Drs Craig Hadley (Emory University) and Edward Stevenson (University College London) will undertake research to advance understanding of the effects of local ecology on human well-being. Their research focuses on communities which are undergoing resettlement and a transition from agro-pastoralism to more intensive agriculture as part of a regional development scheme. This scheme will alter local ecology by enabling irrigation through newly built canals, but will constrain access to grazing land and alter seasonal population movements. Using surveys, interviews, and ethnographic methods, the study will lay the groundwork for later follow-up to answer three questions: (1) How do changes in local ecology affect food security, water security, and mental health? (2) Is later well-being better predicted by prior social status (e.g. gender and education) or economic status (household wealth)? (3) Do investments in education and medical services compensate for the stresses of relocation and greater population density, in terms of improving community health?
This study will bring together researchers from public health and anthropology. It contributes to establishing a longitudinal research project that will assess food security and community health during momentous ecological and social changes. The effects of such changes on mental health are particularly important to document.
The project stands to contribute to policy regarding resettlement, especially with regard to populations reliant on livestock herding. Pastoralist communities occupy approximately 50% of the land area of East Africa, but constitute only 10% of the population; state economic development initiatives are increasingly targeting such land for alternative uses, with important implications for local livelihoods. Longitudinal research on food security and community health should help to inform best practice in resettlement programs.
The building of hydroelectric dams and establishment of plantations often displaces people who live in areas affected by these schemes, and in many cases resettlement appear to have a negative impact on community health. However, in relatively few such cases have researchers been able to document community health both before and after resettlement. This research project was organized in response to the resettlement by the Ethiopian government of Bodi communities in the Lower Omo Valley of Ethiopia -- a region where a hydroelectric dam and associated sugar plantation, currently under construction, are likely to have large impacts on local livelihoods. Through a household survey and in-depth interviews the project gathered baseline data on household food and water security and diets, as well as children’s nutritional status and women’s psychological distress. These data constitute a baseline against which to compare data from follow-up surveys. The diversity of measures of well-being that were used will make it possible to assess the impacts of cultural and ecological transitions on mental as well as physical health in this population. Data are currently being analyzed but preliminary results suggest high levels of food and water insecurity, links between food and water insecurity and our measures of psychological wellbeing, but relatively few links with our measures of resettlement. The project helped to establish collaborative relationships between US and Ethiopian researchers and institutions, and also helped to build relationships with researchers in Britain and Germany.
