Resilience in action : local practices and development/humanitarian policies : a review of resilience in the drylands of Turkana

Abstract

This rapid review investigates the adoption of ideas of resilience by the development and humanitarian sector. It compares practices of resilience, emerging from fieldwork with Turkana herders in northern Kenya, with an analysis of resilience policies and shows how resilience is understood programmatically and translated into design, implementation and evaluation phases by development and humanitarian actors. This paper aims to contribute to these debates by bringing forward the perspectives of local communities and beneficiaries of the rising resilience agenda in the Horn of Africa. It starts with an overview of the situation in the Horn of Africa (section 2). It continues by presenting some insights and reflections about practices of resilience based on the author’s experience with Turkana herders in the northern Kenyan drylands (section 3). It then reviews a selection of resilience policies implemented in Kenya, with a focus on Turkana County (section 4). The final section examines how far resilience programmes differ from local practices and provides some recommendations on how development and humanitarian actors can adapt their work to ensure that it better serves to improve the lives of beneficiaries.