Annual Report 2006/07 - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

Impact StudyThe development impact of ZIL research on livestocksystems: How targeted research can benefit the poorHow research might help people in developing countriesto escape the “poverty trap” is a question frequentlyasked by the public, the media and the politicians.The impact assessment survey covering ZIL’s programmephase IV (2003 – 2006), dedicated to the research onlivestock systems in support of poor people, indeedidentified actual and potential pathways to translateresearch results into concrete suggestions to improve thelivelihoods of livestock smallholders.this way, it was possible to pinpoint the common featuresthat characterise the successes obtained and the difficultiesencountered. This led to a set of recommendations asspecific and realisable as possible.This chapter summarises the impact assessment studyand thereby demonstrates what a coherently focussedresearch programme is able to achieve in terms of developmentimpact.Following a context analysis that highlights the mainpotentials and challenges of livestock-keeping for smallholdersin developing countries, the measured and perceivedimpacts generated in each ZIL research projectwere identified using questionnaires and interviews withthe research teams and the co-operation partners. Thisinventory covered the factors influencing (positively andnegatively) the actual as well as the potential impactgeneration, both within the projects and on an institutionallevel.The process of impact generation was analysed, thusdetermining how knowledge generation, technologicalinnovation and capacity development can have a developmentalimpact while scientific rigor is maintained.The study examined the tools and strategies employed inorder to bridge the gap between the scientific results andtheir direct or indirect application by the beneficiaries. InThe process of impact generationThe “Livestock Revolution”A prerequisite for impact generation is the relevance of theresearch topic. The priority area chosen by ZIL in 2002focussing on livestock systems is of particular relevance for therural poor in developing countries, who face the simultaneouschallenges of marginalisation and environmental degradationin the context of rapid globalisation and urbanisation.According to the joint OECD-FAO agricultural outlook for 2007 –2016, published in July 2007, the worldwide demand for animalsource foods (ASFs), in particular for meat, eggs and milk,will continue to rapidly increase in developing countries while16