Critical to the Health for Animals and Livelihood Improvement (HALI) Projects objectives are improved livelihoods for the pastoral communities bordering the Ruaha National Park and Pawaga-Idodi Wildlife Management Area.
HALI Project extern, Flora Nyato interviews a Maasai man at his home. (Photo by M. Nguvava)
In order to improve livelihood in the area, HALI set out first to understand it. HALI team members Dr. Jon Erickson and PhD candidate Michel Masozera of the University of Vermont use an integrated sociological approach incorporating household and district surveys, household diaries, and focus groups. Through these methods, combined with data regarding disease and livestock losses, HALI will better understand the impact of disease and water scarcity not only on the health, but also on the economic livelihoods of pastoralist communities.
The HALI team designed and administered a household survey to assess socioeconomic characteristics, health, water use and sanitation, livestock management, and agriculture and other income-earning activities of representative pastoralist groups.
Designing a village economy model is the second objective of the program. The direct impact of water management and diseases on livelihoods of pastoral and agropastoral communities can be studied quantitatively with survey data and qualitatively with interviews with key informants, a modeling approac will help us understand indirect impacts of water scarcity and disease. For example, impacts of water scarcity on pastoralist livelihoods will also impact other households and village or regional economic sectors that supply inputs to livestock production systems. Changes in income of pastoralists will also impact spending on household goods and services, further impacting the village economy.
Sustainable management of the Ruaha Landscape involves meeting economic, ecological and social objectives of different stakeholders at different scales of planning (from local to national). It also requires balancing the diverse needs of people, livestock and wildlife. While this may be possible on some occasions, these objectives can be in conflict. . In these situations, tradeoffs are necessary but their magnitude and the winners and losers aren’t always explicit. HALI held a workshop in August of 2008 to examine which trade-offs village leaders were willing to make in order to aid stakeholder groups in arriving at collective decisions. Workshop results will form the basis of policy and management briefs, as well as publications on landscape management.
