E-Bell and ‘resource theft’: Using technology to understand causes and outcomes of cattle theft among pastoral communities in Western Kenya and eastern Uganda.

Pastoral communities in North-Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda has for the last decades gone through a vicious cycle of bloody conflict. The conflicts are centred mainly around resource use but manifests in cattle theft/raids leaving fatal casualties, mass displacements and abject poverty in its wake. While these conflicts are majorly driven by an array of factors, climate change seems to have perfected the conditions and exacerbated the rationality of the conflicts. This study will seek to understand more deeply the underlying drivers of such conflicts from the communities’ perspectives and determine why this problem persist despite various interventions by both government and non-government actors. In additional to the conventional research methods, a technological approach will also be deployed, to understand more on cattle movement. The significance of this study is to develop a set of recommendations for policy makers, researchers and development actors to inform their programs and intervention strategies.

Faculty Supervisor:

Blair Rutherford

Student:

Partner:

Cowater International

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Carleton University

Program: