Drought cycle management A toolkit for the drylands of the Greater Horn of Africa

Droughts periodically afflict large areas of the Greater Horn of Africa. The pastoralists and farmers who live in the drylands used to cope quite well. When a drought came, they were prepared. Drought was part of their lives.

But social, economic and environmental changes that have taken place in the last few decades have disrupted these traditional mechanisms. Droughts now have a more devastating effect: as water sources dry up and the land becomes parched, large numbers of livestock and people go thirsty and hungry. Dealing with the humanitarian catastrophe is enormously expensive and rarely
successful.

Drought cycle management offers a better approach. It helps people - and the governments and development agencies that serve them - to plan for drought. It aims to strengthen people's livelihoods throughout the drought cycle - in good times as well as bad - to make them less vulnerable when the rains fail.

This toolkit, intended for development workers and policymakers, describes the drought cycle management approach and how to apply it in practice. It covers a wide range of subjects, from animal health to water supplies, and from crops to community organization. It also describes how to adapt your own organization to better respond to the drought cycle.

This toolkit is based on the skills and experience of nearly 70 specialists in various aspects of managing drought in the Greater Horn. It contains nearly 100 short case studies to illustrate successes and failures in dealing with drought. It also has a large number of 'tools': guidelines, checklists, techniques and approaches that readers can select, use, and adapt in their own work. Numerous clear line drawings, drawn by local artists, illustrate the text.

Contents

• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• List of participants

1 Understanding drought

• Drought cycle management
• What is drought?
• Livelihoods
• Conventional responses to drought

2 Managing the drought cycle

• The drought cycle
• Mainstreaming drought cycle management

3 Crosscutting issues

• Conflict
• Gender
• HIV/AIDS
• Urbanization

4 Interventions

• Water
• Food security and nutrition
• Livestock production
• Animal health
• Crops
• Income diversification
• Community organization
• Communication
• Human health
• Education
• Land management and environmental conservation
• The drought next door

5 Organizations and drought cycle management

• Organizations in the drylands
• Early warning systems
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Advocacy

6 Resources

• Participants’ profiles
• Resource organizations and websites
• References

Published 2004 by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Cordaid and Acacia Consultants. Obtainable from IIRR, Africa Regional Office, PO Box 66873, Nairobi, Kenya; www.iirr.org  ISBN 9966-9705-8-4. 253 pp.

Available from IIRR Africa

Role of Paul Mundy: Writeshop manager, editing, desktop publishing, overall responsibility for production