Each month, Iain Wright shares an update on various developments on the Addis Ababa campus:
 At UNECA in 2006. Meles visiting ILRI’s booth with Mr. Mbeki. The news in Ethiopia this month has been dominated by the passing of His Excellency Prime Minster Meles Zenawe which as announced on 20 August. Whatever your political persuasion no one can doubt the tremendous advances in development that Ethiopia has made in the past 20 years under his leadership and the influence that he had in the region and in Africa more widely. He was fully committed to development including agricultural development and recognised the role that agricultural research plays in supporting development. I hope that the huge strides that the country has made will continue as a new leadership is put in place. I have written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressing the condolences of ILRI and I have also signed the book of condolences on behalf of the DG and staff of ILRI. |
 Earlier this month on 8-9 August the ILRI Management Committee visited WorldFish in Penang, Malaysia for a joint meeting with the WorldFish management team to explore how we can work more effectively together on the CRP on Livestock and Fish. The discussions identified a number of areas where we could be more effective both in scientific leadership and in programme planning and management. I also met up with Ranjitha Puskur who is enjoying her new job at WorldFish. |
 On the evening of 17 August I attended a reception by Ethiopian Airlines to celebrate the arrival in Ethiopia of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Ethiopian Airlines is only the third airline to order the Dreamliner and the first outside Japan. I was impressed by the fact that while this was a significant event in the development of Ethiopian Airlines, all the speakers, including the Minister of Transport, CEO and Chairman of Ethiopian Airlines and the Vice President (Africa) of Boeing hailed this not just an important event for Ethiopia but for the whole of Africa. Unfortunately I was not invited on the inaugural flight the next day!!! |
 This month we have appointed Dr Barry Shapiro as Senior Programme Development Specialist at ILRI in Addis. One of Barry’s first tasks will be help us to respond to a request from the Ministry of Agriculture to help finalise the Livestock Masterplan for Ethiopia. He will coordinate this activity, as well as to work with the Ministry to develop ideas on how ILRI may support the development of the livestock sector in Ethiopia in the longer term. Barry will also be assisting us to mobilise resources to allow us to expand ILRI’s research programme in Ethiopia. Barry’s appointment is an important step in our strategy towards deepening our engagement in Ethiopia and with the Ministry of Agriculture. He has a wide experience of agricultural research and development. He worked for ILCA in West Africa, was a Director of our sister Centre, ICRISAT and recently was Chief of Party with Land O’ Lakes in Ethiopia. |
 This month has seen a number of training courses on the campus as a first step aimed at enhancing our skills in performance management and in particular on the performance management system in ILRI. No matter what our position in the organisation, those of us who supervise staff can always improve on the way that we interact with and supervise our staff. I believe that in the past ILRI has not invested enough in ensuring that we have the management and supervisory skills needed to make us effective supervisors. I hope that those of you who attended the courses found them valuable. The feedback I have had so far from staff and from the consultants at The Resource Edge has generally been positive but if you have any comments I would be very happy to hear them. I also hope that those of you who attended the short sessions on dealing with change found them useful. |
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