Innovative and inclusive approaches to global livestock development

1. Innovative and inclusive
approaches to global
livestock development
IFAD Workshop on ‘Communities of Practice for
’
pro-poor livestock and fisheries/aquaculture development
Dr Wyn Richards, NRInternational Ltd

2. Returns on investment in
agricultural research
Generally accepted that the investments made in
publicly-funded agric research have not had the
expected benefits on the livelihoods of resource-poor
farming communities in the developing world.
Fundamental reasons due to: lack of donor coordination;
unrealistic expectations from research; variance and
short-termism of political targets and ARD policies;
inflexible bureaucratic agendas; minimal resources to
market research knowledge; redundant or inappropriate
research into use processes; narrow sectoral
approaches.

3. 1. Donor COPs
Eg. the Inter-Agency Donor Group formed
in 2000 – an informal COP
Principal purpose of this informal group
was to foster greater collaboration,
coordination and communication between
the public and private sector donor
agencies involved in commissioning
livestock research directed at poverty
alleviation and the attainment of the
MDGs.

4. IADG Mission Statement
• The Inter-Agency Donor Group (IADG) promotes innovative
and collaborative approaches to pro-poor livestock
research in the developing world, in the fields of public health,
animal health and animal production.
• The IADG encourages active collaboration to generate and
promote new technologies, policies and information through
demand-driven research and development with poor farmers
in developing countries. It does this through research and
development partnerships involving public and private sector
organisations, and civil society.
• The Group aims to facilitate a common response by its
members to research proposals emanating from
implementing agencies and other stakeholders.

5. The story so far ….
9 IADG meetings since 2000 held in P+P donor
establishments in the UK(2), Denmark(2),
Italy(1), Switzerland(1), Germany(1), France(2);
the 10th due to be held in Belgium in May 2009
Average attendance of 20 donors (public:private
- 4:1) and ca 10-15 invited organisations/experts
from IARCs and the private sector
Activities, agreed actions, outputs and outcomes
are pasted on the Inter-Agency website
http://lri.virtual.org

6. Successes and Missed Opportunities
Successes:
- increased sharing of knowledge and
experiences on livestock research for
development
- increased information/awareness about on-
going public and private donor activities
- promoted trust (and friendship) between donor
representatives,
- increased levels of knowledge on current
livestock development issues and research
developments
- shared potential collaborative opportunities.

7. Further Successes
The IADG has:
• Collated/published information on the research activities of
the global donor organisations (public and private) in the
livestock sector
• Identified the priority livestock ‘disease’ conditions of
relevance to the poor;
• Mapped global livestock density and poverty;
• Predicted the influence of livestock on/by climate change;
• Developed a public/private initiative on global animal
livestock vaccines (GalvMed) funded by DFID/Gates
Foundation;

8. Other Successes
•Facilitated knowledge and information on priority
livestock development issues and the activities of
the donor community
•Fostered a greater level of collaboration at the
programme and project level and in sharing
knowledge, databases and lessons learned.
•Facilitated a strong feeling of a community of
practice between donors and with major R+D
partners – CG,UN, AU-CAADP, IBAR etc
.

9. Missed opportunities
We have not been so successful in harnessing the
corporate potential of the donors in addressing and
implementing initiatives on priority issues, neither in
animal health nor in livestock husbandry issues and
policy change. This remains an opportunity and a
challenge which needs to be addressed.
The reasons for this are many and varied but include:
- the short-termism of the majority of research initiatives
often dictated by political rather than development
agendas;
-the dominant political will and narrow interests of
donors based on geo-political, thematic, economic,
philosophical, trade, historical etc; and
- the bureaucratic/administrative difficulties associated
with multi-donor funding

10. 2. Lack of investment in
marketing
Marked differences between public and private
sector approaches
Need a new COP in livestock Res for Dev to
market research findings: need adequate
funding and professional resources and
approach
Need to accept information as a valuable and
marketable commodity which is required by and
customised for inclusive chains/networks of
institutions involved in agriculture – not solely
the farmer

11. 3. Redundant/inappropriate processes
for getting research into use
Traditional linear vs inclusive (many to
many)approaches to extension
Investment in generating RNRRS products
Investment and skills associated with riu
RIU Hypothesis
In-country activities
Lessons learned to date