The November-December issue of ‘Livestock Matter(s) presents a round-up of livestock development news from ILRI and its partners. Corporate news Addis Ababa conference marks 40-year anniversary of world’s leading livestockresearch-for-development institute To mark 40 years of international research last year, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) facilitated a series of events highlighting the ways livestock research advances the global development agenda, specifically for food and nutritional security, economic well-being and healthy lives. The highlight event was a two-day conference on 6–7 November 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Azage Tegegne of ILRI-LIVES recognized for role in improving Ethiopia’s dairy production Azage Tegegne, who leads the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project was, in November 2014, honoured by the Ethiopian Government for his role in improving dairy cattle genetics and dairy value chain development in the country. Project news Development in Southeast Asia in November 2014. He highlighted how demand for livestock products in Southeast Asia is driving increased use of higher productivity, mostly exotic livestock breeds and the need to conserve genetic diversity of animals, particularly in poultry and pigs, in the region. Welcome home Brachiaria! ‘The hitherto overlooked Brachiaria grasses have returned home to Africa and have been warmly embraced by smallholder dairy farmers in eastern Africa.’ A paper, presented at the 6th All Africa Conference of Animal Agriculture in Nairobi on 27 October 2014, co-authored by nine scientists from seven institutions including the BecA-ILRI Hub gives an overview of the research, successes and challenges of adopting improved Brachiaria hybrids Mulato and Mulato II in the African context. The global impact of ILRI’s epidemiology expertise: An impact narrative A new brief illustrates how ILRI’s integration of epidemiology with agricultural economics and other social sciences is offering a unique approach for assessing the economic impact of animal disease, and for evaluating the implications of intervention options, whether at farm, national or global level. Innovation platforms as a route to dairy development in India ILRI has adopted an Innovation Platform (IP) approach as a route to dairy development in the hills of Uttarakhand, India. A case study illustrates how the approach is being used by the project ‘Enhancing dairy-based livelihoods in India and Tanzania through feed innovation and value chain development approaches’ (MilkIT). The ILRI@40 gala dinner at Melia Hotel, Hanoi on 13 October 2014 (photo credit: ILRI/Jules Mateo). ILRI stresses need for sustainable use of animal genetics at high-level Southeast Asia agriculture symposium Steve Staal delivered a presentation on ‘The sustainable use of animal genetics in developing countries’ at the 2nd international conference on Agricultural and Rural Case study helps understand how IBLI developed the world’s first insurance scheme for African pastoralists A business school type case study was prepared by ILRI about its Index-Based Livestock Insurance program. The case asks students to focus on growth strategy for a specialized insurance product for the poor. It focuses on the challenges and opportunities of establishing IBLI in locations with large populations of poor pastoralists. Africa RISING learning event puts typologies, innovation systems and program framework under the lens Partners implementing activities in all Africa RISING countries converged in Arusha, Tanzania from 11-12 November 2014 for the second annual program-wide learning event. More than 65 scientists and collaborators attended the meeting. Linking poor livestock keepers to markets in Africa and Asia Writing in the November 2014 issue of Rural 21, Isabelle Baltenweck argues that the growing global demand for animal products also offers poor livestock keepers the opportunity to switch from the subsistence to the market economy. She introduces three approaches in the meat and dairy sector in Africa and Asia with their respective potentials and limitations – and also warns against possible negative effects. ILRI in CGIAR Piecing together the (gender) research for (capacity) development puzzle Conducting research for development is at the heart of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish’s value chain approach. Diana Brandes, global capacity development specialist at ILRI, argues that, in a world of complex sustainable development challenges, the solution(s) to ensure program outputs respond to localized demands to facilitate value chain transformation is a puzzle, where any number of rural communities, organizations, institutions may hold different pieces. ILRI under the lens Staff updates In November and December we welcomed the following staff:                  We said goodbye to         This month we feature photos from the ILRI 40 event in Addis Ababa, 6 Nov 2014 Degefa Biru, driver, Integrated Sciences Ayda Tegenu, administrative assistant, Animal Biosciences Rahel Eshetu, helpdesk administrator, Engineering and Facilities Tesfaye Kebede, electrical technician, Engineering and Facilities Alemayehu Negussie, driver, Integrated Sciences – Livestock Systems and Environment (LSE) Sikhalazo Dube, regional representative – Southern Africa, Institutional Planning and Partnerships (IPP) John Recha, postdoctoral fellow – participatory action research, Integrated Sciences (IS) Alok Kumar, postdoctoral scientist – Feed and Forage, BioSciences Annie Cook, postdoc scientist-epidiemolgy, BioSciences Iain Wright, deputy director general, Integrated Sciences Edwin Pancras Oyieng, research technician, Animal Sciences for Sustainable Productivity (ASSP) Lilian Nekesa Masigah, administrative assistant, ICT Diana Ndunge, ICT helpdesk administrator, ICT Loise Makara, ICT helpdesk administrator, ICT Mercy Macharia, research assistant, BecA-ILRI Hub Polycarp Onyango, communication specialist, BioInnovate Program Mercy Macharia, research assistant, BecA-ILRI Hub Nebiat Kassa, program accountant, ASSP Emily Kerandi, development officer – Recruitment, People and Organizational Development (P&OD) Timothy Njoroge, assistant technology manager, BecA-ILRI Hub Titus Mureithi Kathurima, research technician III, BecA-ILRI Hub Purvi Mehta Bhatt, regional representative and director general representative, Asia Georgina Diana Oduor, Integrated Sciences Cynthia Mbula Kyaka, legal officer, IP and Legal Unit Read this roundup online: clippings.ilri.org/tag/roundup This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence. December 2014