In a second survey carried out with the additional partnership of USAID's Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Programme (GL-CRSP) Livestock Early Warning Systems (LEWS), the team focused on how pastoralists traditionally identify the onset of drought, and how they prepare for and cope with it. By building on pastoralists' indigenous knowledge and systems they are comfortable with, the project intends to overcome the limitations of past approaches that imposed solutions from outside that were often not appropriate.

From the rich baseline of information gained through these studies, the AAARNET/ILRI/LEWS partnership has developed a number of specific recommendations for USAID/OFDA action that could make relief aid more effective than in the past:

• Implement early-warning systems that complement traditional knowledge with scientific meteorological tools.

• Stem the degradation of rangelands through herd size management, employing new policies devised and implemented in partnership with local institutions.

• Improve animal health services and monitor potential epidemic risks.

• Improve dry-season fodder supplies through better agronomic practices in the riverine areas, including improved water management and harvesting.

• Assist in the transition to agro-pastoralism by providing improved cropping technologies, knowledge and skills.

• Diversify livelihoods to include horticultural and non-agricultural options, such as gum tree cultivation, incense production, salt collection, meat, milk and dairy product microenterprises, petty trade and handicrafts, often implemented through micro-credit.

• Improve human health and nutrition, including better prenatal and birth care, child immunization, malaria prevention and treatment, and supplementation of diets with Vitamin A

USAID/OFDA's progressive vision of evolving from an emergency aid to a sustainable development approach in the Horn of Africa is taking concrete shape through knowledge generated from thorough systems research carried out by ILRI in partnership with ASARECA and others. As this knowledge is implemented, pastoral communities that have in the past been passive recipients of aid handouts will find that the international community has changed its approach to one that empowers them to reduce their own vulnerability by building on their indigenous knowledge, skills and resilience.

Burundi

Burundi, a small and crowded country, has been embroiled in an ethnic civil war for the last decade. Adjusting to the scarcity of farmland, farmers have a long tradition of mixed farming, integrating livestock such as goats and dairy cows with crops. In addition to food and income, animals provide vital manure for maintaining soil fertility for the crops.

Livestock systems in Burundi have been decimated by the conflict. A large proportion of animals perished from disease, starvation and slaughter for emergency food needs. This has shattered one of the underpinnings of sustainable agricultural livelihoods in the country.

As a consequence, A-AARNET and Relief International initiated a project on restocking of small ruminants in two zones highly affected by the civil war. It was implemented by these two partners in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Burundi (ISABU). The impacts of these efforts were subsequently investigated by A-AARNET, which is coordinated by ILRI.