"Poor governance is worse than drought"
Channel: IIED
Date: 2021-06-14

Water development in the drylands is about much more than just rolling out new infrastructure or technical issues surrounding the provision of an economic good or service. It involves engaging meaningfully with deeply entrenched relationships of power, structural inequality and marginalisation which vary according to context and scale.

In this narrated presentation, David Pertaub, a researcher from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED),  shows that by challenging negative narratives about pastoralists and by focusing on inclusive governance in the planning and design of interventions, water development can serve as an entry point for promoting sustainable, climate resilient livelihoods and effective rangeland management. It can also be an effective entry point for addressing gender, social justice and health objectives.

This seminar focuses on three case studies from Kenya that illustrate the distinctiveness of water development in the drylands, the complex power dynamics at play, and the critical importance of integrating local people’s priorities, traditional knowledge and customary institutions into planning.