Women and pastoral livelihoods: Innovating for a sustainable future

Millions of pastoralists in drylands depend on livestock for their survival. Yet conflict, climate change, and poor access to animal health services (AHS) threaten their way of life. Women play a crucial but often overlooked role in livestock management, facing barriers in time, mobility, and decision-making.  

In this webinar, held on Thursday, May 15, almost 400 hundred people joined SPARC and its partners Mercy Corps Uganda, MarketShare Associates (MSA), and Livestock Data for Decisions (LD4D) as we presented insights from our field research on: 

• How behavioural and gender norms impact AHS access in Ethiopia and Kenya
• Gender-inclusive AHS in Karamoja, Uganda: key learnings on designing more inclusive interventions. 

During the interactive event, we highlighted scalable, gender-inclusive solutions that can enhance resilience, improve livelihoods, and ensure sustainable livestock systems, and discussed policies and innovations that can empower women and drive prosperity in pastoralist communities. 

At the event, we drew on key pieces of evidence, including our policy briefs on:

•  'Behavioural and norms-responsive animal health systems for pastoralists in Ethiopia and Kenya'
• 'The use of gender transformative approaches (GTAs) in pastoralist societies: What we know about what works and recommendations for a way forward'.

The panel included:  

• Dr Elizabeth Daley, SPARC Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Advisor, Cowater International - Webinar - Moderator
• Dr Johanna Wong - Senior Monitoring, Learning and Knowledge Exchange Specialist (Data in Livestock Development), SEBI-Livestock - Speaker
• Noura Kamel - Director of Research and Impact, MarketShare Associates (MSA) - Speaker
• Dr Maureen Kamusiime, Climate, Livestock and Agriculture Senior Advisor, Mercy Corps Uganda - Speaker 

Watch the webinar here: