Humboldt-University, Berlin
Contact: Konrad Hagedorn (k.hagedorn[at]agrar.hu-berlin.de) and Martina Padmanabhan (martina.padmanabhan[at]agrar.hu-berlin.de)

Alemaya University, Ethiopia; ILRI; GTZ; Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture

To identify effective policies and practices for rural communities in Ethiopia that face multiple threats (natural disasters, ethnic conflict, and economic transition) in order to reduce poverty and secure sustainable rural livelihoods based on effective collective action and secure property rights. The main purpose of the project is to sensitize policy-makers, NGOs, and communities about the links between collective action, property rights, and the local-level institutions in mediating effective collective action by households and communities, particularly in crisis situations, and to improve policies for poverty reduction and local institution building in Ethiopia.

This study combines quantitative and qualitative approaches with analytic narratives to allow a thorough analytical assessment of the factors that influence collective action, determine effective property rights, and provide an understanding of 'real life games' around local-level institutions, the actors involved, and their strategies.

• To share or not to share? (Non-)violence, scarcity and resource access in Somali Region, Ethiopia
  Ayalneh Bogale and Benedikt Korf. Discussion Paper #10, Institutional Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Series, Berlin: Humboldt University, 2005. Forthcoming in the Journal of Development Studies.
• Collective action and informal institutions: The case of agropastoralists of Eastern Ethiopia
  Fekadu Beyene. Paper presented at the Policy Research Conference on Pastoralism and Poverty Reduction in East Africa held in Nairobi, June 2006.
• Informal institutions and access to grazing resources: Practices and challenges among pastoralists of Eastern Ethiopia
  Fekadu Beyene. Paper presented at the Policy Research Conference on Pastoralism and Poverty Reduction in East Africa held in Nairobi, June 2006 and the IASCP Biannual Conference in Bali, June 2006.
• Inter-ethnic conflict on grazing land: An analysis of Ittu-Isaa clans' resource use relations in Mieso District, Eastern Ethiopia
  Fekadu Beyene. Paper presented at the conference on The Changing Politics of Land in Africa: Domestic Policies, Crisis Management and Regional Norms held at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, November 2005.
• Property rights among Afar pastoralists: Changes and implications
  Bekele Hundie and Konrad Hagedorn. Manuscript.