In this episode of Dynamic Drylands, experts share two very different examples of how people in Sudan and South Sudan are coping with and adapting to huge changes. It’s a far cry from aid narratives which depict people living in the drylands as helpless, and the places where they live as beyond help.

Pacificah Okemwa, a lecturer at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, describes how the Dinka in Bor, South Sudan, are turning increasingly frequent floods into a new livelihood opportunity—one that is changing gender roles. And Margie Buchanan-Smith, a policy and humanitarian researcher, shares how even in Sudan’s civil war, Darfur trade and markets continue to survive.

Host: Bola Mosuro. Contributors: Pacificah Okemwa and Margie Buchanan-Smith.

Dynamic Drylands is produced by the research-to-action programme Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises (SPARC). SPARC is managed by Cowater International in partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Mercy Corps, and ODI Global.  This material has been funded by UK aid from the UK government; however the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.

For show notes, visit www.sparc-knowledge.org/dynamic-drylands-podcast or find us on X (@SPARC_ideas)

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