The mixed resilience outcomes of water interventions in the pastoral drylands of the Horn of Africa

Abstract

In recent decades, development and humanitarian actors in the Horn of Africa have employed the concept of resilience to design and justify the establishment of diverse water supply systems. The principal aim of these interventions is to enhance pastoralists' resilience to droughts and other shocks. However, limited empirical research has examined the resilience outcomes of new and existing water supply systems in pastoral areas. This study addresses this gap by analysing primary data collected in Marsabit County in northern Kenya and the Somali region of eastern Ethiopia. Adopting a contextual approach to resilience, the findings challenge the oversimplified narrative that links water supply systems in pastoral drylands directly to resilience. The results reveal major trade-offs: while water infrastructure enhances short-term water access, it also disrupts mobility, generates sociopolitical conflict, engenders ill health, exacerbates inequality, and spawns range degradation. The analysis shows that water supply systems contribute to resilience only when well-governed and aligned with mobility, resource access, diversification, and social networks—conditions rarely met in many dryland contexts.