Building on customary institutions in rangeland governance in Kenya

The policy brief “Building on Customary Institutions for Effective Rangeland Governance in Northern Kenya” (2026, 4pp), written by Malit Wako and her colleagues from the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) and the Kenyan Centre for Research & Development in Drylands, offers insights and recommendations from the transdisciplinary InfoRange project ‘Increasing Efficiency in Rangeland-based Livestock Value Chains through Machine Learning and Digital Technologies’, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).

The brief reveals why customary institutions in rangeland management need to be integrated into the planning of policy interventions and development programmes. The research reconfirmed how customary institutions remain the primary and legitimate foundation of rangeland management in arid and semi-arid lands in Africa. The effectiveness of these local governance systems has imdeed been recognised, but policy interventions and development programmes are working parallel to rather than together with them, and are thus creating dissonance. The recommendations stress the need for building on the existing structures of customary institutions and creating a collaborative governance system.

 

Posted on 24 September 2026 in General Policy Documents, Pastoral Research & Innovation, Pastoralism, Policy & Power