External publications

Achieving policy coherence for drought resilient food security in SSA: lessons from the Horn of Africa

Brüntrup, Michael
External Publications (2019)

in: Everisto Mapedza / Daniel Tsegai / Michael Bruntrup / Robert McLeman (eds.), Drought challenges: policy options for developing countries (Current Directions in Water Scarcity Research 2), Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 295-310

ISBN: 978-0-12-814820-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814820-4.00020-1
Information

Unlike rich countries, drought in poor countries is a direct threat to food security. Pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, and the rural poor, especially those living in arid and semi-arid areas, are particularly threatened. That threat is both a short-term threat for immediate well-being and survival, and for long-term development of livelihoods and resilience-building. Drought policies in poor countries must address these threats by integrating appropriate measures into drought strategies, from early warning and vulnerability assessment, to emergency and development planning and implementation. Measures must link across many sectors and policy levels. Ethiopia and Kenya in the Horn of Africa provide useful case studies for comparison and contrast, because they share similar risks but have different economic and political settings. Both have achieved remarkable progress in establishing pro-active drought policies and drought cycle management strategies, but there is also a lot more to be done, particularly in creating bottom-up household resilience. The paper provides ten lessons for improving policy coherence, expanding upon research published in Duguma et al (2017).