Bounded Agency and Uneven Mobility: Livelihood Practices, Displacement, and Environmental Peacebuilding in Mudug, Somalia

Giuliana Nicolucci-Altman, International Rescue Committee (United States)

Environmental change and conflict are increasingly linked to displacement and mobility in fragile contexts, yet migration outcomes remain deeply uneven. Under similar climate and security shocks, some households pursue strategic mobility to manage risk, others experience distress displacement following livelihood collapse, while still others become involuntarily immobile as poverty, insecurity, and weak institutions constrain movement. This paper examines how access to resources, mobility, and choice is shaped by place-specific power relations through a case study of pastoral and displaced communities in Mudug, Somalia. Using Social Practice Theory and the concept of bounded agency, the analysis draws on participatory action research, combining desk-based synthesis with 91 semi-structured interviews conducted by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in 2025. We show how disruptions to livelihood practices—across material conditions (water, rangeland, markets), competences (skills and adaptive know-how), and meanings (identity, dignity, and social norms)—produce differentiated mobility outcomes across gender, age, and social position. The paper translates these findings into environmental peacebuilding insights and concrete programmatic design recommendations, demonstrating how strengthening climate resilient livelihood practices can reduce distress displacement, mitigate resource-related conflict, and support mobility with dignity and agency.