This paper considers how some of the broader new thinking on development and resulting policy changes is relevant to pastoralists and how it will impact on pastoralist development. It comes out of a course held in 2003 at the Institute of Development Studies on ?Pastoralism: Governance, Productivity and Services?, for senior development officials from Ethiopia. Those who contributed sessions to the course had a wide range of experience, not only across sub-Saharan Africa, but also across Asia and elsewhere. This paper therefore has application not only in Ethiopia, but in any country where pastoralist development is a matter of policy concern.