Partnerships, platforms and power - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 166

livestock targeted. Smaller livestock largely benefitted women, and in so doing
improved the education and health of children in poorer households.
Improving LWP of one class of animal, however, does not always reduce
poverty of the whole household or community. If increased LWP is to improve
the livelihoods of both men and women, the interventions must consider the
gender and power relations of the community (PN28) 4 (Mapezda et al., 2008).
Soil erosion and unrestricted livestock grazing cause feed shortage and soil
degradation erosion in the Nile Basin in Ethiopia. A CPWF project developed
different management practices for mixed crop-livestock systems. One of them
was to enclose cattle in fenced fields rather than allow unrestricted open
grazing on common land. The proposal had unexpected negative conse-
quences for some social groups, including women.
The project overlooked that the community opposed enclosing communal
grazing land, which is:
[A]n open space accessible by the households living around it. [The
common] is used for a variety of community gatherings . . . which are
important in the maintenance of key social networks . . . Communal
grazing areas are particularly important for households without livestock
who rely on these areas for dung collection . . . which makes a vital
contribution to local livelihoods. Enclosing grazing areas and keeping
livestock at home denies vulnerable members of the community access to
this resource.
(Cullen, 2013)
“Women [were also concerned] that these changes could [affect] their
children's safety [because in] rural areas of Ethiopia . . . children [tend the]
livestock.” If the livestock were to be enclosed, it would be more difficult for
mothers to follow the movements of their children. “They were therefore
reluctant to engage with the proposed interventions” (Nile 2) (Cullen, 2013).
The problem remains unresolved.
In the Volta Basin, introducing small-scale irrigation changed the distri-
bution of costs and benefits between irrigated farmers and pastoralists:
[T]he main purpose of small reservoirs [changed] from livestock watering
to small scale irrigation [using] treadle pumps, motor pumps, and drip
irrigation. In Burkina Faso . . . small scale irrigation . . . increased the
cropping area and changed the landscape around small reservoirs and wells.
This made livestock management difficult in areas with strong pastoralist
traditions like the Sahel.
(Douxchamps et al., 2012b, 2012a)
To avoid damaging crops while still watering their herds, pastoralists had to
avoid the cropping areas and cover longer distances to reach the grazing lands
(Volta 1).