Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre CASHING IN OR CRASHING OUT? Pastoralist Livelihoods in Somali Region, Ethiopia Paper presented by Stephen Devereux Institute of Development Studies, Sussex

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre The paradox of “wealth + vulnerability” > Proposition 1: Marginalisation can bring benefits as well as costs. > Proposition 2: Marginalisation is multi–layered. “Marginalisation thresholds” > Gender “Marginalisation + Vulnerability” > Government versus Somali pastoralists

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre Somali Region (“Region 5”)

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre The paradox of “wealth + vulnerability” > Proposition 1: Marginalisation can bring benefits as well as costs (Some Somalis do very well out of being excluded and marginalised; the struggle for survival is to defend autonomy against an encroaching state)

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre > Proposition 2: Marginalisation is multi–layered (Marginalisation occurs in several dimensions; some Somalis are more marginalised than others) “Marginalisation thresholds” > Gender > Displacement > Farmers

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre Females/100 Males SSA = 102 Somali Region = 94

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre Somalis explain gender bias Son preference “Most mothers prefer to have boy babies, so they take better care of them than their girl babies.” Male bias in food allocation “Most girls are thinner than boys because their mothers don’t treat them and feed them as well as the boys.” Male bias in health care “My mother gives my sisters herbs to drink when they are sick, but buys proper drugs for my brothers.”

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre “Marginalisation + Vulnerability” > Food famine versus food aid ‘feast’ (1999–2000 versus 2001–2006) > Government versus Somali traders (“War on contraband”) > Government versus Somali pastoralists (“Sedentarisation”)

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre Development Policy for Pastoralists (GoE 2002) “Phased voluntary sedentarisation along the banks of the major rivers as the main direction of transforming pastoral societies into agro-pastoral system, from mobility to sedentary life, from rural to small pastoral towns and urbanisation” Sandford (2004) “there are too few livestock present to meet the income and/or dietary needs of the human population and that repeated crises prevent the growth of livestock numbers to an adequate level”” FEWS NET (2005) “Continuing drought, increased competition for grazing lands, conflict, disrupted livestock trade, and limited regional market options put the sustainability of the pastoralist livelihood in question”

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre Somali pastoralist #1: “The Government wants to settle us, to turn us into farmers. But we look at the problems of the farmers in the highlands and we ask why the Government hasn’t solved their problems. Every years millions of tons of food aid goes to those farmers, who are supposed to be growing their own food. Does the Government want to turn us into beggars like them?” Somali pastoralist #2: “Why are the farmers always telling us to become farmers like them? We never tell them to become pastoralists like us!”

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre Somali visions of their future Somali man: “We are people of animals.” Somali woman: “Pastoralism is not ‘Somali culture’, it is ‘men’s culture’.” Somali teenager: “We are living in the 21st century. We can’t be expected to live like the 19th century, like our ancestors. We can’t behave as if things like computers and phones don’t exist. Since we know about these things, we also want to have them. In the old days these things didn’t exist, so our parents just lived as their ancestors. For our generation, things are different and we want different things. None of the children in this school want to be pastoralists.”

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy International Conference, March 2007, Cape Town, South Africa Co-hosted by PLAAS, Isandla Institute and Chronic Poverty Research Centre