Nuru Partners with Pastoralists to Improve Livelihoods and Stability

Nuru is broadening its impact in rural communities by focusing on the inclusion of pastoralists and semi-pastoralists. Across Africa and in the communities that we serve, Nuru recognizes that semi-pastoral and pastoral communities play vital roles in thriving rural livelihoods and markets. In addition to supporting farmers, Nuru’s expanded initiatives in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Niger also provide pastoralists with cooperative training, livestock health services, and opportunities to increase and diversify their income. Here, we unpack why pastoralists are important to rural economies, how they’ve traditionally been marginalized, and how Nuru focuses on their inclusion. 

Pastoralists in Niger

Pastoralists: A Heritage of Adaptation and Resilience

Imagine yourself as a pastoralist–an adolescent boy accompanied by your father. You are responsible for leading your small herd of livestock on a seasonal migration route in search of water and food (forage). It’s important for them to be healthy and stocky so that you can eventually sell one or two at market this year to support your livelihood. You lead your herd to water sources and grazing lands, as has been done for generations. It is a swelteringly 108 degrees f (42 celcius) most days. You carry your few possessions on your back. Outside of the increasingly sparse rainy season, you spend up to eight months per year, days and nights, tending your endlessly hungry herd in the wide open rangeland.

Cows grazing near Gashaka-Gumti National Park

Increasingly erratic weather patterns deliver unwelcome shocks. Rains have not replenished the water source you depend on. Graze lands aren’t as lush as they used to be. The migratory path that you’ve taken year after year is now disrupted by areas that have been sold and fenced. These factors beyond your control push you and your increasingly needy herd in new directions in search of water and forage, which may encroach on farmers’ crops. Your family’s livelihood depends on the security, health, and survival of your herd. It is not just your job, but your way of life and your heritage.

At the fringes and borderlands, you’re just one poor rainy season away from your animals dying off. You’re just one path cut short to coming into conflict with once peaceful neighboring farmers. Livestock disease and death, income loss, and violent confrontations create a vicious cycle that leads to uncertainty, instability, and desperation. Nuru envisions a more secure and brighter outlook for pastoralists by understanding their livelihood and circumstances.  

How is pastoralism different from sedentary farming?

Pastoralists have long been central to Africa’s food and economic systems. Making productive use of Sub-Saharan Africa’s vast marginal rangelands, pastoralists contribute substantial quantities of meat, milk, skins, and animal products for both African and global markets. 

In the US, the idea of raising livestock often evokes the mental image of a concentrated animal feeding operation, in which a large number of animals are kept in a confined space or fenced property. This is an example of a land and input-intensive production system. Intensive production systems incur high costs for feed, water, medication and labor to maximize profit from healthy and extremely productive animals. While intensive production systems have high costs and labor, they also have maximized returns.

Pastoralism, in contrast, is an extensive production system. Extensive production systems rely on getting animals forage and water while overcoming the calories they burn in traversing rough terrain and avoiding injury and diseases over long distance travel. Extensive production systems have lower input and labor costs with less stringent management requirements, but have commensurately marginal returns. Accessing and exploiting grazing lands across vast distances in a sustainable and productive way is the primary concern. 

Pastoralists meeting together, Niger, 2025

Who are pastoralists?

Pastoralism refers to various livestock-keeping traditions that rely on mobility, from nomads who travel long distances year-round, to herders who move their animals seasonally or locally. Pastoral livelihoods revolve around ruminant animals. Livestock herds may include cattle, goats, camels, or other animals in varying numbers. Pastoralists are inherently innovative and adaptive, as their mobility-driven livelihood is well-suited to the semi-arid Sahel, where water and grazing resources are scarce and unpredictable (Search for Common Ground). 

In the US, we are more accustomed to think about the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, but many of the places where Nuru works are focused on two seasons: dry season and rainy season. In some countries, there is more than one rainy season per year, while others will only experience one during a 12-month period. During the rainy season, herds are kept in drier areas where pasture and water are sufficient. As the dry season progresses and resources diminish, they are moved toward more humid zones, leaving pastoralists ever-searching for greener pastures to feed their hungry animals.

This cyclical movement, known as transhumance, follows established seasonal routes–paths that are often disrupted by conflict, privatized and fenced lands, park rangers, border patrol or floods–that ensure access to grazing and water. Because ecological conditions dictate the timing and direction of movement and route accessibility, these routes often cross national borders and span entire subregions. Born from environmental necessity, pastoralism is a way of life sustained through generations of nomadic heritage. True resilience in rural Africa depends on the inclusion and participation of pastoralists. 

Cows and pastoralists in Niger, 2025

Nuru NGOs Spotlight: Diverse approaches, Shared goals

• Kenya: Nuru Kenya has scaled in Baringo County, a semi-arid landscape where both pastoralist and farming households participate in the livestock value chains, including dairy and meat production. These households report an average dairy yield of approximately 2 liters per cow per day. Nuru Kenya is building on its lessons learned in Migori County, where farmers increased yields from less than 2  liters to more than 3 liters per cow per day and more than tripled annual dairy income. Nuru Kenya aims to support similar gains in Baringo through cooperatives. By strengthening cooperatives, Nuru Kenya enables pastoralist households to access better cattle health services, improve milk quality, and sell surplus production at more favorable prices. This cooperative-centered approach aims to support a gradual shift toward sustainable, profitable commercial pastoralism while building resilience for households relying on meat and dairy livelihoods.

Baringo County Farmer, 2024

• Ethiopia: ​​Nuru Ethiopia supports the South Omo Pastoralist Union by strengthening its cooperative capacity, improving access to quality markets, and establishing a revolving fund. This fund enables pastoralist groups to access agricultural inputs and engage in new business opportunities, such as fertilizer distribution and the school feeding program. Nuru Ethiopia also supports the Kerech Pastoralist Primary Cooperative with savings and loan services, women’s economic empowerment activities, and training. Training covers small livestock management, fodder production, and financial management. Additionally, cooperative development training is provided, and Nuru facilitates market connections for livestock products while exploring future value-addition opportunities (e.g. making cheese, peanut butter, or tofu). In areas where pastoralists also cultivate crops, Nuru Ethiopia is providing agricultural training on both corn production as well as drought-tolerant crops like mung beans.
• Nigeria: Nuru Nigeria, funded by GIZ through its Peaceful and Inclusive Transhumance – Lake Chad Region (PETRA) program, is a sub-grantee of Africa Nature Investors Foundation. The PETRA initiative strengthens peaceful, well-governed transhumance systems and supports more inclusive pastoralist livelihoods across the Lake Chad region. Through this partnership, Nuru Nigeria supports pastoralist communities to promote stability and resilience. Through the SUSTAIN project, Nuru Nigeria supports pastoralist communities in Toungo with women-led enterprise training. These trainings aim to strengthen dairy production, increase household income through improved animal health and fodder management, and expand access to sustainable energy solutions that promote resource efficiency.

A road along the Gashaka-Gumti National Park demonstrates how close farmlands run to the park, eliminating pastoralist access to the area.

• Niger: In Niger, Nuru will scale its work with pastoralist cooperatives by supporting deworming campaigns and facilitating the repayment of vaccines through member-owned cooperative revolving funds. Beginning in 2026, training will focus on climate-smart livestock management and cooperative development, using the cooperative model to strengthen sustainability. As these activities expand, Nuru will track improvements in key areas of livestock productivity and animal health. For households engaged in dairy, improvements in milk production will also  be monitored. These indicators will offer a clear picture of how cooperative-led services and training contribute to stronger, more resilient pastoralist livelihoods.

Beyond Livelihoods: Building Bridges and Social Cohesion

Nuru’s work with pastoralists and cooperative agribusinesses strengthens social cohesion by increasing the resilience of both farmers and pastoralists. Pastoralists face many of the same challenges as agribusiness cooperative members, and their inclusion in training and climate-smart livestock management practices brings them from the margins to the center of community development. Their active participation is essential to thriving rural communities, food security, and regional resilience. 

By organizing pastoralists into professional cooperatives, Nuru helps ensure stable incomes, improved resource access, and stronger relationships with neighboring farmers. Through the cooperative model, Nuru supports communities to diversify income sources, improve livestock health, and adapt to climate stress. Beyond economic benefit, these cooperatives have become spaces for trust-building, dialogue, and collaboration, laying the groundwork for more cohesive and resilient rural communities.

Together, these efforts to support pastoralist and agribusiness cooperatives embody the International Cooperative Alliance cooperative principles of Cooperation among Cooperatives and Concern for Community, creating positive ripple effects that extend beyond individual members and to the wider community.

Nuru is actively seeking partnerships to support these new and growing initiatives with pastoralists.