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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Mutual-help among Afar pastoralists of Ethiopia |
Author: | Hundie, Bekele |
Year: | 2010 |
Periodical: | Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (ISSN 1027-1775) |
Volume: | 26 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | June |
Pages: | 31-59 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Ethiopia Northeast Africa |
Subjects: | self-help social networks livelihoods pastoralists Afar rural development Pastoral systems poverty Self-help groups Afar (African people) |
External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/eastern_africa_social_science_research_review/v026/26.2.hundie.pdf |
Abstract: | Despite the prevalence of natural vagaries in rural areas of developing countries, effective formal mechanisms rarely exist to safeguard livelihoods. As a result, people rely on mutual-help networks during hardships although the effectiveness of such arrangements varies depending upon specific contexts. This study examines participation of Afar households (Ethiopia) in mutual-help arrangements. Three factors are found to be important in this regard. First, those households with better social ties (intra-clan and extra-clan) are in a better position to participate in mutual-help arrangements implying that being connected is in itself a rewarding resource. Second, poor households are marginal in local mutual-help arrangements, which can be attributed to their limited asset-base to donate, to lend, to reciprocate, and to repay loans. Third, poorer communities are characterized by a low rate of participation in local resource transfers. More specifically, this implies that mutual-help arrangements perform to the extent that the interacting people have some resources to share; that is, if community members are doing well, resource transfers become stronger; on the contrary, if community members are on the brink of starvation themselves, mutual-help arrangements become weaker. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |