This study develops an index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) product for managing key livestock asset risks of pastoralists in the arid and semi-arid lands of northern Kenya, where insurance markets are effectively absent and uninsured risk exposure is a main cause of persistent poverty.

Indicates factors that must be considered when designing pastoral systems research, esp. the need to maintain complementantrity among various types of research; the need for policy orientation when carrying out research; and setting up of priorities & opportunities. Includes case examples from work carried out by the ILCA subhumid programme.