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About us
Pastoralist Consultants International is implementing a UK DFID project, Democracy, Growth and Peace for Pastoralists as part of the larger Pastoralist Communication Initiative. The project focusses on Ethiopia's pastoralists while also working across the Horn of Africa on new knowledge and innovation. We connect pastoralists in the Horn with pastoralists all over the world and we promote productive conversation between pastoralists, governments and others. We promote an appreciation of the potential of pastoral economies and societies with official institutions, the media and the public.
The Democracy Growth and Peace for Pastoralists Project
The team working on DGPP is divided into three sections:
Our Events Unit organises international pastoral gatherings, inter-ministerial meetings, peer exchanges and facilitated debates.
Our Evidence Unit organizes rigorous research and active dissemination and debate. We also put on tailored training events for pastoralist leaders and government officials.
Our Reporting Unit manages this website, produces publications and supports pastoralists to link to national and international media.
To do all this, our consultants are constantly in touch with pastoralists, governments and international agencies.
During the period upto July 2009, the DGPP will be:
- Putting on a series of pastoral gatherings at regional and international level;
- Organising exchanges between pastoralist leaders across Africa and the world;
- Arranging international and national meetings, exchanges and trainings for government officials.
- Researching and disseminating studies on pastoralist economic, social and political development in different countries.
- Stimulating debates and negotiations on pastoral trade and encouraging private sector innovation.
- Bringing donors and pastoralists together to discuss new approaches to development and relief.
- Assisting civil society groups to amplify pastoralist voice in Ethiopia and the Horn.
- Introducing pastoralists to national and international media and promoting a more realistic view of pastoralism with the general public.
The DGPP is a DFID project. Its current phase started in March 2006 and will run until July 2009, and possibly beyond. This builds on four years as the Pastoralist Communication Initiative, working closely with the Ethiopia Ministry of Federal Affairs and the Regional Pastoral Development Co-ordination Offices and Commissions in Ethiopia and the customary institutions of pastoralists in Ethiopia. The current project connects all these bodies with regional and international organisations including the Africa Union, IGAD and United Nations offices in the Horn of Africa and with national governments and traditional pastoralist institutions in Africa and worldwide.
Pastoralist Consultants International
Pastoralist Consultants International is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom (no. 04505837). Formed in 2002 to support pastoralists' knowledge and communication activities, the company has a board of four directors, two executive and two non-executive. Non-executive directors are Dr Jeremy Swift and Ivo Philipps. Jeremy has studied and worked with pastoralists for several decades. Ivo is a manager of international banking group, Standard and Chartered PLC.
The 6-10 consultants who work with Pastoralist Consultants International come mainly from pastoralist backgrounds. They have extensive connections within the world of pastoralism, expertise in pastoralist issues and skills in communication and event management.
Pastoralist Consultants International promotes dialogue and understanding. Our projects focus on organising pastoralist gatherings; linking pastoralists to non-pastoralists; and responding to pastoralist requests for research. Our team works in partnership with customary leadership of more than 30 pastoralist groups in East Africa and are connected to pastoralists in more than 30 countries.
Our projects assist members of bilateral, multilateral and international agencies, governments, politicians and local agencies in learning from and coming to agreeents with pastoralists about their issues and aspirations.
Our Principles
We start from a position that pastoralists and other members of the pastoral economy should choose the direction of their development. We do not speak for pastoralists, they speak for themselves. We seek their guidance in selecting our activities and priorities and take action on request. We treat the institutions with which we work with the highest respect. We support innovation that significantly advances the pastoral economy and society and that is acceptable to that society and its government(s). We are independent and do not take sides or political positions in debates. We value working in alliance with those who operate by the same or similar principles.