Engaging with the corporate sector for pastoral development in Ethiopia. (360G-Wellcome-080900_Z_06_Z)

Trade in livestock has always been central to African pastoralism, and is vitally important to the economies of many countries with pastoral populations. Pastoralists are also increasingly buying a range of veterinary pharmaceuticals. The regional and global contexts for both sorts of trade are changing in complex ways. Yet we know very little about the perceptions of the corporate sector on pastoral development, and how "corporate social responsibility", increasingly debated within development, may take on different meanings in the context of pastoral development. The project therefore aims at creating enhanced dialogues between the corporate sector and other stakeholders in pastoral development, based on appropriate understandings of corporate social responsibility in the Ethiopian pastoral context, and realistic views of the corporate sector's potential roles. Ethiopia has been chosen because of the importance of pastoralism to the national economy, and the presence of a significant indigenous corporate sector involved in livestock trade. The target audience for the project will be the corporate sector itself, CBOs, NGOs, governments, donors, regional bodies: in Ethiopia itself and in other countries with pastoral populations. The project objective will be pursued through analysis of secondary data and semi-structured interviews with senior representatives of corporate-sector actors (veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturers, their local agents, indigenous companies involved in meat processing and livestock export), and other stakeholders. Findings will be discused at a series of workshops, leading to ongoing linkages between the private-sector players and other stakeholders. The project will be implemented by Professor John Morton of NRI, a pastoral development specialist, and Dr Mohammed Mussa, an Ethiopian economist with substantial experience both of pastoral development and of private sector and trade issues, supported by Dr Anne Tallontire, leader of NRI's Natural Resources and Ethical Trade Programme, and an experienced researcher on corporate social responsibility in a development context.