The document discusses policy challenges around pastoralism in Kenya's arid lands and efforts to address them. It notes that policy has historically been inadequate and inappropriate for pastoralist areas, marginalizing them. The Ministry of State for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands (MDNKOAL) aimed to change this by championing systemic reforms. Key outputs included an approved national policy for sustainable development of arid lands, a Vision 2030 development strategy, and an institutional framework with oversight bodies and specialized agencies. However, challenges remain in fully implementing reforms and ensuring arid lands are holistically integrated into national development agendas.

1. THE POLITICS OF POLICY-
MAKING ON PASTORALISM
IN KENYA
Reflections on the work of the Ministry of
State for Development of Northern Kenya and
other Arid Lands
Hon. Mohamed Elmi

2. Preliminary remarks
Mandate of the
MDNKOAL covered all
the ASALs, but the focus
of this presentation is on
arid and pastoral areas
which are generally
subject to greatest
contestation &
misunderstanding.

3. Policy problem: Inadequate & inappropriate
policy attention to arid & pastoral areas
Inadequate
• Uneven distribution of public
investment (‘foundations’)
• As a result, action by the private sector
in the arid lands is limited, but action
by humanitarian agencies is very high
• Policy-makers in Nairobi don’t
instinctively think about arid lands
• No clear picture of spend in arid lands;
not identified in budgeting system
• Tendency of central ministries to post
their least experienced officers to the
region
Inappropriate
• Limited exposure to pastoralism,
leading to low understanding
• National policy insufficiently nuanced
to different ecologies/social systems
• Administrative procedures developed
with non-arid areas in mind
• Political preference for ‘equal’ rather
than ‘equitable’ treatment
Both have historical roots:
colonial / post-colonial continuities in policy approach
(containment, separate development, trickle-down economics)

4. Policy failures create systemic problems which can’t be
addressed in a single five-year government term
• Inequality:
• Of opportunity: e.g. access to education & health care,
infrastructure, justice, security
• Of outcome: e.g. human development index, maternal mortality,
female literacy, infant mortality
• ‘Two Kenyas’:
• Attitudes need to change on both ‘sides’:
• Outside the arid lands: respond to pastoralism on its own terms
(instead of trying to change it); recognize the common citizenship
of all Kenyans
• Within the arid lands: recognize that while marginalization may
have been a reality, it is no longer a necessity (Constitution;
devolution)

5. Institutional problem: How should governments
organize themselves to respond?
Governments are organized around
sectors, not people or regions
• Two imperatives:
• Integration: ASALs are the
responsibility of the main
sector ministries
• Focus: cross-cutting issues
need champions to ensure
adequate & appropriate
attention (cf gender)
• Institutional framework must
deliver both
What type of mechanism?
• Different options: full ministry,
department, project,
secretariat
• Full ministry gives direct
access to Cabinet and senior
bureaucrats (otherwise this
has to be mediated through
another minister)
• Lack of institutional continuity
in Kenya to address systemic
challenges

6. 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Ministry
Ministry of
Reclamation
&
Development
of Arid,
Semi-Arid &
Wastelands
(1989-93)
Ministry of State
for Development
of Northern Kenya
& other Arid Lands
(2008-13)
Department
ASAL Section, Ministry of
Planning (1980-88)
Project
Arid Lands Resource Management Project (1996-2010)
Office of the President
Ministry of
Special
Programmes
MDNKOAL
Timeline of principal GoK interventions in arid lands

7. Implications for MDNKOAL’s approach
• Priority was to change the system: i.e. to re-balance
policy & institutional priorities in the long-term interests of
the arid lands.
• However, incentives & systems within government (such
as in planning, resource allocation, performance
management) favour the delivery of tangible projects, not
systemic change. The public also expects its ministries to
be ‘visible’ (sign-boards).
• MDNKOAL decided to be a ‘different’ ministry: its strategic
priority was to help the rest of government meet its
obligations in the region.
• Would like this approach to continue.

8. Opening of a policy space in 2008
• Combination of factors supported MDNKOAL’s agenda:
• Inequality had moved up the policy agenda: post-election violence;
Agenda 4
• Pastoral civil society activism had started to infiltrate competitive
politics
• Ongoing search for a new Constitution: recognition that Kenya’s
institutions needed to change (not just for ASALs)
• ‘Resilience’ agenda post-2011: provides a shared agenda for the
humanitarian system & development actors
• African Union Policy Framework on Pastoralism (2010): legitimates
MDNKOAL policy position on pastoralism
• Written paper discusses the response of different actors
to this policy opportunity

9. MDNKOAL: four ways of working
1. Coordination
• Amplifying the work
of government
• Bilateral
engagement, with
variable results:
strong in some
sectors, weaker in
others
2. Selective
project
implementation
• ‘Gap-filling’ with
sectors (education,
health, water,
planning)
• Testing new
approaches
• Issues not picked
up by others
(drought
management; ‘One
Kenya’)
3. Regional
interaction
• Limited
engagement, e.g.
peace building
• No structured
process yet for
interaction
between regional
governments to
improve policy
harmonization
4. Policy, legal
& institutional
reform
• ASAL policy
approved by
Parliament (end of
10-year process)
• Legal reforms
addressed by the
Constitution
• Institutional
framework
designed & partly in
place

10. Policy outputs
Title National Policy for the
Sustainable Development of
Northern Kenya and other
Arid Lands, Sessional Paper
No. 8 of 2012
Vision 2030
Development Strategy
for Northern Kenya
and other Arid Lands
Ending Drought
Emergencies in
Kenya: Medium-
Term Plan
Status: Approved by Cabinet, October 2012,
& launched February 2013
Endorsed by Ministry of
Planning, August 2011, &
launched February 2013
Integrated into Vision
2030 MTP2, 2013-17
Purpose: To re-frame the Government’s
approach to the ASALs:
• As a region of potential, not just
challenge
• Where Government will think &
act differently, taking its unique
characteristics into account
• Whose citizens are entitled to
the same rights as others
To complement and
deepen the national
development plan
To integrate ASAL priorities
into national development
policy and planning
To show how Kenya
will end drought
emergencies within
ten years

11. Institutional framework: four elements
4. ASAL
Secretariat
1. Cabinet
oversight
3.
Stakeholder
coordination
2. Specialist
& permanent
institutions

12. Institutional framework: current status
Institution Status Details
ASAL Cabinet Sub-Committee Constituted Membership defined by Head of Public
Service, 11 October 2012
ASAL Secretariat Operational Provided for in ASAL Policy; not yet
formalised in Government
ASAL Stakeholder Forum Operational Inaugural meeting July 2012
National Drought Management
Authority
Operational State corporation gazetted November 2011
National Drought and Disaster
Contingency Fund
Pending Being established by Treasury
Livestock Marketing Board Approved National Livestock Policy, 2008
National Council on Nomadic
Education
Approved Basic Education Act, 2012
Northern Kenya Education
Trust
Operational Registered in 2010 (private sector)
Northern Kenya Investment
Fund
Pending Design work completed (private sector)

13. Reflections
1. Progress in policy & institutional reform was due to a network of
individuals, both inside & outside government. Some have changed
positions; new ones have arrived. How will the same network
continue pressing for implementation of reforms?
2. Tension between individuals/institutions: on the one hand,
individuals are key to success, but progress should not be subject
to personal interest. Now that policy direction is approved, we need
collective & coordinated action to implement.
3. Tendency to view arid lands in terms of their ecology/production
system rather than holistically. But pastoralists have the same
needs as any other Kenyans. Besides, livelihoods are changing
with greater diversification, commercialization & urbanization. Need
closer engagement from those working on infrastructure,
governance, industrial development, financial services – but in
ways that are sympathetic to / supportive of pastoralism.

14. Reflections (cont.)
4. Blockages to progress are not necessarily because of antipathy or
indifference to pastoralism: the ‘normal’ shortcomings of
government play their part. It’s often the small things that get in the
way.
5. Devolution: significant potential to ensure more responsive policy
and practice; a major opportunity for previously marginalized
regions.
6. Parliament now has a critical role to play in holding the executive
to account for implementation of the agreed ASAL policy &
application of the institutional framework.
7. Arid lands have previously been left on the margins. Bringing them
further into the spotlight will bring new challenges (alienation of
land, communal land titling, inappropriate investment).