Markets and poverty in northern Kenya: Towards a ... - FSD Kenya

14 • MARKETS AND POVERTY IN NORTHERN KENYA: TOWARDS A FINANCIAL GRADUATION MODEL
For men, diversifying out of livestock may be less of an empowering process
than some researchers have found for women. Pastoralists with few skills
beyond livestock husbandry are often forced to take low-paying jobs as
watchmen or casual labourers, which may have psycho-social implications.
According to Broch-Due, in Turkana, towns are often ‘poverty traps’ for ‘dropout’
pastoralists who have lost all of their livestock; since social relations among
Turkana are mediated by livestock, not having livestock renders one an outsider,
any former alliances forgotten. She argues that herders fall into poverty not
only having lost their livestock, but also due to not having managed livestock
so as to establish social relations that provide a social network that buffers
individuals and households against risk (Broch-Due, 1999). People residing
in urban centres who have lost ties with pastoralist communities perhaps
represent the poorest of the poor in northern Kenya and those most at risk
of destitution. These people may be less visible to donors, especially when
targeting the poorest communities through community-based targeting
where such individuals are isolated from communities.