OCHA Pastoralists Voices, Volume 1, Issue 1 - Nov 2007

In this issue

- African Union Awaits approval of a specialist Taskforce on a Pastoral Policy Framework for Africa.

- Fact and Figures on Pastoralism in Africa.

- Engaging Pastoralists in Formulating a Pastoral Policy Framework for Africa - A Conversation with Borana Pastoralist Elder Nura Dida.

- A Pro-Pastoralist Policy Framework for Africa will reduce the Proliferation of Small Arms in the Continent.

- Strengthening Pastoralists' Voices in Policy Formation for Pastoral Sustainable Livelihoods.

- Latest News and Recent Activities.

African Union Awaits approval of a specialist Taskforce on a Pastoral Policy Framework for Africa

The African Union (AU) awaits the approval of a 12-member Specialist Taskforce who will establish the terms of reference, dates and process for regional consultations on a Pastoral Pol-icy Framework for Africa.

The plans for formulating the Policy Framework were designed and adopted at an inception workshop organized by the Afri-can Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resource (AU-IBAR) in partnership with United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' Pastoral Communications Initiative (OCHA-PCI).

The July 9-11 event in Kenya brought together over sixty par-ticipants including leaders of pastoralist communities, members of African governments, and officials of Regional Economic Communities, the AU, the UN, research institutes, bilateral or-ganizations and NGOs.

The meeting identified seven key areas of concern to pastoralist communities that need to be addressed in the policy formula-tion process. They include,

I. Governance

II. Access to land, water and basic services

III. Education, science and technology

IV. Market and financial services

V. Conflict

VI. Poverty risk and vulnerability and VII. Environmental impact, biological and genetic aspects

The AU is setting up the Specialist Taskforce as a way of ensur-ing a transparent and inclusive process. To achieve equitable distribution across regions and gender, the 12-member Spe-cialist Taskforce will comprise of technical experts, and no less than five pastoralist representatives (one from each region) chosen from each of the regional economic communities in-cluding; The South Africa Development Community (SADC), The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and Arab Maghreb Union (AMU).

For the complete report from the inception workshop and general updates on the AU Pastoral Policy Framework process including information on the regional consultations please contact OCHA RO-CEA, see contacts at the end of this report.

Pastoralists across Africa have called for a continent-wide policy framework that will begin to secure and protect the lives, livelihood and rights of pastoralists across Africa. The African Union has responded to this call and has begun formulating a Pastoral Policy Framework for the Continent.

Pastoralist Voices is a monthly bulletin that supports this process by promoting the voices and perspectives of pastoralists, and facilitating information flow between the major stakeholders in the policy process including pastoralists, the African Union, Regional Economic Communities and international agencies. To subscribe to Pastoralist Voices please write to: roceainfo@un.org