Analysis of Livelihood Activities Among Pastoral Households in Urban and Peri-urban Areas of Isiolo Town, Northern Kenya

Abstract

Pastoralists all over the world are faced with a myriad of challenges, chief of them being recurrent droughts, diminishing grazing land owing to land tenure and land use changes, and conflicts over scarce resources, which are exacerbated by climate change to undermine their livelihoods. They have however evolved various strategies of coping and adapting to the changes around them. The most common and contemporary pastoralists’ responses to these changes include diversification of livelihoods and migration to urban and peri-urban areas to seek opportunities, especially following loss of their herds to drought. Such migration is normally accompanied by shifts in general lifestyle of pastoralist households, and specifically livelihood activities. This calls for a better understanding of the socio-cultural and economic shifts that occur among pastoral households upon migration to urban areas, as well as the drivers of the choice of economic activities among the migrant households. This study was carried out in Isiolo county of Kenya to determine factors that influence the choice of current households' livelihood activities in the urban and peri-urban areas of Isiolo town, and to analyze community perceptions on socio-ecological changes and social cultural impacts of rural-urban migration among pastoral households in the study area. A total of one hundred and ninety-one household interviews, six focus group discussions and 12 key informant interviews were conducted to gather data in Wabera and Bulla Pesa wards within the urban, and Burat and Ngaremara wards in the peri-urban areas of Isiolo town. The results show that the main source of livelihood of households before migration was livestock keeping and casual labor, while upon migration to urban and peri-urban areas, they ventured into small businesses and wage employment. The main reasons for households’ migration to urban areas were to seek opportunities for wage employment and trade. Households in urban areas mainly engaged in wage xiii employment and operating retail shops, while those in the peri-urban areas engaged in casual labor, with majority of the population being unemployed. The results of the multinomial logit model indicated that the main determinants of the choice of livelihood activities by households were the level of education of household heads and re-settlement location (urban vis a vis peri-urban) following migration. Results also show that the households perceived changes over time in their climate, environment, and socioeconomics upon migration to urban areas. Majority of the respondents reported that upon migration to urban centers, pastoral households undergo several socio-cultural transformations such as increased involvement of women in leadership, income-generating activities, and engagement in responsibilities that are traditionally male-dominated. Whereas migration to urban areas and urbanization, in general, presents diverse livelihood opportunities and improved access to social services and amenities to pastoral households, it has trade-offs associated with erosion of socio-cultural values, loss of social capital, and exposure to the high cost of living in the urban and peri-urban areas. This calls for policies and interventions at the county level that are cognizant of pastoral household special needs as they increasingly migrate to urban and peri-urban areas. Keywords: Pastoralists’ livelihoods, rural-urban migration, multinomial Logistic Model, local perceptions, urbanization, shift of livelihoods