Pastoral Adaptation to Market Opportunities and Changing Gender Roles among the Afar in Ethiopia

A report by Uthman Hassen, Adama Science and Technology University, Ethiopia

Map of Ethiopia showing Afar Region
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afar_Region#/media/File:Afar_in_Ethiopia.svg

Abstract
This report is an investigation into the major changes observed in the pastoral system of the Afar of Northeastern Ethiopia, their shift towards the market and the application of money and technology, and the subsequent changes in gender relations. A combination of ethnographic methods including semi-structured and key informant interviews, focus discussions, and life histories were used to collect data from 89 respondents in five towns. Complementary data were also collected from additional informants through informal conversations with state officials, civic and clan leaders, sages and academics. It was found that pastoralism is gradually dying, and, consequently, women engaging in the market are increasing both in number and significance. However, their success is hugely constrained by various structural forces, notably state policies, failing laws and processes, lack of formal financing, price fluctuation, and absence of appropriate technology. In the face of these challenges, the Afar women continue to effectively commoditize their pastoral products and participate in wage employment. This shift has further enhanced cash income and mobility. In the absence of formal financial agencies, the traditional sources of capital and money transferring arrangements remain important to the livelihood systems of the Afar people.

Keywords. Pastoralism, Market, Money, Technology, Afar women, Mobility, Ethiopia

--

Who are the Afar? 
The Afar (Afar: Qafár), also known as the Danakil, Adali, and Odali, are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, although some also inhabit the southern point of Eritrea. The Afar principally reside in the Danakil Desert in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, as well as in Eritrea and Djibouti. They number 1,276,867 people in Ethiopia (or 1.73% of the total population), of whom 105,551 are urban inhabitants, according to the most recent census (2007). The Afar make up over a third of the population of Djibouti, and are one of the nine recognized ethnic divisions (kililoch) of Ethiopia. The Afar are traditionally pastoralists, raising goats, sheep, and cattle in the desert, are organized into clan families, and are predominantly Muslim. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afar_people]


This rich ethnographic report on the Afar is now available, learn about:

• Their clan relationships, the importance of she-camels, and the feminization of pastoralism.
• How ethical considerations of the Afar traditions and mobile money affect savings and other monetary practices among the Afar women in the market. 
• How the Afar view state-backed currency versus livestock as “wealth”.

Excerpt: How the Afar view state-backed currency vs. livestock

“Commerce in the Afar region has been accompanied by two features of a cash economy: sharp fluctuations in the prices of commodities, and the arrival of an active class of merchants in the region. They agreed that for purchasing more tradable goods, there must be more money and favorable orientation to money as wealth. And these in turn depend on the purchasing and exchange value of money, especially for urban households. With very limited investment options, instead of depositing their money in a bank, backyard goat rearing serves as a store of productive assets and an effective strategy to avoid the fast falling purchasing power of money.

Over the years, there have been many variations in the exchange value of money compared against US dollar. The exchange value of money varies at different times, and so it is very difficult for the Afar to conceive of paper money as wealth. For example, just a quarter of a century ago, a qualified teacher with a diploma used to start his monthly salary at a rate of 347 Ethiopian birr. This amount was equivalent to 174 US dollars. Currently, a person with the same profession and qualification begins with a salary of 1663 birr, equivalent to 73 US dollars. The amount could be very insignificant if we calculate it on a daily basis, and much smaller if compared with the cost of basic commodities. For example, two decades ago, a loaf of bread that cost 0.10 birr is now 1.25 birr on average, and, according to informants, the size of the bread is also significantly reduced. These depreciations in the value of money and the rising cost of basic goods are the background for most women who reacted to the very question about money by saying, “Money has no value.”

For the Afar, livestock are self-reproducing assets that generate more value than money in the bank. In fact, conventionally, the value of wealth and assets is estimated by the size and diversity of livestock in rural villages, where maximization and diversification of livestock are the rules. Many informants asserted that they still do not consider money as wealth because of many factors, as an informant, aged 61, mentioned: 

‘The circumstances we have been living for so long were not favorable to have the initiative to consider money as our wealth and actively engage in commerce. It does not have any productive value. It never reproduces itself like our livestock do. We all prefer to own a cow or a goat instead of thousands of birr locked in the bank. The real value of money is controlled by the state, not by us.' 

The Afar’s orientation to money and banking has remained inseparable from the politics and policies of the state. Many informants cited the fact that the first branch of the commercial bank of Ethiopia was opened following the introduction of commercial farms in the area. After this, their livestock and natural resources had been destroyed. Banking and commercial farms are inseparable in the minds of many of the informants. The social meaning of money, locally known as 'genzeb', is more than a medium of exchange and wealth to be accumulated through the market, but rather is a symbol of the power of the state. Many informants echoed beliefs that money has been regarded, by national and regional governments, as a dependable means of buying political loyalties and national integration. Furthermore, as is true for many Muslim societies, the prohibition of usury has always occupied huge spaces among the Afar people. They view usury as establishing discord among clan members by dividing them into borrowers and lenders, and, consequently, destroying the bonds that have survived for generations.” 

Photo caption: Statue built to celebrate the Ethiopian millennium, just 9 years ago, in the ex-capital of the Afar, Aysaita town. Its shape is triangular, representing the Afar nation in three countries, namely Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, commonly known as the Afar triangle. Symbolizing the hope for unity, on top of the clock (representing Ethiopia), there are two antenna projections, one pointing in the direction of Eritrea and the other to Djibouti.

Review Post: Monetary Practices of Traditional Rural Communities in Ethiopia: Implications for New Financial Technology Design

By IMTFI Postdoctoral Scholar Ursula Dalinghaus

In this blog post I review an exciting new publication by IMTFI Fellow Mesfin F. Woldmariam, co-written with Gheorghita Ghinea, Solomon Atnafu and Tor-Morten Groenli. The article is based on Woldmariam's IMTFI supported research and appears in the journal, Human-Computer Interaction. The post ends with a brief update on Woldmariam’s latest research endeavors, together with IMTFI fellow Ndunge Kiiti.

In their path-breaking and provocative research article, “Monetary Practices of Traditional Rural Communities in Ethiopia: Implications for New Financial Technology Design,” the authors propose novel design applications for digital money and mobile money information systems with illiterate and low-literacy users at the focal point. Grounded in a fieldwork-based case study on the money practices of several village communities in Ethiopia, and in the context of religious and social practices, the authors make a case for incorporating peoples' existing practices and values into the design of dematerialized money forms. The authors, like many in the financial inclusion space, anticipate a time when all money is digital and no longer needs to be "cashed out" of an e-money system.

What challenges does this present, not only now but also in the near future, for rural populations like the low-literacy communities studied in Ethiopia whose techniques for managing and embedding money in social practices depend upon the material aesthetics of money? Cash money features—such as color for sorting value and visible piles to budget amounts—are important for navigating the daily use of money and in fulfilling religious obligations and social performances. Especially in the context of extending money gifts, the materiality of cash enables individuals to decide when money amounts should be hidden or visible, and even to refuse a money gift based on its source or moral quality (is it "clean" or "dirty?")

Rather than assuming a "one-size-fits-all" approach, the authors argue that these values and practices should be integrated into the design of new mobile money platforms. Failure to take local and population-specific needs and values into account will mean that illiterate users will be further excluded or may even reject the adoption of new technologies. While the authors are careful to connect their design ideas to the specific case at hand, they argue that similar types of needs can be found in many other parts of the world. More grounded research is therefore needed to ask the right questions in developing locally specific and context-appropriate e-money applications that support existing social practices. The larger and crucially important question the authors of this article raise is this:

"who gets to decide what 'value to people' looks like, what 'legitimate uses' of money are?" (p. 511)

The insights and applications presented here will be invaluable for professionals and researchers alike in the financial inclusion space, as well as for anyone interested in the qualitative design implications represented by digital money futures. (The full article can be accessed here)

In a blog post for IMTFI Woldmariam wrote early on about the importance of metadata and information in conceptualizing how material money might be translated into digital form. His case study on cash management techniques in Ethiopian rural marketplaces has also been featured in IMTFI’s Consumer Finance Research Toolkit.

Mesfin Woldmariam talks with smallholder 
farmers from a DigitalGreen Project

More recently, Woldmariam has been collaborating with IMTFI Fellow Ndunge Kiiti on a project supported by the Institute for African Development at Cornell University to assess mobile money awareness and use/usage among smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia. This project places research and on-the-ground dialogue with smallholder farmers and other stakeholders at the beginning and forefront of potential design and implementation of new technologies. Drawing on their respective field experiences and areas of expertise, Kiiti and Woldmariam's work emphasizes the importance of carefully assessing and documenting smallholders' existing practices and needs to develop appropriate and empowering solutions.     

To read more about Mesfin Woldmariam’s and Ndunge’s IMTFI research, their project pages can be found here and here.

References

Mesfin F. Woldmariam, Gheorghita Ghinea, Solomon Atnafu and Tor-Morten Groenli
"Monetary Practices of Traditional Rural Communities in Ethiopia: Implications for New Financial Technology Design." Human-Computer Interaction. Volume 31 (2016): 473-517

Ties That Break and Ties That Bind: Re-Imagining Money and Identity in Rural Contexts

For a panel at the annual conference for UC Irvine's Institute for Money, Technology, and Financial Inclusion about practices far away from a metropolis, it should not perhaps be surprising that some of the presenters were not able to span the distance and attend in person, although discussant Arnol Jadhay of GSMA mAgri managed to moderate a lively conversation in any case.

This panel's first presentation "Pastoral Adaptation to Market Opportunities and Changing Gender Roles Among Afar in Ethiopia: Aspects, Trends, and Prospects" by Uthman Hassen of Adama Science and Technology University had to be pre-recorded and transmitted from a remote location that required three hours of effort for the upload to be successful. Hassen's team of five female researchers and seven male researchers has been examining how pastoral livelihoods in Afar are being disrupted as the traditional symbiosis between economies of mining, fishery, and cattle that date from the time of partition have been undergoing fundamental changes.  At this point in their study, researchers have completed transcription and categorization efforts and have issued initial progress reports.  Although some respondents were interviewed in their homes, most of the data was collected in markets, shops, and offices with queries conducted in Amharic or Afarifa.

Hassen expressed some frustration with his subjects' reluctance and lack of availability, and he explained that it was difficult to organize FGDs (focused discussion groups) as planned.  Furthermore, he worried that his informants might have had a tendency to overemphasize issues of policy.  His final sample was 89 informants drawn from three generations: the oldest generation boasted about cattle and camels in lives circumscribed by their villages, the middle generation had some education and mobility, and the youngest generation was often employed or engaged in commerce that allowed them to have access to urban market opportunities.

The themes of pessimism that emerged were dying pastoralism, economic inflation, deepening social divides, weakening tribal spirit, impoverishment, and khat addition All informants viewed wealth as a sanctuary of morality and identity, a banner of traditions and obligations, and a source of values that were social rather than private.   Hassen noted the absence of microfinance institutions, even though banks were often inaccessible.  In closing, he pointed to other changes involving gender roles and relations and to social transformations tied to greater mobility and the fact that communal assets were becoming commodities.

Prince Karakire Guma had to join the conference via Skype to present "Reimagining Rurality in Mobile Money Times: Life, Identity, and Community,"  His account of social life and sociality, community, and rural identity emphasized how emergent mobile options had the potential to shape the lives of those most at risk of rural poverty and social exclusion.  His central research questions emphasized how forms of identity, community, and lifestyle are emerging in conjunction with new monetary technologies.  He asserted that it was important to get beyond belief in rurality as a static concept and to avoid stamping rural residents with an otherness that obscured the totality of their livelihoods, as those lives could be understood best through the eyes of actual residents.  Guma examined mobile money as a substitute in a number of critical areas: 1) saving, 2) remittance, 3) making monetary payments, and 4) transfer of money.  He argued that mobile network operators "have displayed enormous character" by actively investing in the social markets of rural Uganda and by introducing innovations that range from launching gadgets (including handsets) to promoting new fashions in SMS discourse.  Of course, many of these services and products merely substitute for applications that already exist, because ways of saving and assuring remittances have been parts of traditional culture for a long time.  Yet, as fixed and traditional methods are being replaced, these platforms also become used for saving, even if Ugandan mobile money was not designed for that purpose.

Guma found that mobile money could promote a positive social vision in a presentation that contrasted sharply from the pessimism of Hassen's presentation.  He described how mobile money could maintain community by reinforcing “obuntubulamu,” the idea of philanthropic relations within a community.  Thus mobile money served as "a non-threat to ingrained and indigenous communal ideals," because ubiquitous access to digital currencies could reinforce these relations.  Because mobile money "allows a collective manner of operation in spaces of scarcity," it can serve to strengthen village sociality and social networks.  In many cases, the whole community would have to share a single gadget, which might have to be charged by a car battery or by a community member who must travel to an urban center.  Mobile money turned out to serve as a socioeconomic tool that balances social obligations and strengthens the village.  Although mobile phones are increasingly conferring on village society norms from urban setting, the rural seems to have also attained a new identity in which change in manifested in specific practices of farming and family chores.  Guma described how villagers only migrate to a technology when convinced the new innovation provides better service.  In asking how companies might introduce rural-friendly applications, he questioned many of the basic categories of differentiation.  In other words, are rural elements being preserved or changed or recreated in urban form?  Furthermore, will mobile money change how we feel about rural space, and what does it mean for the rural to be “authentic” and should rural authenticity matter?

The closing presentation on the panel focused on "Hand Held Wealth? Mobile Money and Food Production in Rural Potosi."  Bolivian researchers Maria Isabel Balderrama and Oscar Gerdy Rocabado of CIDES-UMSA hypothesized that Tigo Money might play a role in the productivity and implementation of new technologies for food production.  This highly successful telecom company that was already in 14 markets in Africa and Latin America seemed like promising financial actor for change in the region.  The researchers had compiled results from 561 surveys in two municipalities with 25 questions each and had synthesized findings from 68 structured interviews with key informants, including academic experts, along with their own participatory observations.  Although there were some rural-to rural transactions related to coca production,  84% of mobile money transactions followed an urban-to-rural flow.  They found themselves noticing how females used Tigo Money.  Women made up 60% of users, and those ages 40-49 emerged as a key group.  Often sons or daughters in urban hubs had introduced them to the service, and suspiciousness of Tigo seemed to be low.  48.84% of respondents chose the service because they were pleased with how the money arrived quickly, and 14.43% became users because they perceived it as reliable.  As researchers summarized their findings, "if they need it, they will use it," because Tigo Money represented less paperwork and less time to be invested than formal banking.  Most of them actually utilized a different cell phone service provider rather than Tigo in order to access Tigo Money, because of their preferences for the government provider.  Although some users did invest mobile money in sprinkler systems and greenhouses, researchers did not find much diversifying of crops and did not find a meaningful impact on yield either.

One researcher's thoughts on money and metadata based on fieldwork in Ethiopia

By Mesfin Fikre Woldmariam

Mobile money has become a buzz word since the success of M-PESA in Kenya. But whilst the topic is hot among development and poverty reduction workers; it has so far not gathered enough attention from academics. A simple review of literature in the area of mobile money reveals that there are many articles that associate mobile money with development, poverty reduction, security issues, adoption issues, acceptance and use by customers. But, there are no adequate pieces of work that relate to the issue of system design. 

As a researcher I tried to unpack what cash money really is. I am an information systems expert and my analysis of mobile money is primarily pragmatic and depends on my readings across different domains, particularly sociology and money, anthropology and money, behavioural economics and money.  I get knowledge and information from these domains and combined with my own areas of expertise I am able to reflect on what mobile money or digital money should look like and the nature or elements of the kind of system that can handle mobile money. Here are my reflections: 

First what is money and how it is changing?  Even though there are different categories of money from social and anthropological points of view, in this writing I am interested in looking at cash as money and thinking about how its changed forms affect system design. To me cash money is simply information with some specified metadata, like color, image or icons, numbers, and some other hidden security controlling means (see the figure below). People agree to accept this information as money because they know they can give it to others without concern. What makes this piece of paper (cash money) and or coins is the information (metadata inscribed on them). 

Ethiopian currency.

Metadata

This is to say that if we remove these metadata, the remaining piece of paper cannot be considered as money. And thus, these metadata are making money valuable and make people develop trust and confidence. But with the digitization of money, in its current state of research and development, these metadata are excluded from existing platforms and solutions. In the current platforms or solutions, money is represented as a simple positive rational number of the form say 2.89 USD, 0.89 USD, 247 USD etc, excluding the metadata as well as the different money denominations. For example, in Ethiopia our currencies are denominated as (5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cents, 50 cents, 1 birr, 5 birr, 10 birr, 50 birr, and 100 birr notes). This indicates that we cannot pay (get paid) for example exactly 12 cents, 11 cents, 9 cents, 9.87 etc. However, we know that with the digitization of money, it is possible to accommodate any amounts and thus, unlike in the case of cash based transactions, in digital transactions making changes is not an issue. That is the bonus of current computing and mobile money technologies. But such money representation with positive rational numbers and removal of money’s metadata elements faces challenges when it comes to people that are illiterate. For example, illiterate users know their balance by counting the material money. They do not know what numbers 20, 40, 12 etc mean. Rather, they know these figures when they are physically handed them and able to count them by hand. The following paragraphs outline some of the design implications of my ethnographic research I did in 2012 in Ethiopia among open air market participants. 

Purposes of money’s metadata: 

• Images or icons: The icons or images on money bills have different purposes like: as national identity (collective national values). For example, Ethiopian money bills have pictures of coffee plants, farmers, a map of Ethiopia, historical buildings, the signature of the governor, and a tractor machine. Some countries also inscribe photos of elite individuals and their sacrifice for the nation, for example photos on USD. In Ethiopia, the icons and images inscribed on money bills enable illiterate users to identify money bills.  

• Security tools: These are features inscribed on money bills to identify real money from forgery. The problem with these tools is that, when the bills get old, these features usually fade away and may not be visible, which makes differentiating forgery from valid money bills difficult. 

• Serial numbers: These have also a very important role. When all or parts of these numbers are lost (faded away), individuals do not accept. Such money bills have to be taken to banks for replacement, as per the respondents from my field study. Otherwise, they become worthless, as people, particularly illiterate users will not accept for change during transaction.

• National identifier: This is written in both English and Amharic and identifies the legal issuer (governor). 

• Color: All Ethiopian money bills are color coded, which enable illiterate users to identify different bills. Color and images on money bills are used for counting and computational purposes. For example, illiterate individuals know the sum of 10 birr and 5 birr will give 15 birr and yet do not know how to spell these numbers. When they are also asked to pickup money bills of say 50 birr from a lump sum of bills with different denominations, they easily identify them through their color. Thus, it could be said that color of money bills is a means to identify them. 

• Economic value: These are numbers written in terms of roman numbers as 1 birr, 5 birr, 10 birr, 50 birr, and 100 birr as well as Ethiopian numbering systems and the Amharic language. Birr has denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100.

Characteristic features of Ethiopian money bills of five and ten birr.

The material nature of money bills also has an added value for illiterate and visually impaired people. Illiterate people make some simple mathematical computations (additions, subtractions, multiplication, and divisions) by moving money bills here and there as they cannot accomplish these through writing numbers on paper or calculating machines. For example, in order to make payment or receive payments people count money bills and in order to count them, people usually sort and arrange them according to the denominations (from smallest money bills to the largest) and then hold the stack in one hand and count with the other hand. In this context digitization can make illiterate people frustrated, unless there are solutions for this issue. 

One thing we learned is that current mobile money platforms and solutions did not consider these metadata in their design. My reflections and proposed solution for this problem will be presented in two forthcoming papers to be shared on the IMTFI Blog once they are published.

Money organization

From my open air market study I have also observed and understood that illiterate merchants and customers distribute their money among different bags or pockets. They also give different labels or names like bag for sales from coffee, sales from salt, and sales from other materials. When they need a change, they try to look into the respective bag. In fact if there are no changes in the necessary bag, they take from another bag and return the money later. It is kind of a “loan” from the other bag. I call this “distributed cognition”. They remember from which bag they took change and want to replace the amount they took. Thus, it appears that from a technology design perspective, designers need to be aware of such cognitions and practices and its implication for design. 

Problems with cash 

I also observed that even though the material property of cash helped illiterate people count and know their balance as well as the difference between different currency notes, (based on its color), it has some limitations. It can get old and stick together, part of it can be torn and people are not willing to accept for change, some individuals also make forgery money and easily cheat illiterate rural people. It also creates difficulty for making changes, if there are no changes. But, with the upcoming mobile or digital money systems, even though it appears that the issues of forgery, sticking together, and changes can be addressed, the issues of operationalizing technologies for these issues can not be an easy task. Addressing one of the issues will come at the expense of another.  

Final thoughts

Finally, based on the nature of money digitization and money handling experiences of illiterate people in developing counties, I feel that new technologies need to have capability like audio in order to  embed money’s metadata, and enable individuals’ to experience “physicality within digital environment”. I also recommend interested readers to consult the work of (Balen et al 2009) for more reflections about money digitisations as related to ease of usability, security, and auditing.  In this case I want to make a note that the work of Balan et al. (2009), focuses on literate people while my reflection is in the context of illiterate people who have different money practices. 

For further details on the project see here for the final report. You can also read Mesfin's working paper from 2012: "Understanding Social Relationships and Payments Among the Poor in Ethiopia" or email him with any comments and suggestions: mesfinfw@gmail.com. 

Social Relationships and Payments among Poor Ethiopians

Upturned umbrella, for collecting donations

We are happy to release our newest working paper, from IMTFI researcher Woldmariam F. Mesfin: Understanding Social Relationships and Payments among Poor Individuals in Ethiopia. From the abstract:

Previous studies concerned with mobile financial services for the poor have been narrowly conceived, mainly depending on secondary data and focusing on technical design issues without having fully understood the poor’s complex relationships and needs therein. In order to fill the current knowledge gap and inform mobile money system design, this study investigates social relationships and social payment practices among poor rural individuals in Ethiopia. Key findings regarding their money exchange practices are (1) executed secretly (undocumented) or disclosed (documented), (2) money gifts can be accepted or rejected based on amount, source and purpose of the gift, (3) monies may be given as personalized gifts, and finally (4) individuals separate their money based on purpose and source. A qualitative research approach with key informant focus group discussions served as the primary means of information gathering.

Click here to read it!

IMTFI PANEL at 54th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association

By IMTFI researcher Vivian Dzokoto

Since 1957, the African Studies Association (ASA) has converged individuals with academic and professional interests in Africa, and served as the leading North American organization promoting the academic study of that continent. This year, IMTFI sponsored a panel at ASA’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. In line with the conference theme “50 Years of African Liberation,” the IMTFI panel was titled “Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion in Africa: What We Know After 50 Years of Liberation.”

Out of the conference’s 214 panels, the IMTFI-sponsored panel was the only one that focused on contemporary financial services and the poor. The panel highlighted major findings from 4 of 20 research projects focusing on various countries in Africa that IMTFI has funded over the past 3 years. Presenters examined pathways and obstacles to achieving financial inclusion for the poor in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia.