Welcome to the website of CELEP, an informal advocacy coalition of European organisations, groups and experts working in partnership with pastoralist organisations, groups and experts in Eastern Africa. Pastoralism is an extensive form of livestock keeping practised in (semi-)arid lands in which – among others – seasonal livestock mobility and the strategic use of key natural resources are crucial elements. CELEP seeks to influence policymaking in Europe to recognise and support Eastern African pastoralism as a sustainable viable livelihood system. On this website you will read about the latest news, documents and articles related to the activities and interests of the CELEP coalition.

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IGAD’s Drought Disaster and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) has supported member states in the Horn of Africa to develop Country Programming Papers and investment plans. Non-state actors see these plans as not transformative enough and not addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability. There are no guarantees that all investments will be assessed for socio-economic and environmental impact. There are no mechanisms to ensure that communities are engaged in determining their local development priorities. There are no transparency, accountability and monitoring mechanisms outlined to ensure that the funds benefit vulnerable communities. The REGLAP policy brief on IGAD IDDRSI demands that non-state actors, including representatives of communities in the Horn, be engaged at regional, national and local level in design, implementation and monitoring of the IGAD initiative. The REGLAP position paper outlines priorities for ending drought emergencies in the Horn of Africa.

Two pioneering grassroots organisations in northern Tanzania, the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) and the Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT), examine and present their experiences and insights from their long-term work to secure the land rights of hunter-gatherer and pastoral communities. In the publication “Securing community land rights: experiences and insights from working to secure hunter-gatherer [...] Read more

The East African drylands are home to both pastoralists and wildlife, attracting substantial conservation and tourism revenues, yet the pastoralists remain poor and the wildlife is declining. Donor interventions seek “win-win” solutions through conservation with development. The article “Pastoralist livelihoods and wildlife revenues in East Africa: a case for coexistence?” in a special issue of [...] Read more

A “writeshop” on pastoral livestock value chains was organised by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in Nairobi from 28 November to 6 December 2012. The 27 participants included 15 case authors, three resource persons, two facilitators, four editors, two artists and one secretary. They produced a third draft of a 120-page manuscript of [...] Read more

A study commissioned by REGLAP (Regional Learning and Advocacy Programme for Vulnerable Dryland Communities) “Plotting progress: development planning in the drylands of Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda” (2013) reviews current and recent experience in planning processes in the drylands of Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The analysis focuses on key drivers (structural, institutional, and actors/stakeholders) of policy and decision-making [...] Read more

On 23 January 2013 in Nairobi, a ThinkSpace on “Resilience in the Horn of Africa” was organised by REGLAP (Regional Learning and Advocacy Programme for Vulnerable Dryland Communities) and IAWG (Inter-Agency Working Group on Disaster Preparedness for East and Central Africa). The aim was to review how different actors have progressed in developing a resilience [...] Read more

In December 2012, the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) held a workshop on “Extensive Livestock Research Multi-Stakeholder Research Questions” in Nairobi, Kenya. EAFF is collaborating with several other organisations working in Eastern Africa as part of PAEPARD (Platform for African European Partnerships in Agricultural Research for Development) in creating multi-stakeholder partnerships on agricultural research for development. [...] Read more