Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia

Pastoralism is one of the most important agricultural production systems in drylands worldwide. It plays an important role in both the economy and the cycle of ecosystem goods and services. However, it is vulnerable to climatic challenges such as prolonged drought and socioeconomic pressures such as...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sghaier, Mariem, Frija, Aymen, Postigo, Julio, Speelman, Stijn, Alary, Veronique, Sghaier, Mongi
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152003
_version_ 1855519042098429952
author Sghaier, Mariem
Frija, Aymen
Postigo, Julio
Speelman, Stijn
Alary, Veronique
Sghaier, Mongi
author_browse Alary, Veronique
Frija, Aymen
Postigo, Julio
Sghaier, Mariem
Sghaier, Mongi
Speelman, Stijn
author_facet Sghaier, Mariem
Frija, Aymen
Postigo, Julio
Speelman, Stijn
Alary, Veronique
Sghaier, Mongi
author_sort Sghaier, Mariem
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Pastoralism is one of the most important agricultural production systems in drylands worldwide. It plays an important role in both the economy and the cycle of ecosystem goods and services. However, it is vulnerable to climatic challenges such as prolonged drought and socioeconomic pressures such as administrative shortcomings and ineffective governance. Under neoliberal influence, political and economic reforms have been implemented over the last 30 years to address these threats. These reforms have promoted local institutions for rangeland management and agro-pastoral development. In this paper, we assess the impact of these reforms on pastoral devolvement and Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) by analyzing the performance of agro-pastoral community-based organizations CBOs in the province of Médenine (south-eastern Tunisia). We use a two-step methodology, with the first step focusing on a quantitative typology analysis of the performance of 31 CBOs. In a subsequent qualitative step, data from semi-structured interviews with 21 CBO chairpersons were used to identify the drivers of CBO performance. Results show that only 10% of the CBOs studied are able to move towards autonomy and proper integration into local and regional institutional networks and development dynamics. About 42% of the CBOs need further support and are in a precarious situation as they are dependent on public support. The remaining 48% have a low growth potential and in the early stages of consolidation. The qualitative analysis suggests that these shortcomings are mainly related to the CBOs' lack of networking skills. In addition, CBOs should improve their reputation and gain more trust from pastoral communities. Our findings suggest that well-functioning institutions do contribute to rural development; however, the design of pastoralist policy and institutional reforms should include long-term complementary support for the institutions created and consideration of the pastoralist community and regional contexts in order to achieve long-lasting transformative outcomes.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace152003
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Elsevier
publisherStr Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1520032026-01-14T05:55:31Z Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia Sghaier, Mariem Frija, Aymen Postigo, Julio Speelman, Stijn Alary, Veronique Sghaier, Mongi institutions community-based organizations performance agro-pastoralism south tunisia institutional reforms Pastoralism is one of the most important agricultural production systems in drylands worldwide. It plays an important role in both the economy and the cycle of ecosystem goods and services. However, it is vulnerable to climatic challenges such as prolonged drought and socioeconomic pressures such as administrative shortcomings and ineffective governance. Under neoliberal influence, political and economic reforms have been implemented over the last 30 years to address these threats. These reforms have promoted local institutions for rangeland management and agro-pastoral development. In this paper, we assess the impact of these reforms on pastoral devolvement and Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) by analyzing the performance of agro-pastoral community-based organizations CBOs in the province of Médenine (south-eastern Tunisia). We use a two-step methodology, with the first step focusing on a quantitative typology analysis of the performance of 31 CBOs. In a subsequent qualitative step, data from semi-structured interviews with 21 CBO chairpersons were used to identify the drivers of CBO performance. Results show that only 10% of the CBOs studied are able to move towards autonomy and proper integration into local and regional institutional networks and development dynamics. About 42% of the CBOs need further support and are in a precarious situation as they are dependent on public support. The remaining 48% have a low growth potential and in the early stages of consolidation. The qualitative analysis suggests that these shortcomings are mainly related to the CBOs' lack of networking skills. In addition, CBOs should improve their reputation and gain more trust from pastoral communities. Our findings suggest that well-functioning institutions do contribute to rural development; however, the design of pastoralist policy and institutional reforms should include long-term complementary support for the institutions created and consideration of the pastoralist community and regional contexts in order to achieve long-lasting transformative outcomes. 2025-01-01 2024-09-05T16:14:03Z 2024-09-05T16:14:03Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152003 en Limited Access Elsevier Mariem Sghaier, Aymen Frija, Julio Postigo, Stijn Speelman, Veronique Alary, Mongi Sghaier. (1/1/2025). Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 98, pp. 1-14.
spellingShingle institutions
community-based organizations
performance
agro-pastoralism
south tunisia
institutional reforms
Sghaier, Mariem
Frija, Aymen
Postigo, Julio
Speelman, Stijn
Alary, Veronique
Sghaier, Mongi
Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia
title Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia
title_full Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia
title_fullStr Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia
title_full_unstemmed Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia
title_short Assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of Agro-Pastoral Community-Based Organizations in south Tunisia
title_sort assessing pastoral reforms through the performance of agro pastoral community based organizations in south tunisia
topic institutions
community-based organizations
performance
agro-pastoralism
south tunisia
institutional reforms
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152003
work_keys_str_mv AT sghaiermariem assessingpastoralreformsthroughtheperformanceofagropastoralcommunitybasedorganizationsinsouthtunisia
AT frijaaymen assessingpastoralreformsthroughtheperformanceofagropastoralcommunitybasedorganizationsinsouthtunisia
AT postigojulio assessingpastoralreformsthroughtheperformanceofagropastoralcommunitybasedorganizationsinsouthtunisia
AT speelmanstijn assessingpastoralreformsthroughtheperformanceofagropastoralcommunitybasedorganizationsinsouthtunisia
AT alaryveronique assessingpastoralreformsthroughtheperformanceofagropastoralcommunitybasedorganizationsinsouthtunisia
AT sghaiermongi assessingpastoralreformsthroughtheperformanceofagropastoralcommunitybasedorganizationsinsouthtunisia