Restocking-Livestock Redistribution

Community restocking is a traditional system of social security within Somali pastoralist society. It is linked to kinship networks and clan identity. EPAG has been supporting pastoralists with restocking since 1992. We support ongoing community restocking as part of Micro-projects, but have also, on occasion after serous bouts of drought and insecurity, supported whole communities with targeted livestock redistribution programmes. We use this type of support to enable pastoralists to recover after serious conflict or drought. We do not move large numbers of stock from one region to another, but instead support the redistribution of livestock within a given region. This reduces the likelihood of overstocking in an area and subsequent environmental damage.

Livestock redistribution is a way of both injecting capital into the livestock economy, and moving animals from those that have stock and wish to sell them to those that have lost their stock. We distribute goats and sheep and a pack animal (camel or donkey) to those that are struggling to re-build their herds to a sustainable level.

In order to support and revive traditional indigenous systems of community restocking pastoralist communities that we work with also donate stock to be distributed to their kin. Even during the large post-drought restocking programmes pastoralists with larger herds were happy to contribute animals from their own herds.