Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat 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]
Views
Cover