The Community of Practice for Pro-Poor Livestock Development (CoP-PLD) aims to enhance collaboration among practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to improve livestock development as a means of poverty reduction. It focuses on capacity building, knowledge sharing, and advocating for pro-poor livestock policies, while fostering inclusive participation from poor livestock keepers, especially women. The initiative also emphasizes sustainable practices and establishes a steering committee to guide its activities, supported by a multifunctional electronic platform for knowledge management.

1. Community of Practice for Pro-Poor Livestock
Development (CoP-PPLD). Strategic Framework 1
1. About the Community
The concept of “Community of Practice” (CoP) has emerged within development
communities to strengthen the connections among likeminded persons who seek to improve,
through joint actions and collaborations, both knowledge and practice.
The CoP for Pro-poor Livestock Development (CoP-PPLD) intends to be a global and
inclusive partnership of practitioners, managers, researchers and other actors involved in
livestock development that want to exchange experiences, manage relevant knowledge, and
support learning across countries and institutions as an instrument to achieve better results.
Its main scope is to identify key problems and opportunities to develop collective strategies
and priorities on how to promote livestock as a tool for poverty reduction and on how to
empower poor livestock keepers’ to actively participate in decision-making processes and in
the management of their livelihoods.
The CoP-PPLD intends to be an innovative and demand-driven international approach. It
aims to learn from and give a voice to the livestock community contributing thus to optimize
the potential of livestock development as an instrument for poverty reduction. In addition, the
CoP-PPLD intends to facilitate technical advisory service provision through strengthened
strategic partnerships/collaborations with in-country and international organizations at all
levels, from livestock keepers organizations to national and international development
practitioners and decision makers.
2. Key Features of the CoPs
- Continuous and dynamic interaction between like-minded researchers, practitioners
and policy makers from different backgrounds to generate, share, disseminate and
validate knowledge (including tacit) that has clear and relevant benefits to the CoP-PPLD
members and promotes a culture of mutual learning. ;
- Informal multi-stakeholder approach as opposed to the traditional ‘division of labour’
between public sector, private sector, NGO, academic and grassroots organizations to
benefit and learn from the respective comparative advantages;
- Convergence towards common objectives through the merging of ideas, values and
approaches.
- Flexible and adaptable to evolving needs.
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2. 3. Values
- Being innovative and effective. The Community intends to catalyse processes, with
innovative approaches and organizational activities, rather than provide services. It
works directly with pro-poor organizations and local communities as effective leaders of
their own development process. It intends to apply a concomitant valuation of
knowledge/theory and of practice, privileging neither one over the other.
- Respecting diversity and differences of opinion, within the framework of broader
shared objectives and concerns. It will also include actions to address inequalities and to
give voice to the poorest. Therefore, the Community intends to build and strengthen
collaborative activities reaffirming the importance of the dialogue/sharing South-North
and South-South.
- Being people and poverty focussed demonstrating that a sustainable equilibrium
among livelihoods and natural resources is possible and is one way to alleviate poverty.
It is also necessary to support roles, decision-making and capabilities of women as
livestock owners, processor and users of livestock products. These are key aspects to
promote women economic and social empowerments and consequently a way to enable
rural women to break the cycle of poverty.
4. Strategies and Objectives
The overall goal of the Community is to:
Strengthen the connections among like-minded persons who seek to gather, develop and
share information and knowledge, and promote policies which positively impact on a critical
mass of livestock keepers and their families.
The specific objectives are:
• Enhance the capacity of the CoP-PPLD members to acquire, assess, and share
innovations and knowledge on pro-poor livestock development interventions and on
their “proven” impact;
• Promote an intersectoral approach to PPLD;
• Support research, extension, advocacy and evaluation of PPLD to improve the
effectiveness of existing practices, advance the state of the art and the effective
application for PPLD;
• Raise understanding at various levels, including governmental circles, professional
organizations and the general public, of the benefits, challenges and potential
solutions related to PPLD;
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3. 5. Activities
To achieve its goal and objectives, the Community, through its members will undertake the
following activities:
- Launching a piloting phase in which “How livestock insurance could reduce
vulnerability of poor smallholder livestock producers” will be the initial challenge that
will be addressed;
- Distilling, capturing, generating and disseminating knowledge and innovations for
Pro-Poor Livestock Development to reduce vulnerability and enhance the livelihood
of poor smallholder farmers, with an emphasis on lessons learned and good
practices;
- Advocating and communicating for PPLD; engaging in policy dialogue with decision-
makers;
- Developing a Virtual Knowledge Network for the CoP-PPLD dynamic interactions and
for its knowledge management needs;
- Maintaining a register of professionals and practitioners willing to provide knowledge
and support to PPLD initiatives at international, national, regional or local levels.
6. Steering Committee
A Steering Committee (SC) has been established by the participants during the inception
workshop to assist the implementation of the Pilot Phase. It attempts all stakeholder groups
and act on behalf of them according to the operation modalities agreed upon by the CoP-
PPLD members.
Antonio Rota (IFAD) will coordinate the activities of the pilot phase of this COP assisted by:
Ranjita Puskur (ILRI), Michael Kibue (Heifer – Private sector), Ahmed Sidahmed (University
of California Davis), Wyn Richards (NRInternational) and David Ward (Consultant) (other
PPLD-CoP members are welcomed to join the SC).
7. Knowledge Management and Knowledge Sharing Tools
A multi-functional electronic platform - initially maintained by IFAD - is under development
(www.cop-ppld.net). It will provide information on PPLD and support interactive information
flows and consultations among CoP participants. It will also host a common
repository/knowledge base, a roster of thematic experts and other KS tools such as
discussion forum, wiki area, chat etc.
8. Sustainability
The following four key issues will be crucial for the sustainability and effectiveness of the
CoP-PPLD:
- Internal structure. The CoP will be taken forward by its members and its structure
should be lean and flexible to be able to adapt to changing needs;
- Communication and knowledge sharing commitment. The CoP will be effective if all
members will contribute openly to knowledge and documents sharing. It should not
become an additional burden to our busy schedule. Therefore, the communication
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4. style should be brief and bringing value added into innovation scouting, experience
sharing, debates etc. A guiding principle will be tolerance and respect for all views.
- Funding. Following the results of the pilot phase, a project proposal for CoP funding
will be submitted to donors for financial support. However, in the spirit of the CoP,
ordinary activities will be self-funded by its members.
- Coordination and Secretariat. IFAD will host the CoP Secretariat coordinated by
Antonio Rota. However all the other members are called to actively contribute to the
CoP internal organization and its activities.
Stakeholders
Organizations
Development Farmers
Practitioners organizations
Cooperating Research Empowerment
Institutions IFAD
institutes
Thematic of Poor Livestock
Group
(LFSRTG) Distilled Keepers
Knowledge
Other Regional
consortia Networks (Learning Notes,
Thematic Papers,
Policy Notes
IFAD etc.)
International
Country
Organizations
Programmes
Innovative activities,
Better designed
Projects/programmes,
Better implementation
Support.
Figure 1 - The CoP for Pro-Poor Livestock Development
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5. Contact:
Antonio Rota
Senior Technical Adviser on Livestock and Farming Systems
a.rota@ifad.org
Silvia Sperandini
Consultant, Knowledge Management and Learning
s.sperandini@ifad.org
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