, WFP,
and OCHA), and major international donors and
will provide regular updates and briefings as
requested.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 61
Part II Project Details
UGANDA: UPHOLDING RIGHTS IN THE
FACE OF VIOLENCE
Formal Justice And Accountability For
People In Northern Uganda (Dyan
Mazurana, Teddy Atim)
Goal and Rationale
This research seeks to document and analyze the
formal justice mechanisms that will be established
by the government of Uganda in response to the
widespread grave crimes and human rights
violations that occurred during the 22-year war in
northern Uganda. Our project seeks to provide
timely, precise, and insightful documentary
evidence and analysis, drawing on our investiga-
tion into how victims and survivors view and
experience these justice mechanisms. We aim to
inform the processes as well as policies and
responses that emerge as the processes unfold.
Additionally, the final report and publications will
serve as an important historical document for the
people of Uganda and those in the international
community concerned with formal systems of
accountability and justice in post-war societies.
Background
Over the past six years, our research teams have
documented, analyzed, and reported on grave
crimes and human rights violations committed by
all sides of the conflict between the rebel Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) and the government of
Uganda in northern Uganda (including both
Acholiland and Lango sub-region). Our specific
focus has been on crimes and rights violations
62 Feinstein International Center
against women and girls and, to a lesser extent,
against men and boys.
The parties to the protracted conflict in
northern Uganda have been engaged in peace
negotiations since 2006. The most contentious
issues to come out of this process concern
accountability and justice for the grave crimes and
rights violations suffered by civilians, in particular
young women and girls. Most of these crimes and
violations were committed by the LRA, although
the UPDF (Uganda People’s Defense Force), local
Ugandan militias, and the Sudan People’s Libera-
tion Army (SPLA) are also culpable.
Our team had input into Agenda Item 3 of
the peace process, which was signed on February
28, 2008. This agenda item, on accountability and
reconciliation, contains guidelines for setting up
truth-telling, prosecution, reparation, and transi-
tional justice bodies. Agenda Item 3 is a path-
breaking document and sets very high standards
for how accountability mechanisms should move
forward. The importance of this document makes
a thorough analysis of the document and its
outcomes even more important for Uganda and
the world.
Overview
This new phase of research focuses on three broad
justice and accountability mechanisms in post-war
Uganda, with an emphasis on crimes of a sexual
nature and gender-based crimes and violations
(both sexual and non-sexual in nature): truth-
telling or fact-finding bodies; court proceedings
and prosecution for serious crimes and grave
rights violations committed during the conflict;
and reparations for victims of serious crimes and
grave rights violations. The purpose of this work
is to provide real-time documentation and analysis
of justice and accountability mechanisms in
Uganda, and to investigate the links between these
mechanisms and people’s perceptions and experi-
ences of accountability and reconciliation in
northern Uganda. This research began in July
2008 and will continue through August 2010.
Outputs
The team will consult with key stakeholders and
interested groups throughout the study, including
during the finalization of the study design and the
project implementation. These groups include
survivors’ and victims’ groups, national legal
groups such as the Uganda Women Lawyers’
Association, national women’s human rights
groups including Isis-WICCE, Unicef Protection
and Child Protection, and OHCHR (the point
UN agency on the ground for justice). We have
been in contact with these groups regarding the
possibility of such a study since the beginning of
the planning process, and met with representatives
of these organizations in Uganda in March and
April 2007. We received positive feedback on the
need for such research and the application it
would have to informing national processes.
Throughout the study, we will maintain close
contacts with relevant local leaders and officials
both inside Uganda and internationally. This will
help to ensure that our findings are communi-
cated and have a better chance of influencing
policy and programming. We will also prepare a
series of timely briefing reports on current
findings and make these available to the main
parties involved in processes and mechanisms of
accountability and justice. We will carefully tailor
these briefings for the different audiences, ranging
from the local populations that experienced the
crimes and violations to the accountability and
justice bodies themselves.
We will prepare and publish a final report for
distribution within Uganda and internationally.
Additionally, we will prepare and submit two
articles for peer-reviewed scholarly publications
on the study’s findings. Finally, we will offer
public and private briefings within Uganda and
internationally to interested and relevant stake-
holders.
Impact
We are seeking to impact institutional change at
four levels: local, national, regional, and interna-
tional. At the local and national levels, the series of
timely briefing reports will present current
findings to the key parties. Given the fluidity of
the process, our work has the potential to posi-
tively influence these bodies and assist them to
better carry out their intended functions. At both
the local and national level, our work will provide
a written record on truth-telling and accountabil-
ity processes. Our project will make an important
contribution in this regard by featuring the
experiences and accounts of women and children.
We believe that if done rigorously and from a
gender and generational perspective, this research
will contribute substantially to the ways in which
Ugandans (now and in the future) understand the
conflict and the responses to it by the state and
civil society. In addition, by working in partner-
ship with a local grassroots organization, we hope
to facilitate the expansion of the work and
research capacity of this organization in the areas
of justice, accountability, and reconciliation. This
organization already has experience in these areas,
but we hope that this work will become more
sustainable through our shared collaboration on
this project. We also hope that the research
findings will make a significant contribution to
the future policy and programming of this local
organization.
At the national and international levels, our
research briefings will seek to inform the policy
and programs of UNICEF and OHCHR, Ugan-
da, as these are among the international bodies
most concerned with and most active in working
for justice for victims and survivors in northern
Uganda.
At the regional and international levels, our
work will be informed by and formally link up
with (and in doing so help to inform) regional
and international efforts regarding accountability,
reparation, redress, and remedy, specifically for
women, children, and victims of sexual and
gender-based violence. We will work most closely
with UNICEF, OHCHR, and Women and Armed
Conflict, an international network of lawyers and
human rights defenders focusing on justice for
women and girls in armed conflict.
Collaboration
This research is complemented by the larger Tufts/
FIC Uganda/Sudan team’s in-depth work among
war-affected communities in northern Uganda
and South Sudan. This work aims to gauge the
perceptions and (more rarely) experiences of local
populations regarding justice and accountability
processes. Additionally, this project dovetails with
the Tufts/FIC work on traditional justice systems
in northern Uganda described below.
This research is being carried out in collabo-
ration with a local, grassroots human rights NGO
based in northern Uganda. The Tufts/FIC team
has worked closely with this organization for the
past eight years. We also seek to cultivate stronger
ties with survivors’ and victims’ groups, national
legal groups such as the Uganda Women Lawyers’
Association, national women’s human rights
groups including Isis-WICCE, and key members
of the Ugandan parliament, and the Ugandan
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 63
Part II Project Details
Human Rights Commission.
We expect to maintain close links with the
child protection teams of UNICEF, Uganda, as we
have developed our relationship with these
individuals over the past several years. The Tufts/
FIC team also is linked with UNICEF researchers
working on transitional justice at UNICEF’s
research center, the Innocenti Centre, in Florence,
Italy. We will continue to develop strong ties and
networks with OHCHR in Uganda and with
OHCHR staff working on these issues in Geneva.
Traditional Justice And Accountability In
Northern Uganda (Khristopher Carlson,
Teddy Atim)
Goal and Rationale
This field research will document and analyze
how traditional justice and accountability systems
in northern Uganda address war-related crimes
and harms committed during the region’s conflict.
Special attention will be given to how these
informal systems take up rebel- and government-
perpetrated crimes against women and girls. One
of the methods to study how gender and sexual
based crimes are handled within traditional
systems will be to investigate how the different
war-affected ethnic groups (namely the Acholi,
Langi, and Iteso) perceive certain justice and
accountability issues such as gender-based and
sexual crimes vis-à-vis their own traditional
systems and those of the other groups. Looking at
ethnic groups’ activities independent from one
another, we will document what they are doing to
realize justice and accountability within their
group and throughout the war-affected region as
a whole.
As traditional systems in the north have not
evolved to deal with widespread and systematic
violence like that experienced and perpetrated in
this conflict, it is the intention of the Tufts/FIC
team to provide timely information on the
formation of these mechanisms and examine their
application of local customary law. Our prior
research supports claims that among the different
ethnic groups in the north there are dissimilar
notions regarding the ‘road map’ to attain justice
and accountability for war-related crimes and,
ultimately, for the formation of sustainable peace.
How traditional systems handle war-related
crimes will have social, economic, and political
implications nationally and regionally.
64 Feinstein International Center
Background
Since 2002, our research teams in northern
Uganda have documented, analyzed, and reported
on the widespread nature of violence perpetrated
by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army and the
government of Uganda including the Uganda
People’s Defense Force. This work has been
carried out mainly in Acholiland and the Lango
sub-region, with emphasis on the experiences of
women and girls.
By investigating the experiences of women
and girls within the settings of LRA captivity,
urban centers, and internally displaced persons
camps, we have collected witness testimony on
widespread and frequent human rights violations
and crimes, including rape, LRA abduction,
forced marriage within the LRA, as well as
domestic violence. With the 22-year conflict as a
backdrop, we have analyzed the circumstances
under which these crimes have been carried out
and documented the legal and logistical challenges
confronting women and girls moving their cases
through traditional and local justice systems.
What we have discovered are patterns of
failed and incomplete legal procedures where
women and girls have been limited by biased
patriarchal systems and antiquated practices.
Similarly, male youth who have experienced high
levels of violence during the course of the war
have faced their own challenges in accessing
traditional and local justice systems to seek legal
redress for crimes committed against them.
Considering Agenda Item 3 of the Agreement on
Accountability and Reconciliation (2008) be-
tween the LRA and the government of Uganda,
traditional justice mechanisms look to form a
central part of the justice and reconciliation
framework in the north.
Our research supports the claim that among
the different war-affected populations of the
north, particularly along ethnic and geographic
lines, there are competing views of how tradition-
al justice and accountability shall be administered
with the administration of these systems laying the
foundations for sustainable, regional peace.
Overview
The purpose of this research will be to provide
timely documentation on developments among
traditional justice and accountability systems
within Acholiland, and the Lango and Teso
sub-regions. Through interviews, our written
documentation and reporting will analyze how
these systems compare to women’s and girls’
expectations and concerns of what justice and
accountability for crimes perpetrated against them
should include and how they should play out in
communities and nationally. Likewise, the research
will analyze how traditional systems deal with
gender-based and sexual crimes within different
ethnic regions and how these systems, although
similar in a historical sense, evolve (or not) to
address the realities of the conflict. This research
began in July 2008 and will continue through
August 2010.
Outputs
In the past the team has worked in cooperation
with key stakeholders and interested parties
throughout its work. This study will be no
different. The main groups include survivors’ and
victims’ groups, local and regional government
offices, clan and ethnic leadership circles, national
and local legal groups, including the Legal Aid
Project and the Refugee Law Project at Makerere
University, national women’s human rights groups
including Isis-WICCE, UNICEF Protection and
Child Protection, and the UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights.
A final international report will be published
with findings from the field research and dissemi-
nated within Uganda and internationally. Addi-
tionally, briefings will be conducted to policy and
programming offices and agencies to influence
developments in Uganda and in other areas where
traditional justice and accountability systems may
address gender-based and sexual violence.
Impact
This work will influence two processes: transi-
tional (including traditional) justice and account-
ability systems addressing gender and sexual-based
crimes; and the inclusion of different ethnic
groups in formulating broad, congruent strategies
to best address crimes committed within the
context of armed conflict.
At the national level, this work will provide
key knowledge of the administration of traditional
justice and accountability systems where national
and international systems do not always have
influence on the arbitration of gender-based and
sexual crimes. As early signs indicate that impartial
adjudication of crimes perpetrated against women
and girls is uncertain in northern Uganda, this
work will inform present and future policy and
programming initiatives that aim to increase
women and girls’ access to effective justice
mechanisms. Furthermore, this work will inform
parties to the Agreement on Accountability and
Reconciliation about how different ethnic groups
want particular crimes to be addressed and how
they are going about those processes. This research
will demonstrate the many different perceptions
groups in the north have regarding definitions of
justice and accountability and what they think
needs to be done to promote both.
At the regional and international level, this
work will be informed by and develop linkages
with regional and international efforts to develop
women and girl’s access to justice and account-
ability.
Collaboration
This work is part of Tufts/FIC’s larger project-
based work in South Sudan and Uganda looking
at how armed conflict has affected communities
and people. This work complements the work
described above, justice and accountability within
formal justice mechanisms. Furthermore, this
work is carried out with key partners operating
within northern Uganda on issues of justice and
women’s rights. Linkages continue to be estab-
lished and strengthened between this project and
local and national human rights organizations and
key NGOs with programming activities focused
on the promotion of justice and accountability.
Importantly, this project recognizes that working
with grassroots organizations and with commu-
nity and ethnic leadership is vital to not only
understand the systems under examination, but
also to influence their development and imple-
mentation of practices we find beneficial to
women, girls, and communities affected by
war-related violence.
United Nations’ agencies such as UNICEF’s
Uganda child protection office have been sup-
portive in the past and we expect to maintain
close contact with that agency throughout the
duration of this study. The team is also linked with
UNICEF researchers at UNICEF’s Innocenti
Research Centre in Florence, Italy and the
International Center for Transitional Justice.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 65
Part II Project Details

While agencies, their senior management and

boards, found the report a useful tool for thinking
and planning for the near future, it was neither
sufficiently comprehensive nor explicit when it
came to the practical ’so what’ for operational
agencies at the operational level. This new re-
search aims to fill that gap.

Overview
The project has one abiding objective, which is to
better inform the humanitarian community (writ
large) in preparing for the complexities and
uncertainties of the future by enabling it to
enhance its anticipatory and adaptive capacities.
The project has four key components to
achieve this objective. There will be an analysis of
external drivers affecting the humanitarian
THE EVOLVING GLOBAL environment in the next fifteen years with a
ENVIRONMENT OF CRISIS AND particular emphasis on varying impacts on differ-
CRISIS RESPONSE ent types of communities and their respective
impacts on livelihoods. An analysis of internal
Preparing For Humanitarian Crises Of The drivers influencing the capacities of humanitarian
Future (Peter Walker) organizations in the future will be done. A
mapping of present institutional anticipatory and
Goal and Rationale adaptive capacity assessments, both at the HQ and
The shape of humanitarian crises is evolving, with field level, for dealing with the future will be
climate change and globalization set to have a another component. Finally, an exploration of
profound impact upon community vulnerability. possible futures through scenario development,
Humanitarian agencies will also need to evolve again at both the HQ and field level, will be
and change the way they work if they are to meet included.
the challenges of the next two decades. This
research seeks to understand the impact climate Outputs
change and globalization will have on future The intention of the project is to ensure that its
humanitarian crises, focusing initially on two very methodology and interactive processes will
at-risk countries, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. The be regarded as an important output for those who
research then goes on to examine the present have been project participants. Thus a key output
fitness of key humanitarian agencies in meeting is a change in agency thinking and planning
these expected challenges and will develop capacity based upon what they learn through
strategies for agency institutional change to better
interaction with the project. There are specific sets
meet these challenges. of outputs which the project intends to provide
over the course of its 24-month time frame. Being
Background aware of many other change processes going on in
Tufts/FIC’s 2004 Ambiguity and Change report the humanitarian system, and other coalitions for
spelled out some of the predicted big drivers of change, it is critical that this project’s outputs be
the humanitarian environment over a ten-year widely disseminated and openly shared with other
period. It focused on environmental changes, change programs. They should benefit from our
urbanization, migration, and HIV/AIDS as well as work and we need to benefit from their insights.
changes within humanitarian agencies. It was Output products will include: policy briefs on
underwritten by a grouping of operational compelling external and internal drivers; a guide
international non-governmental humanitarian to anticipatory and adaptive behavior; and sce-
agencies, the International Working Group (IWG). nario guidelines and a manual.

66 Feinstein International Center

Impact
We are seeking primarily to inform the boards
and senior management of the seven participating
NGOs of the IWG. Through workshops, briefing
notes, and discussion we hope to offer them tools
that will allow them to develop more appropriate
responses to the crises of the future.
Collaboration
This program will involve four key sets of col-
laboration. First, the research will be carried out
jointly between Tufts/FIC and the Humanitarian
Futures Project at King’s College, London.
Second, the researchers will work closely with the
seven NGO members of the IWG to disseminate
the research outputs and to regularly brief their
senior management. Thirdly, we will be co-opting
recognized experts on climate change and global-
ization from outside our institutions to help drive
this work. Finally, in Ethiopia and Bangladesh we
will be working with national researchers to help
us build a local perspective on the global trends
identified. This research also links across Tufts/FIC
to ‘Advancing Financial Resilience,’ to ‘The
Humanitarian Agenda 2015,’ and to ‘“Winning
Hearts and Minds?” Understanding the Relation-
ship between Aid and Security.’
The Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Principles,
Power, And Perceptions (Antonio Donini) tarian policies and principles in three countries
Goal and Rationale
The evolution of the humanitarian enterprise, the
power relationships that it entails, and the percep-
tions of communities affected by crisis and
conflict remain priority concerns of Tufts/FIC.
Building on the evidence-based findings on the
views from below, we intend to continue to
engage in policy and institutional development
actions with donors, UN agencies, and NGOs
with a view to improving the effectiveness of
assistance and protection activities for the most
vulnerable.
Background
Over the past three years, Tufts/FIC has conduct-
ed 12 country case studies on local perceptions of
the work of humanitarian agencies. The objective
was to understand, from the perspective of those
most affected by crisis and conflict, whether
humanitarian action was seen as responding to a
universal imperative or as an externally-driven
approach linked to Northern and Western agen-
das. The studies also shed light on the impact of
terrorism and counterterrorism on humanitarian
action, as well as the relationship between human-
itarianism and politics and the security of agency
staff and local communities. A synthesis report
summarizing the findings of the field work and
identifying critical issues for the future of human-
itarianism was issued in March 2008 and distrib-
uted widely throughout the aid community and
academia. The HA2015 team has collaborated
with other institutions engaged in applied research
in the same field, for example with the Listening
Project of the Collaborative for Development
Action, whose findings closely resonate with ours.
Overview
Building on the findings and considerable materi-
als accumulated through the HA2015 research,
our work will expand into three directions. We
will follow up the HA2015 final report. A series
of briefings, workshops, and policy initiatives are
already underway to engage with policy-makers
and agencies on the ground around the conclu-
sions and recommendations of the report. These
will take place in the US, Europe, and some of the
countries covered by HA2015. In addition, by the
fall of 2008 we will have completed follow-up
reports that will look at the evolution of humani-
where humanitarianism is under threat: Afghani-
stan, Iraq, and Sri Lanka. These updates will
provide new and topical material to be used in
dissemination and institutional support actions
through mid/late 2009.
Another expansion is into a book project.
Capitalizing on the research, a book on humani-
tarian action and the changing nature of vulner-
ability in the age of terror and globalization will
be undertaken. The book will investigate the
pressures on those who attempt to provide succor
in the world’s disparate crises, whether man-made
or exacerbated by human action. Using the
HA2015 case studies as its raw material, the book
will conduct a more ambitious exploration of
what we have learned through our research in
terms of global humanitarian issues, the evolution
of the humanitarian enterprise, and the manipula-
tions to which it is subjected.
A final direction will be towards understand-
ing the non-like-minded. Our research has shown
the disconnects between Western/Northern
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 67
Part II Project Details
perceptions of humanitarianism and those of
other cultures and traditions. Humanitarian
agencies are often shunned or reviled because
they are seen as instrumental to alien agendas, but
also because they are misunderstood. We will hold
consultations on how to engage with the non-
like-minded with actors who are critical of the
humanitarian discourse, including the vernacular
media, religious groups, and political parties in
countries in crisis. We will also have consultations
with those holding non-Western perspectives of
humanitarianism (China, India, Brazil, and others).
Outputs
As mentioned above, three case studies and a book
arising from HA2015 are foreseen. In addition,
short policy briefing papers, as well as articles
both in academic journals and publications for the
aid community, will be produced. Papers will also
be presented at international academic confer-
ences.
Impact
We hope that, as in the past, our work will
contribute to a better understanding of the issues
faced by communities affected by crisis and
therefore improve the effectiveness of humanitar-
ian responses. We expect to continue to be called
upon by donors and agencies to assist them in
their discussions on humanitarian policies and
strategies and thus contribute directly to institu-
tional change in these institutions.
Collaboration
This work relates directly to the institutional
change activities under the ‘Ambiguity and
Change’ project. We expect to continue to
collaborate with CDA (Collaborative for Devel-
opment Action) as well as with local research
groups in the countries concerned. A number of
linkages are also being forged with academic
institutions in the US and Europe.
“Winning Hearts And Minds?”
Understanding The Relationship Between
Aid And Security (Andrew Wilder)
Goal and rationale
There is a widely held assumption in military and
foreign policy circles that reconstruction and
development assistance is an important soft-power
tool to promote stabilization and security. Coun-
68 Feinstein International Center
terinsurgency doctrine in particular emphasizes
the importance of aid projects (often in the form
of Quick Impact Projects or QIPS) to “win hearts
and minds” and undermine support for insurgents
and/or terrorist organizations. This assumption is
having a major policy impact on how develop-
ment assistance is apportioned and spent and
provides an important rationale for the growing
securitization of development assistance. Given
how widespread the assumption is, and given its
major impact on aid and counterinsurgency
policies, there is surprisingly little empirical
evidence that supports the assumption of a causal
relationship between increased aid and improved
stabilization and security in counterinsurgency
contexts. The objective of this study is to address
this evidence gap by conducting a comparative
study in three different contexts—Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa—to examine the
assumption that aid projects contribute to im-
proved stabilization and security. By helping to
clarify the relationship between aid and security,
the study hopes to make development assistance
more evidence-based and effective in addressing
the needs of the poor and marginalized in crisis-
affected communities and states around the world.
Background
This securitization of aid study builds on five
years of related research at Tufts/FIC on the
security of marginalized communities in Afghani-
stan. In 2003-4 Tufts/FIC conducted its first
research in Afghanistan on the human security
and livelihoods of rural Afghans, which demon-
strated that security and the rule of law were the
top priority issues for Afghans. In 2006 Tufts/FIC
followed up this research with a study focusing
specifically on local perceptions of security in
Afghanistan, which highlighted the differences be-
tween Afghan and international perceptions of
security and insecurity. The study showed that
Afghans were concerned about personal security
and rule of law issues at the local level, whereas
the international community was concerned near-
ly exclusively with the Global War on Terror
(GWoT) and the fight against the Taliban and
Al-Qaeda. This GWoT focus had a major impact
on security sector reform initiatives as much more
money was allocated to developing military
institutions like the Afghan National Army (ANA)
to help fight the War on Terror, rather than
civilian institutions like the police and judiciary
that could help address the main public security
and rule of law concerns of Afghans. Given the
importance of this issue, Tufts/FIC, in collabora-
tion with the Afghanistan Research and Evalua-
tion Unit (AREU) based in Kabul, conducted
research in 2006-07 on the police sector in
Afghanistan. The results of the research were
published as an AREU Issues Paper entitled “Cops
or Robbers? The Struggle to Reform the Afghan
National Police.”
Overview
The main objective of the proposed research is to
try to answer the question: How effective is aid,
particularly humanitarian and reconstruction
assistance, in promoting stabilization and security
in counterinsurgency contexts? The study will
include a literature review of relevant literature
relating to the relationship between development
and security and case studies.
The primary data sources for the study will
be generated by case studies in three counterin-
surgency contexts where conscious efforts are
being made to use humanitarian and reconstruc-
tion assistance to achieve stabilization and security
objectives. The main field research for this study
will be conducted in Afghanistan. This will
provide an opportunity to examine one of the
most concerted recent efforts to use “hearts and
minds” projects to achieve security objectives. It
has been the testing ground for new approaches
to using reconstruction assistance as a counterin-
surgency tool, which in some cases, for example
Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), were
then exported to Iraq.
In the Horn of Africa, research will focus on
the role and activities of the new Djibouti-based
Unified Combatant Command for the African
Continent (AFRICOM) and the Combined Joint
Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). The
CJTF-HOA was established in 2002 and imple-
ments “hearts and minds” projects in Djibouti,
Kenya, and Ethiopia, mostly along the Somalia
border.
The third context, Pakistan, provides an
opportunity in a frontline state in the Global War
on Terror to examine the security benefits of the
large-scale donor assistance programs since 9/11
and to examine the planned strategy to use
large-scale increases in development assistance to
achieve security objectives in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering
Afghanistan.
These case studies will use the following
methodologies: semi-structured interviews with
key informants, including current and former
government officials, donors, diplomats, military
officials, PRT, UN and aid agency staff involved in
implementing “hearts and minds” operations;
semi-structured interviews and focus group
discussions with local beneficiary populations,
tribal and religious leaders, local government
officials, and traders and businessmen; analysis of
data from existing databases, surveys, and public
opinion polls. Where possible, the study will draw
much of its quantitative data and analysis on aid
mapping, poverty mapping, security incident
tracking, public opinion, etc., from existing data
sources.
Outputs
An important objective of this study is to ensure
that the research findings contribute to practical
policy advice that helps inform and influence
policy-making. Tufts/FIC will therefore dissemi-
nate and communicate the research findings from
this study in a way that targets a variety of audi-
ences using different strategies and approaches.
These will include different publications for
different audiences, seminars and conferences,
individual briefings with key policymakers, and
media interviews. The specific outputs of this
research project will include: a series of individual
case studies and a synthesis paper analyzing the
main case study findings; a shorter briefing paper
highlighting key issues, major findings and
recommendations; a seminar/conference targeting
relevant policymakers, academics and media;
individual briefings with key policymakers; media
interviews and op-eds; and a revised version of
the case studies and synthesis paper published as a
book, if an interested publisher is found.
Impact
The assumption that aid projects contribute to
stabilization and security is having a major impact
on both development and counterinsurgency
policies, as well as on how an increasing percent-
age of development resources are programmed
and spent. One important policy impact is that a
high percentage of humanitarian and develop-
ment assistance is being programmed based on
strategic security considerations rather than
impartially on the basis of poverty and need.
Another important policy impact is that as more
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 69
Part II Project Details
money gets allocated to insecure areas where
traditional development agencies are increasingly
finding it too dangerous to operate, and due to its
perceived importance in counterinsurgency
operations, the implementation of reconstruction
projects is increasingly being done by military
forces or combined civil-military teams such as
PRTs.Yet nearly every PRT review has highlight-
ed that to date there is still extremely little
evidence of measurable impact. By helping to
address this evidence gap, this research hopes to
influence the way key military and development
actors and institutions think about and develop
policies based on the assumed relationship be-
tween aid and security.
There is a growing interest among policy
makers and aid practitioners in the issue of aid
effectiveness, and increasing amounts of research is
being conducted on the effectiveness of foreign
aid in achieving humanitarian and/or develop-
ment objectives. However, given that a major
objective of US foreign aid is to promote per-
ceived US political and security objectives, there
needs to be more explicit attention given to the
effectiveness of foreign aid in achieving these
objectives, and not just development objectives. A
clearer understanding of the effectiveness and
comparative advantages of foreign aid in achieving
political, security and/or development objectives
could potentially contribute to more realistic
expectations of what foreign aid can and cannot
do effectively, as well as more effective ways to
prioritize the use of scarce aid resources.
Collaboration
A conscious effort will be made to have this study
contribute to institutional change by means of the
communications strategy outlined above, as well as
by collaborating with and involving key actors in
this research from the outset. This study therefore
has many collaborative dimensions, both internally
as well as externally. Within Tufts/FIC this study
will collaborate with and build on the important
work of the HA2015 study, especially its work on
the impact of the War on Terror on humanitarian
action. Externally, the major collaboration will be
with the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation
Unit (AREU) based in Kabul, which will host
and help implement the Afghanistan case studies.
Other collaborative relationships that could help
promote the institutional change agenda of the
study will be with the donors to this study, the
70 Feinstein International Center
governments of Australia, Norway, Sweden, and
possibly Canada, who have requested that their
PRTs in Afghanistan be included within the scope
of the study. Other collaborative relationships have
been or will be formed with both military actors
(NATO/ISAF (NATO/International Security
Assistance Force), AFRICOM, CJTF-HOA, Army
War College) as well as civilian ones (NGOs,
USAID, donors and host government, etc.)
Humanitarianism And Corporate Social
Responsibility (Lynellyn D. Long)
Goal and Rationale
Major international private corporations are
increasingly aware that their investments and
operations can improve humanitarian outcomes
through their contributions to local and regional
development. Increasingly, private sector, CSR
programs go beyond charity and public philan-
thropy to engage in specific interventions and
investments to achieve sustained humanitarian
outcomes. Nationally and globally, standards of
corporate citizenship and accountability may also
contribute to improved political security and
economic growth. Investors likewise recognize
that the lack of due diligence may increase local
inequalities and heighten resource conflicts within
communities. The lack of corporate due diligence
also sanctions corruption, creates public distrust in
markets leading to costly and sometimes ineffec-
tive regulation, and increases economic volatility.
Thus, CSR to promote humanitarian objectives is
increasingly considered good business practice.
Linking CSR programs to specific humani-
tarian objectives and outcomes is of growing
interest to the corporate/private sector, NGOs,
international organizations, and communities.
Both private and public sector actors recognize
the importance of developing these linkages.
Nevertheless, important questions remain as to
corporate commitment, feasibility, effectiveness,
costs, benefits, and risks. A significant difference
exists between private companies undertaking
humanitarian operations as part of their core
profit-making business and corporations engaged
in humanitarian operations as part of their social
and civic responsibility. The former, commercial
ventures, derive direct financial benefits from
disaster capitalism and seek to profit from human-
itarian interventions, whereas the latter, corporate
ventures, engage in humanitarian activities to
mitigate risk for their core operations and con-
stituencies, to demonstrate social responsibility
(and social license to operate), and to exemplify
good citizenship practices.
While this study will identify and distinguish
the different modes of private sector operation in
humanitarian affairs, its primary focus will be to
identify cost-effective CSR interventions and
performance standards for both corporations and
nonprofit humanitarian organizations. The
proposed research builds on the investigator’s own
CSR and humanitarian analyses in several coun-
tries in Africa, Asia, and Central and Eastern
Europe.
Background
Increasingly, international performance standards,
including the Equator Principles, Global Com-
pact, Social Accountability 8000, International
Labor Organization (ILO) Core Labor Standards,
Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative,
International Finance Corporation (IFC) Envi-
ronmental and Social Standards, and International
Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), promote
either directly or indirectly humanitarian objec-
tives and principles. Specifically, international stan-
dards for corporate responsibility and due dili-
gence mandate preventing or mitigating
environmental degradation, forced labor, traffick-
ing, security abuses, and political unrest. Proac-
tively, corporate responsibility and due diligence
mean safeguarding human rights, health and safety,
improving social and economic welfare, providing
financial transparency and accountability, and
promoting local and corporate governance in all
operations.
Corporate investments potentially allow local
communities to re-invest royalties and earnings to
derive long-term economic and social benefits
from a business operation. However, investment
programs also have the potential to privilege
vested elites, become one-off infusions, and/or at
best, promote the corporate brand. All too often
CSR investments and initiatives are not sustained
and have little to no long-term impact. At the end
of the day, corporate responsibility and due
diligence serve primarily as symbolic public
relations exercises rather than substantively
changing the way the company does business or
the economic and social status quo. All too often,
when the company leaves, local communities are
left addressing ongoing or new humanitarian
concerns. That said, most companies expect a
demonstrable return for their CSR investments
and want their operations and brand to be appre-
ciated and remembered well. Thus, identifying
specific procedures and guidelines for community
investment programs to achieve sustainable social,
economic, and humanitarian outcomes would be
useful to both corporations and communities.
While humanitarian organizations increas-
ingly solicit private sector support for their
operations and welcome private-public partner-
ships, they also question whether such support
compromises their neutrality, objectivity, and/or
impartiality. Private-public partnerships, in
particular, often expose competing objectives and
performance standards. Differences in size and
financial contributions create unequal power
balances between the partners. Thus, private-
public partnerships are not necessarily the most
effective use of corporate resources and involve-
ment. At the same time, certain types of partner-
ships and models may be very effective and instru-
mental. Specific criteria to assess specific kinds of
partnerships and situations in terms of humanitar-
ian objectives and outcomes would be useful for
both corporations and humanitarian organiza-
tions.
Still to be explored, however, is the extent to
which CSR performance standards and criteria
might also improve nonprofit, humanitarian
operations. The advantage of the private sector in
humanitarian operations may not be the efficiency
of profit-motivation or the logistical and financial
capacity of the Bechtels, Halliburtons, and CH2M
Hills, but rather good governance, community
relations and investments, core labor standards, and
financial transparency entailed in CSR operations.
The private sector advantage that profits from
misfortune and disaster inherently provides the
wrong incentives. However, considering the
private sector advantage in terms of adherence to
CSR performance standards has direct relevance
to all humanitarian operations and could inform
both public and private investments to improve
humanitarian futures.
Overview
The study will review corporate compliance
standards and policies, including the Equator
Principles, SA8000 (Social Accountability 8000),
ILO Core Labor Standards, Extractive Industry
Transparency Initiative, IFC Environmental and
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 71
Part II Project Details
Social Standards, and ICMM, to determine their
relevance to humanitarian principles and practices.
The review will focus on how these standards and
policies affect actual business conduct and prac-
tices in three industries: mining and minerals, the
garment sector, and banking/financial services. In
addition, the review will identify the relevance of
these standards within the particular industry to
improving humanitarian operations. The review
will provide a textual analysis of compliance
standards, policy documents, and industry analyses.
Interviews will also be held with key international
organizations like Global Compact, ILO, IFC,
EBRD, interest and advocacy groups, and busi-
nesses and NGOs involved in setting and regulat-
ing social, health and safety, labor, human rights,
security, and environmental standards to identify
specific industry applications and examples. In
addition, this stage of the research will involve a
content analysis of corporate responsibility and
sustainability reports in the three industries. The
estimated time frame for this first stage is 12
months.
Subsequently, case studies of specific CSR
interventions in the three industries at the com-
munity level will be conducted. The case studies
will detail how and to what extent CSR interven-
tions are affecting and/or addressing humanitarian
objectives. Case studies will also be compiled of
the same industries in similar communities, where
CSR programs were not undertaken. To the
extent possible, communities and corporations
will be compared by the presence or absence of
CSR intervention. The assumption will not be
made that CSR interventions necessarily promote
positive humanitarian outcomes or that a lack of
CSR investment does not. Rather, the case studies
involving longitudinal and retrospective inter-
views and observations will seek to identify the
conditions and situations in which CSR interven-
tions or a lack of due diligence affect humanitar-
ian outcomes. For this stage of the research,
interviews and focus groups will be conducted at
the local community level and with the relevant
companies at both operational and headquarters
levels. Proposed sites are Vietnam, Jordan, Guinea,
and Wales. These four sites represent different
humanitarian concerns, levels of conflict and
resource/labor extraction, and phases of commu-
nity engagement and operation across the three
industries. A total of 12 in-depth case studies will
be prepared by industry and locale. The estimated
72 Feinstein International Center
time frame for this phase of the research is 12
months.
Subsequently, the team will do a meta-analysis
of the 12 case studies. This meta-analysis will
inform the development of a survey the three
industries to determine the range of different
CSR interventions and expected outcomes.
Follow-up interviews will also be held with CSR
managers in mining and minerals, garment, and
financial services industries. Next, the team will
organize a stakeholders’ meeting of private
foundations, international organizations, bilateral
aid agencies, NGOs, and business for comment on
the survey and interview findings. The stakehold-
ers will also be asked to generate recommenda-
tions and action steps for the future. Following the
meeting, the research team will analyze and
summarize specific implementation strategies for
existing performance standards so as to promote
and sustain humanitarian objectives in corporate
operations. The research team will also report on
relevant findings for improving humanitarian
operations. The estimated time frame for this stage
is 12 months.
Outputs
The expected output for stage one is a practical
operations manual for businesses, profiling best
humanitarian practices and implementation
strategies. An article analyzing the relevance of
core standards and practices to improving human-
itarian operations will be produced.
For stage two, the expected output will be
detailed case studies to be published in business
and CSR journals.
Stage three’s output will be an edited academ-
ic volume. The volume will critically distinguish
the humanitarian role of corporate versus com-
mercial operations, report on the survey findings,
provide case studies of specific operations and
investments that have made a difference, and
outline the relevance of business practices to
improving humanitarian operations.
Impact
This project is expected to improve the contribu-
tion of private firms and corporations working in
potential situations of conflict and violence to
prevent and/or mitigate conflict. The research
could also build CSR capacity to address humani-
tarian objectives. A potential outcome of this
work is new forms of private-public partnerships
and concepts of the private sector role and
advantage versus for-profit humanitarianism.
Finally, analysis of the relevance of CSR perfor-
mance standards, particularly with regard to
financial transparency, core labor standards, human
rights and security, and community investments
and training, could potentially improve overall
performance of humanitarian operations.
Collaboration
This work links to other work of Tufts/FIC in
terms of ‘The Evolving Humanitarian Enterprise’
and ‘Preparing for Humanitarian Crises of the Fu-
ture.’ The research team will seek partnerships and
collaboration with private foundations, MDBs
(Multilateral Development Banks), watchdog
NGOs (such as Business for Human Rights,
Transparency International, Amnesty/USA), CSR
leaders in mining, manufacturing, and financial
services, business schools with CSR programs,
Saatchi and Saatchi, and key humanitarian inter-
national organizations involved in private-public
partnerships (ProVention Consortium, Oxfam
International, Save the Children Alliance, and Plan
International).
Crisis And Social Transformation In Nepal
(Antonio Donini)
Goal and Rationale
How does the work of aid agencies during and
after conflict affect people’s perceptions of
change? What can we learn from recent experi-
ence? Our work in Nepal has uncovered a
number of interesting issues around the humani-
tarian-development relationship and the chal-
lenges of social transformation in a (hopefully)
post-conflict environment that we feel are impor-
tant to research both because they are largely
unexplored and because of their potential policy
implications. These are discussed below.
Background
Nepal was one of the 12 countries of the HA2015
research. As a follow-up to the case study, we have
decided to conduct additional research both to
deepen our understanding of the root causes and
dynamics of the crisis and to track its impact on
local communities’ perceptions of change and
what drives change. The Maoist agenda was built
around awareness and rights in the sense that the
Maoists used these concepts as an entry point for
their political and military actions. Their message
resonated in isolated and marginalized hill com-
munities that had seen little or no development in
the past two or three decades. Our research will
therefore endeavor to understand whether the
Maoist message still sticks, or whether the feudal
structures are re-establishing themselves, and how
the message relates to other drivers of change.
Overview
One of the two components of this project is the
relationship between aid policies and violence in
Nepal. Preliminary research in Nepal, as part of
the HA2015 country case study, has uncovered a
number of issues relating to the relationship
between government, donor, and aid agency
development policies and the events leading up to
the Maoist insurgency. The prevailing view seems
to be that the insurgency was a result of develop-
ment failure in the sense that the Maoists were
able to capitalize on the lack of traction by the
Kathmandu elites and mainstream aid agencies in
addressing issues of structural inequality, caste,
ethnicity, and other forms of discrimination.
The objective of the research is to document
how the Kathmandu-based development and
humanitarian players reacted to the incipient
conflict and adapted to it. The analysis of the
tensions that existed in the aid system between
those actors who tended to minimize the impact
of the conflict and the extent which it impacted
on development activities, on the one hand, and
those who saw in the conflict the emergence of a
deeper humanitarian and structural crisis, on the
other, is likely to result in a number of lessons that
would lend themselves to policy recommenda-
tions. Research on this project is already under-
way and it is planned to produce a report or
article to be finalized in the fall of 2008.
The other component is about conflict,
gender, and social transformation in Nepal. The
Maoist insurgency was built around an agenda
which at its core attacked the feudal nature of
Nepali society and the structural inequalities
inherent in it. Whether this agenda was an instru-
mental tool for toppling the monarchy and
feudalism or the harbinger of a profound social
revolution is still an unanswered question, both at
the Kathmandu level and in the remotest rural
areas. It is not too early, however, to analyze social
change resulting from the Maoist agenda and
communities’ exposure to conflict. The Maoists
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 73
Part II Project Details
introduced, often forcibly, measures aimed at
addressing centuries-old, deeply-rooted forms of
discrimination. Feudal structures and the caste
system were abolished, parallel peoples’ structures
of governance were introduced, affirmation of
ethnic identity was encouraged, etc. Perhaps more
profoundly, women’s empowerment was promot-
ed both through the abolition of odious social
practices (such as relegation during menstruation
and childbirth) and encouragement of women’s
enrolment in the ranks of the People’s Liberation
Army (in which it is said that some 30% of
combatants were women) and in the Maoist
governance structures.
Now that the conflict is over, at least formally,
what remains of these various forms of empower-
ment? Have the feudal structures and social norms
re-established themselves? What is happening to
returning female combatants? Are they being
shunned or are they asserting themselves? What
kinds of tensions are emerging at the village or
community level? These are some of the issues
that will be explored through focus groups and
interviews at the community level. In addition, a
comparative dimension will be introduced in the
study through linkages with other Tufts/FIC
research on the implications of conflict on gender
and social transformation (in northern Uganda
and in Sudan in particular).
The overall objective of the research is to
better understand the dynamics of social transfor-
mation in Nepal in the context of the Maoist
insurgency and its aftermath. Specifically, the
research will seek to document and analyze the
nature and drivers of change at the community
level through interviews, focus groups, and
retrospective analysis. The project also aims to
provide an evidence-based picture of social
transformation and derive from it key conclusions
of relevance to aid agencies and policy makers.
74 Feinstein International Center
A separate component of this project will
focus on gender issues will start in the fall of 2008.
This component will look at female combatants
in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), their
demobilization and reintegration process, the
return to their villages and the problems encoun-
tered. For example, will the former female
combatants be perceived as role models by their
communities or will they be shunned by them?
Will they play an active political or social role or
will the earlier feudal roles prevail?
Outputs
The two components above will generate three
major studies and/or articles for academic jour-
nals. At a later stage, the possibility of a book on
social transformation in Nepal will be explored.
Impact
We expect two types of impact. In Nepal we hope
to contribute to ongoing debates in the aid
community on the nature of the crisis and on
policies for addressing it both from a humanitar-
ian and development perspective. This will be
done through country-level briefings and semi-
nars. At the international level, we expect our
findings will constitute useful lessons for donors
and aid agencies who struggle to adapt their
policies and activities to sometimes rapidly
changing conflict and post-conflict environments.
Collaboration
Our work in Nepal has been collaborative from
the start. UN agencies (in particular OCHA),
donors, and NGOs have sought to involve us in
their own debates on the nature of the crisis and
the humanitarian-development relationship. This
will continue and will be extended to Nepali
research institutions and universities.
September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 75
 ACRONYMS
AFRICOM Unified Combatant Command for the African Continent
ANA Afghan National Army
AREU Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
ARIs Acute Respiratory Infections
AU African Union
AUC African Union Commission
AUC American University in Cairo
CAHWs Community-based Animal Health Workers
CBO/NGO Community Based Organization/Non-Governmental Organization
CBOS Central Bank of Sudan
CDA Collaborative for Development Action
CHV Community Health Volunteer
CJTF-HOA Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa
CMAM Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
CRSP/PARIMA Collaborative Research Support Program/Pastoral Risk Management
CSR Corporate Social Responsibility
DCPSF Darfur Community Peace and Stability Fund
DDDC Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation
DFID UK Department for International Development
EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
ENTEC Environmental Technology Task Force
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas
FiRe The Financial Resilience project
FMD Foot-and-Mouth Disease
FPAN Food Policy and Nutrition Masters
GOE Government of Ethiopia
GoS Government of Sudan
GWoT Global War on Terror
ICMM International Council on Mining and Metals
IDP Internally Displaced Persons
IFC International Finance Corporation
IIED International Institute for Environment and Development
ILO International Labor Organization
INGO International Non-Governmental Organization
IOM International Organization for Migration
Isis-WICCE Isis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange
IWG International Working Group
LEGS Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards

76 Feinstein International Center

LRA Lord’s Resistance Army
MAHA Masters in Humanitarian Assistance
MALD Masters in Law and Diplomacy
MDBs Multilateral Development Banks
MoARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
MoFA Ministry of Federal Affairs
MoFED Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
MOHFW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
NATO/ISAF NATO/International Security Assistance Force
NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development
NRC Norwegian Refugee Council
NRC/IDMC NRC/International Displacement Monitoring Centre
NRM Natural Resource Management
OCHA See UNOCHA
OFSP Other Food Security Programmes
OHCHR see UNOHCHR
PHNI Pastoral Health and Nutrition Initiative
PLI Pastoral Livelihoods Initiative
PRTs Provincial Reconstruction Teams
PSNP The Productive Safety Net Programme
QIPS Quick Impact Projects or QIPS
RCO Resident Coordinators Office
SA8000 Social Accountability 8000
SAM Severe Acute Malnutrition
SCIU Save the Children in Uganda
SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
SPLA Sudan People’s Liberation Army
SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards
Tufts/FIC Feinstein International Center at Tufts University
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNEP United Nations Environmental Programme
UNEP/UNICEF IWRM Integrated Water Resources Management
UNHCR United Nations High Commission for Refugees
UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
UNOCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
UNOHCHR United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UPDF Uganda People’s Defence Force
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VSF Vétérinaires Sans Frontières
WFP World Food Programme
WHO World Health Organization

September 2008 • Feinstein International Center Three Year Plan 77

Feinstein International Center
Tufts University
200 Boston Ave., Suite 4800
Medford, MA 02155
USA
tel: +1 617.627.3423
fax: +1 617.627.3428
fic.tufts.edu