The fourth General Assembly of the Woodaabe Pastoralists of Niger took place this year from the 5th – 14th October. It was attended by thousands of Woodaabe pastoralists as well as pastoralists from other groups in Niger and government and NGO representatives. It was organised this year for the first time by the Djingo Collectif, an umbrella organisation of Nigerien pastoralist associations.
The assembly is an opportunity for pastoralists from across Niger to meet and socialise as well as being a forum for discussion. This year major topics up for debate were around land access, enclosure and mobility as well as discussions by the heads of the pastoralist associations on how to work together and with the tribal chiefs.
The UK DFID’s DGPP supported a group from the Oromia Pastoralist Association and the Oromia Regional Government to attend the assembly and spend time after it with different Woodaabe leaders. They were interested to see how the Niger pastoralist associations and Djingo are working and how the impressive assembly is organised. They also took the opportunity to discuss herd and range management and governance amongst other issues.
