From 23rd of February to 1st of March 2025, I had an opportunity to attend the Drylands Summer School in Isiolo, Kenya that brought together master’s and PhD students with research interest in pastoralism in drylands. One of the objectives of the summer school was to debate on pastoral livelihoods through the lens of social, ecological and political perspectives. In the following sections, I explore key issues that arose during the summer school that are often overlooked and those which play a critical role in the dryland pastoral context.

On 22nd November 2024, AFAS second cohort students from the University of Nairobi had an excursion to Yatta Farm, run under the umbrella of Christian Impact Mission (CIM) – a faith-based organisation – to learn about the practical aspects of nature-based solutions (NbS) and science-policy-practice interfaces (SPPIs) implemented within the agriculture sector in Kenya’s savannas…

AFAS students from the 2nd cohort attend a fieldwork session at the Dahlia Fleur Reserve in Abidjan, as part of our course on Indigenous and Local Knowledge Systems. This excursion aligns with AFAS’s mission to explore how Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) are implemented in the co-management of the park.