A Path to Prosperity New Directions for African Livestock

The 2003 Avian Influenza crisis stirred FAO, WHO
and OIE to strengthen their partnerships around a
“One Health,” agenda. All commentators agree this
has been constructive and resulted in improved
surveillance and response to emerging diseases,
for example The Global Early Warning System
for Major Animal Diseases, including Zoonoses
(GLEWS) which has initially adopted a list of 25
diseases of common interest, 76% of which are
zoonotic 138 and the OIE/FAO Network of expertise
on animal influenzas (OFFLU) implemented in
close cooperation with WHO.
In coming years the, OIE will collaborate with
AU/IBAR to implement a programme for “reinforcing
veterinary governance in Africa,” funded by the EC.
This will build on PVS findings and will assist
governments with policy analysis and formulation,
develop legal frameworks and integrate a wider
group of stakeholders in decision making. This is
a timely and important initiative as discussed
in section 4 (animal health).
International Fund for Agricultural
Development – IFAD
IFAD, a specialised UN agency, provides low-interest
loans and grants to developing countries. Since
starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested
US$11.5 billion in 838 projects and programmes that
have reached some 350 million poor rural people
and raised nearly double this amount through
co-financing. Since 1978, US$738 million has been
used for livestock development activities. Currently,
IFAD spends just less than 9% of its budget on
livestock-related projects. IFAD tackles poverty not
only as a lender, but also as an advocate for rural
poor people, using its multilateral base as a platform
to discuss important policy issues that influence
the lives of rural poor people. IFAD recently
produced a flagship “Rural Poverty Report 2011,”
that provides comprehensive analysis of rural
poverty, its global consequences and the prospects
for eradicating it 139 .
Currently, almost 50% of IFADs funding goes to
Africa. As of the end of 2008, IFAD’s current portfolio
of projects had trained just over one million people
(65% of whom where women) in new livestock
production practices/technologies. IFAD was one of
the first UN agencies to undergo reform, having
closed many of its underperforming projects, IFAD is
now meeting and exceeding most of its own targets.
It is expanding its country presence and has begun to
work more closely with the private sector through
both grants and the promotion of private sector
investment in rural areas. IFAD is acutely aware of
the need to address challenges associated with
climate change and supports smallholder farmers
and rural entrepreneurs, particularly women,
to engage in and influence relevant policy processes,
including through South–South partnerships and
knowledge-sharing among countries and regions 140 .
IFAD’s livestock strategy shares the above approach.
The livestock team in IFAD recently initiated a
community of practice for pro-poor livestock
development that provides a useful forum for
discussion and building links. The forum currently
involves more than 150 organizations and 450
resource people.
The Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO)
FAO’s great strength is that it assembles, in one
organization, a larger number of professionals
dealing with food and agriculture than any other
international organization. FAO’s challenge is to get
these professionals working across disciplines
and focusing on areas where it has comparative
advantage. The organisation benefited from a
detailed independent external evaluation that
provided significant advice on how to do this in 2007.
Whilst it will take time for the recommendations of
this evaluation to be adopted, the organisation has
begun to take them on board. The work of the
Animal Health and Production Division (AGA) was
positively reviewed and the evaluation recommended
significantly increased support to the livestock
sector. This encouragement was recognition of the
good work of AGA, particularly in the transboundary
disease control and pro-poor livestock policy, the
fact that FAO had been cutting the livestock budget
for many years 13 and the fact that the livestock
sector is growing rapidly in the developing world.
AGA, like other divisions, has a wide remit, ranging
from emergency response to production of guideline
and best practice to sector analysis. AGA staff have
proven to be especially useful in the formulation
of ideas contained in this Impetus paper.
13 Falling by almost 40% as a proportion of the budget between 1994–05 and 2006–07.
The Impetus Strategy Paper I Page 57