AUTHOR=Mohamed Tahira Shariff , Crane Todd Andrew , Derbyshire Samuel , Roba Guyo 

TITLE=A review of approaches to the integration of humanitarian and development aid: the case of drought management in the Horn of Africa

JOURNAL=Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/pastoralism-research-policy-and-practice/articles/10.3389/past.2025.14001

DOI=10.3389/past.2025.14001

ISSN=2041-7136

ABSTRACT=Whether and how to link humanitarian assistance and long-term development aid have underlain polarized debates in policy, practical, and theoretical spaces over recent years. This is mainly due to the diversity of actors, institutional mandates, funding sources, programmes (themselves constantly changing), and operational dynamics between the two domains. In pastoral areas of the Horn of Africa, which experience recurrent drought emergencies, integrating the two forms of assistance has been attempted in several instances, which have often been disjointed and have sought to grapple with an unpredictable terrain of shifting policies and program designs. Such challenges have been compounded by a substantial disconnect between programming (across humanitarian aid and resilience building) and existing pastoralist practices and strategies comprising local social safety nets. Using a comprehensive literature review, this paper explores some practical strategies implemented to integrate these two forms of assistance over recent years. It surveys implications that arise about the question of how best to address persistent drought in the Horn of Africa. Interrogating mechanisms for enhancing aid efficiency and effectiveness, including crisis modifiers and contingency planning, the paper examines the progress in transitioning from reactive, short-term emergency response to long-term development and what barriers still exist. It also considers Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR), a modality envisaged by many as a bridge for enhancing local ownership and, thus, sustainability of both kinds of intervention. In doing so, the paper argues that despite multiple policy shifts and the adoption of new frameworks (including, recently, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development's Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative -IDDRSI), when it comes to practical implementation, there has been little progress. We suggest that this is partly due to the well-documented complexity of the aid system, the forms of bureaucracy and upward accountability that make change extremely difficult, and in part to a lack of meaningful community participation in planning and practice.