Description
Pastoralists Alliance for Resilience and Adaptation in Northern Rangelands–or PARAN Alliance–brings together more than 40 Indigenous civil society organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. These organizations represent the communities–like the Maasai–who grazed their herds of cows across the Northern Rangelands. These communities have, since colonization and then independence, been hemmed in by national borders, conservation areas and infrastructure projects. Their traditional way of life has been disrupted as a result and many have abandoned herding and relocated to cities and villages. These migrants have begun to lose their cultural knowledge–art, language, ritual practices, etc.–over the generations. And even those who have remained on traditional lands find it increasingly difficult to sustain themselves, their communities, and their cultures.
PARAN Alliance was launched by IMPACT Kenya and four other Indigenous organizations working with different communities across several countries. All of the founding partners were seeking to advocate on behalf of the communities they served and to support the communities’ efforts to adapt, survive, and thrive. But they recognized that their efforts, focused on small, localized communities, might not result in lasting change if they did not act together in a strategic and coordinated way. The PARAN Alliance is the vehicle for that collaboration.
PARAN Alliance, though, remains a in its very early stages of development. It requires resources to secure dedicated staff support, bring the partners together, and finalize a strategic plan. This grant would be used for those purposes. PARAN Alliance operates out of IMPACT Kenya, one of our DEPT partners. IMPACT would receive and manage the grant. IMPACT would also benefit from the grant as one of the founding members of PARAN Alliance that depends upon the alliance to advance the agenda of the community it supports.