By Elliot Fratkin, Martha Nathan, and Eric A. Roth

The seeking of alternative livelihoods by former pastoralists is not a new phenomenon in East Africa, as many nomadic livestock keeping people have historically utilized ties with foraging, farming and more recently urban communities in times of drought and conflict. But the settling of former pastoralists has increased dramatically in the past half century, driven mainly by impoverishment and stock loss due to reduced mobility, drought, raiding, and political instability while simultaneously attracted to the benefits of settled life including food security and physical security, health care, formal education, and new economic opportunities. Former pastoralists have settled in rural, urban, or peri-urban settings to seek new livelihoods as farmers, agro-pastoralists, and town dwellers engaged in trade, wage labor, and craft production. Formal education has been a primary benefit to children in these communities who as adults have pursued employment in government, business, and non-government organizations.