Annex 2: Summary findings of the project, Facilitating Sustainability of Livelihoods of Mobile Pastoralist Communities, A learning-by-doing project

Prioritization of Problems

Through several participatory workshops the Koohi communities have identified and prioritized the problems they face. These are:

A. Livestock, Migration and Pasture

• Taking of pastures of the Koohi sub-tribe by governmental bodies and refineries in particular;

• Obstruction of tribal migratory routes by government and governmental organizations;

• Destruction of pastures and lands of nomadic pastoralists by rural people;

• Failure in prosecuting trespassers on pastoralists’ lands;

• Lack of sufficient land for some nomad households in wintering or summering grounds;

• Inequitable distribution of lands (natural resources) among nomadic pastoralists;

• Failure to pay enough attention to nomadic pastoralists by the Department of Environment;

• Seizure of the lands of the nomadic pastoralists’ summering grounds by rural people;

• Lack of cooperation of the Forests and Rangelands Organisation in protecting the pastures against degradation caused by rural livestock;

• High transportation costs during migration;

• Lack of insurance for livestock;

• Inadequate use of part of the land and wells of pastoralists;

• Underground waters used by pastoralists are generally salty;

• Obstruction of migration routes;

• Lack of toilet facilities for women while migrating.

B. Economy

• Lack of recognition of nomadic pastoralist households as productive units and failure to provide banking facilities to support them;

• Unemployment among youth;

• Declining market for carpets and livestock;

• Failure to provide pastoralists with aid and grants;

• Lack of sufficient facilities for the nomadic pastoralists who own land and water for farming;

• Insufficient income relative to high cost of living;

• Lack of government supervision for livestock prices;

• Decline of livestock due to recurrent drought;

• Difficult guarantor conditions for loans;

• Pastoralist cooperatives buy products below real market prices;

• Inadequate land given to those who choose to settle;

• Neglect of the nomadic handicrafts by relevant organizations;

• The nomads are not leading a happy life.

C. Services

• Inadequacy in drinking water and cisterns;

• Inadequacy of roads in wintering grounds;

• Low level of sanitation and lack of mobile physicians among nomads;

• Little attention to nomad children’s welfare;

• Lack of sufficient veterinarians and medicine among nomads;

• Inadequate attention to sanitation and welfare by the government;

• Lack of security for nomads;

• Lack of water pumps in wintering grounds;

• No right of access to the gas and oil resources near which the nomads live;

• Nomadic children have difficulty pursuing their education after completing primary school.

D. Culture

• Lack of nomadic representatives in the parliament;

• Lack of council for nomadic pastoralists;

• Lack of mosques in the area;

• Lack of clergies among nomads;

• -Bribery in governmental bodies;

• Inadequate attention of IRIB (Iranian state-run TV) to nomadic people and their culture;

• Lack of a quota system for acceptance in universities;

• Lack of adequate number of facilities to promote nomadic culture, customs and lifestyle;

• Lack of libraries for children in wintering/summering grounds.

E. The Nomadic Youth

• Unemployment;

• Youth not able to afford the costs of getting married;

• Lack of sports facilities for nomadic youth;

• Failure to pay enough attention to outstanding nomad pupils;

• Lack of sufficient educational facilities for nomadic children;

• Drug addiction among the youth;

• Inadequate schools for nomad girls resulting in lower education levels;

• Failure to pay enough attention by parliament members to the problems of nomadic pastoralists and migration.

Project writing workshop and project proposals

Members of the sub-tribe were divided into 5 groups to practice project proposals to solve each of the 5 main problem groups. They came up with the following project proposals:

- Project to buy and distribute livestock feed in a timely manner to the sub-tribe

- Project to promote handicrafts through establishing workshops for dying wool and weaving carpets, kelims and gabbehs

- Project to buy trucks to facilitate migration

- Project to create employment for unemployed youth in the sub-tribe

- Project to establish a mobile library for the sub-tribe

Vision

The overall project goals to be achieved in the next 5-10 years were identified by local communities after a participatory workshop. These include:

• Sustainable livelihoods project to be officially recognised and launched;

• Attracting other tribes to the Sustainable Livelihoods Project;

• International aid to be allocated to the project with the respective representatives already in the region;

• Availability of sanitation facilities, hospitals and water supply system;

• Reduction in youth unemployment while young nomads to work as herders and farmers;

• Irrigation of farm lands by water pumps;

• Availability of mobile hospitals in wintering grounds as well as summering grounds;

• Some of the nomads will also pursue farming;

• Availability of water cisterns in the clans;

• Restoration of springs and watering points;

• Availability of local clinics and appreciation of better hygienic conditions;

• An increase in the number of nomadic households and their livestock;

• Recapture of the nomadic migratory routes;

• Peace, safety and security and the elimination of bandits and thieves;

• An increase in the scientific knowledge of the nomads;

• Gifted nomad children to be enjoying higher levels of education and progress;

• Greater availability of fuel;

• A higher quality of life;

• Development of industrial animal husbandry in some areas without affecting traditional production.

• Emergence of other profitable and suitable industries;

• Availability of electricity and water supply systems;

• Traditional structure of the tribe intact and active, while the nomads lead their authentic lifestyle;

• An easier and more comfortable livelihood for all;

• Availability of government aid to meet the needs of the nomads;

• Further solidarity among nomadic pastoralist tribes and sub-tribes;

• Increase in literacy;

• Sustainable Livelihoods Committee to be more active;

• Landless nomads to obtain access to land and no longer have to pay rent;

• Better communication among people in the region;

• The return of nomad youth to the tribe after completion of their studies;

• All members to be serving the tribe;

• The number of Sustainable Livelihoods Committees to reach 14 and to cover the whole Shish Bayli tribe.