Emotional Wellbeing as a Proxy Indicator for Water Security Among Pastoralists in Afar, Ethiopia

Abstract

Recent thinking proposesa more holistic approach to measuring household water security. In addition to conventional service-level based indicators, assessments should account for broader social, political and culturalstructures which shape how households interact with water. Contributing to this agenda, thepaper introduces new research that aims to evaluate the relationship between emotional wellbeing and water security among pastoralists in the Afar region of Ethiopia. It is hypothesised that the measurement of emotion could have potential value as an indicator of water security among vulnerable populations who have particularly complex water use patterns that are poorly captured by conventional indicators. Withinthepastoralist context, preliminary data collection has indicated an emotional response to seasonality in resource availability and distance travelled to infrastructure points. Further research is underway to explore the complexity of emotionand its interrelation with water security to better understanding the needs of pastoralists in Afar.