Pastoralists-driven Data Management System 2018-2019 (Chad)

Abstract

Basic information is lacking about many pastoralist areas in the world. As a result, many services, programmes and policies do not effectively address the needs of pastoralist communities. The Government Cooperative Programme (GCP) project GCP/GLO/779/IF “Pastoralists-driven Data Management System”, was based on the idea that pastoralist associations could themselves collect, manage and share data from among their communities. This information could then be used to advocate for better targeted and pastoralist-friendly policies at local, national and international level. The project aimed at strengthening the capacities of pastoral organizations in data collection, analysis and information management, in order to facilitate evidence-based policy decision-making. It was implemented in Argentina, Chad and Mongolia, managed by the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub (PKH), and supported by the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement - CIRAD).

In Chad, the project was implemented by the Billital Maroobe Network (Réseau Billital Maroobé - RBM). An innovative approach for collecting data was developed through close partnership among the stakeholders involved, and was adopted during two successive surveys. The two questionnaires for collecting data on pastoralism were discussed and adapted to the national context, through the contribution of the participants and their deep knowledge of the field. This was one of the most innovative and successful aspects of the project, i.e. the pertinence of the method, as a result of the proactive involvement of the beneficiaries. The first survey, which aimed to identify and describe the pastoralist population, gathered information on 8,938 households. The second survey, which was more in-depth and aimed to assess the pastoralist economy and its contribution to the national economies, was conducted on a sample (based on the results of the first survey) of 1,010 households. As well as demonstrating that pastoralist organizations had the potential to successfully manage data, the surveys revealed the actual contribution of pastoralism to the economy of the country. In particular, they showed that pastoralism contributed to the national economy more than studies usually indicated, as, owing to specific characteristics, such as high levels of self-consumption, pastoralists' contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was often underestimated . During the project, it emerged that pastoralism could contribute up to 27 percent to the GDP of Chad.