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Periodical article Periodical article 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]

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