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During our research trip to Nairobi, Birgit, Felix, and Gunnar had had the opportunity to present our educational game NomadSed (English website coming soon, fact sheet here) to researchers and stakeholders at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

In the game, players assume the role of nomadic herders and try to increase their livestock capital. The game aims to give insights into pastoral lifestyle and the dynamic relations between the environment and human exploitation, highlighting the challenges associated with everyday nomadic life.

Both scientists and stakeholders expressed a strong interest in the game. Representatives of local insurance companies that currently market the IBLI insurance product in several regions in Kenya saw a great potential in the game to be used as a teaching tool, e.g. to train sales agents or to explain the insurance to pastoralists. However, to make this possible, we need to develop an extended version of the game including insurance first. This was discussed quite intensely during a playing session that we set up one afternoon at the ILRI campus. Here, we challenged researchers of the Livestock Systems and Environment (LSE) program at ILRI to demonstrate their pastoral skills and collected a lot of valuable input for the further development of the game. Also, we had a lot of fun while playing the game, as you can clearly see in the pictures!