In the borderlands of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, cyclical and often repeated pendular movements shape daily life across the borders. These movements are characterised by regular and recurrent cross-border trade, work, access to water, pasture, education, and healthcare, with maintaining kinship ties that connect families across the three countries remaining a strong factor. These dynamics serve as resilience factors that help cross-border residents withstand the impact of recurring droughts, floods, and shifting conflict dynamics.
To better understand these evolving dynamics, BORESHA-NABAD partnered with the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) to conduct one of the first large-scale studies of its kind in the borderlands. Using MMC’s 4Mi mobility survey tool, 15 trained enumerators interviewed 1,034 people who had crossed the international borders of Ethiopia, Kenya, or Somalia within the past year. Employing a non-probability sampling approach, the infographic snapshot below from the study by MMC explores cross-border and pendular movements, illustrating where and when people are moving, the drivers behind their movement, the support they receive from their communities, and the assistance they still require.
These insights from the study now inform BORESHA-NABAD’s cross-border resilience-building interventions and also serve as a reference point for communities, governments, local committees, and development partners to design market-driven, contextually tailored, and inclusive response mechanisms in the borderlands of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.
📥 Read the full 4MI infographic snapshot below: