This report is based on direct testimonies from agropastoralists living in borderland regions of Africa. The evidence has been collected objectively and systematically to allow the research participants to explain how they live their lives, to describe the vulnerabilities they face, showcase the sources of their resilience and, crucially, to highlight how they overcome the challenges of living in the borderlands.
The report draws on a mixed methods approach utilizing quantitative and qualitative research, as well as a wide range of visual representations of agropastoralist life captured during the research interviews. The quantitative research involved a survey of 1,042 agropastoralists interviewed in 55 sample points across eight countries – Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan and Uganda. The sample points were chosen due to their proximity to international borders, typically within 30 kilometres of a border. The dataset is unique regarding the breadth of insights from agropastoralists, the number of respondents and its spread across multiple locations in East and West Africa.
The quantitative analysis is integrated with insights gained from the qualitative research. The qualitative research involved a mixture of focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with agropastoralists. In total, 92 participants took part across all eight countries. In addition, the fieldwork teams also interviewed 62 key informants.
The power of this research is that it challenges oversimplified notions of borderlands as simply lawless, peripheral or harsh places to live. This is not to deny people's many vulnerabilities, ranging from conflict to climate. These vulnerabilities are often a result of an absence of basic services – a lack of electricity, or difficulty accessing clean water or the absence of state security. Indeed, very few places exist in the world where the intense scarcity of such basic services would be tolerated. Yet, agropastoralists have strong attachments to their homelands; they demonstrate remarkable adaptability to living in rugged terrain and enduring vulnerabilities. They also have a clear sense of how they would like things to be different to help them live better lives.
Perhaps one of the most striking findings from the research is that the vast majority of agropastoralists wish to remain in their home area. They cope with and overcome many of the challenges they face. Three themes underpin this resilience – family, labour diversification and mobility.
To a large extent, the family is the first and most important support mechanism, providing safety, economic support and well-being in the context of the challenges that agropastoralists face. This is reflected in the hierarchy of reasons why people in the borderlands move across communities and borders. Agropastoralists move for a variety of reasons, including to maintain family and kinship ties, build and maintain social capital and to diversify economic activities in ways that enhance their livelihoods. The most common reason for crossing international borders is to visit relatives, and closeness to family is the key anchor for wanting to live in the borderland regions. When people face economic problems, they rely primarily on their families for help. Families support individuals to exploit opportunities and provide services and protection in the absence of adequate services by the state.
Individuals and families in the agropastoral borderland communities demonstrate high levels of labour diversification in how they live their lives, particularly in response to economic challenges. This means individuals utilize different skills at different times of the year or, increasingly, benefit from innovation and technology to adapt how they farm or practice animal husbandry.
Mobility is fundamental to existence in agropastoral communities. It is used as a strategy to deal with vulnerabilities, for example, when people are driven from their homes or lands by, for instance, conflict or climate-related disasters. More often, though, mobility is about accessing markets and trade and benefitting from opportunities to improve livelihoods.
The key findings of this research reveal that:
- Cross-border movement is a significant feature of life in the borderlands. One in four respondents had crossed an international border in the last month, and almost half had done so in the last 12 months. People move for family and trade reasons, often to access markets or services unavailable on their side of the border, or in response to conflicts and disasters
- A majority of respondents feel safe (62 percent) when crossing an international border, and protection provided by government is the most common safety mechanism. While on one hand the inadequate presence of government creates vulnerabilities for those trying to move, at other times when border officials are present, agropastoralists face harassment or even extortion by police or other border guards
- Most agropastoralists struggle to buy basic goods and few make enough money to save. Diversifying income sources and relying on family and community support are key coping mechanisms
- Lack of adequate governance (limited state presence and service delivery) is a feature of life in many borderland areas, exposing agropastoralists to greater vulnerabilities. While agropastoralists demonstrate high degrees of adaptability and resilience in the context of limited state presence and service delivery, the state needs to step up and meet its core obligations.
- Basic services are lacking in many borderland areas, and this makes life difficult and diverts and limits human and economic capital that could be used more productively
- Providing services in borderland regions requires tailored and innovative solutions – building on strong community engagement and coordination between governments at the local and national levels and across borders (a regional approach). Agropastoralists require greater responsiveness from the state to deliver the services and levels of representation they need.
- Encouragingly, most people (55 percent) feel safe where they live, in contrast to the broader national and regional picture that pinpoints a deterioration in governance and security in Africa. The perspectives of respondents may reflect the sample location (bias) or the existence of relatively safe areas in Africa's borderlands. Overall, much more can be done to reduce conflict and provide more secure lands in which agropastoralists can thrive. The benefits of tackling conflict are wide-ranging; not only does it provide security for individuals and families, but it supports communities to benefit from services and enhances mobility for more trade.
- Agropastoralists are worried about environmental changes, including extreme climate events, and the negative impact these may have on their lives and livelihoods. While successes in reducing conflict have been creating a virtuous circle to empower lives, vulnerabilities around climate impact, especially in relation to water, threaten to create a regressive cycle
- Although Agropastoralists in African borderlands rely on generations of experience in adapting to changed circumstances, they can still benefit greatly from new technology and innovation and in fact new technologies may be essential to ensure that borderland communities obtain adequate basic services, such as security and water
This is the executive summary from the full report by the United Nations Development Programme and Africa Borderlands Centre. The full report can be found here.