ILRI / Official

The week ahead at ILRI: December 1–7, 2014

Posted on by

During the week of  December 1–7, 2014 the following activities will take place at ILRI:

ILRI West Africa: compiled by Jocelyne Tenkouano (J.Tenkouano@cgiar.org)

  • December 1–7: Eija Laitinen and Peter Kuria Githinji from HAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland will visit Senegal Diary Genetics (SDG)Project. During this time, they will assist with project dissemination activities.


Back to top

ILRI Tanzania: compiled by Mercy Becon (M.Becon@cgiar.org)

  • On December 4, Amos Omore will attend a policy conference with a theme of assessing the changing landscape of Tanzania’s agriculture at Serena Hotel in Dar es Salaam. The conference is organized by the Agriculture Policy Action Group (PAG) organizations that include ANSAF, USAID, SAGCOT, AGRA, SERA project, REPOA, Michigan State University, MAFAP, FAO, ESRF, ReSAKSS and Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture
  • December 2–8: Julius Githinji and Salim Werner will travel to Lushoto to conduct field activities alongside Faida MaLi.
  • December 2–5: Els de Rijke (a gender specialist from Transition International), Diana Brandes, Violet Barasa will visit Dar es Salaam and Lushoto for consultations with Maziwa Zaidi partners on gender capacity development.


Back to top

ILRI Addis: compiled by Meron Mulatu (m.mulatu@cgiar.org; +251 116 172472)

  • On 29 November, Azage Tegegne attended the 3rd regular meeting of the EAS General Assembly which was held at the Sarem International Hotel.
  • On December 1st, ILRI EOHS ergonomics risk assessment awareness session  will be held at the Konso auditorium.
  • December 2–3: Peter Hooper from LIVES will be attending the launching workshop of “Ethiopian Control of Bovine Tuberculosis Strategies (ETHICOBOTS)” Project at the National Animal Health Diagnostic and Investigation Center (NAHDIC) in Sebeta.
  • December 4: ILRI Town hall meeting at the Konso auditorium.
  • December 1–4: Peter Ballantyne travels to Somaliland to support the IGAD Sheikh Technical Veterinary School and Reference Centre as part of the project to support the ‘Reducing Vulnerability of Somali Communities by Raising the Capacity of Indigenous Systems and Enhancing Market Access and Consumer Welfare’.
  • December 2 and 3: Africa RISING project in the Ethiopian highlands is organizing it annual review and planning meeting ,at Info center. This meeting is held every year to review the progress made throughout the year and plan for the next year and beyond. This year meeting has the objectives of reviewing  project progress and results and share lessons learned and developing approaches and candidates for scaling with site level partners. Around 70 participants representing CGIAR , Government , donors  and private partners are expected to attend the meeting . More information is  available on the event wiki page  http://africa-rising.wikispaces.com/ethiopia_planning_dec2014
  • December 4–5: Azage Tegegne will participate on the CGIAR – EAIR partnership dialogue.
  • Thursday 0830 to Friday 1230, on behalf of EIAR and ILRI, Dr Dawit Alemu (of EIAR) and Dr Barry Shapiro are co-organizing an EARS-CGIAR Partnership Dialogue meeting to be held at the EIAR Hiruy Hall. The dialogue is meant to strengthen the partnership of Ethiopian research organizations with all CGIAR centers that are operating in Ethiopia.  All the CG Centers and ICIPE will present their on-going and planned activities in Ethiopia, followed by an exchange of ideas to identify additional potential areas of collaboration.
  • On Thursday morning between 1100–1145, Dr Siboniso Moyo, the ILRI Director General’s Representative in Ethiopia will present overviews of CGIAR and ILRI research in Ethiopia.  At the EARS-CGIAR Partnership Dialogue meeting that will be conducted on 4th and 5th of Dec 2014, at EIAR Hiruy Hall. The dialogue is meant to strengthen the partnership with all CGIAR centers that are operating in Ethiopia through some sort of regular consultative meeting, where there will be exchange of ideas and identification of possible areas of collaboration.
  • On Friday morning between 1100–1230, Dr Shapiro, who is coordinating the development of the EIAR-CGIAR Sustainable Intensification & Climate Change mega-program proposal will present the draft proposal at the EARS-CGIAR Partnership Dialogue meeting at EIAR Hiruy Hall. The presentation is meant to inform all stakeholders and potential partners (including regional research institutes (RRIs) and universities about the developing program to get their buy-in and participation in its development.  The presentation will be followed by a discussion on the way forward and modalities of collaboration.
  • On Friday afternoon between 1400–1700, the MOA/ILRI Livestock Master Plan project led by Dr. Barry Shapiro will host an Ethiopian research partner consultation on the Livestock Master Plan (LMP). HE Dr Gebregziabher Gebreyohannes, State Minister for Livestock Resources Development will present the LMP to the EARS-CGIAR Dialogue participants and CG Center representatives, as well as the DGs of 6 RRIs and 5 Vice-Presidents for Research from 5 Ethiopian Universities, as well as to other stakeholders from Ethiopia in the research, government  and development sectors.  This presentation will help the RRIs and Universities to align their research programs with the Livestock Master Plan.
  • December 1–10: IFPRI-ESSP will have enumerator and supervisor training at the Lalibela auditorium.
  • December 4: CAFOD will have its annual partners meeting at the InfoCentre.


Back to top

ILRI Southern Africa: compiled by Sikhalazo Dube (s.dube@cgiar.org)

  • November 30–December 3: Sirak will be in Armidale, Australia to present  production economics related project outputs at UNE and accompany exchange visit participants to Armidale, Australia.
  • December 3–6: Sirak will be in Canberra, Australia, to present project research outputs at ABARES and ACIAR and accompany exchange visit participants to Canberra, Australia.


Back to top

ILRI Uganda: compiled by Brian Kawuma, (B.Kawuma@cgiar.org)

  • December 1–3: Danilo Pezo will attend the Workshop ““Expanding utilization of Roots, Tubers and Bananas and reducing their post-harvest losses” to be held in Kampala. He will make a presentation of one of the four business cases that has been selected for funding by the Roots, Tubers and Bananas CGIAR Research Program. The title of the business case prepared by Michael Dione, Emily Ouma, Gerald Kyalo (CIP-Uganda) and Danilo Pezo is Improving the Utilization of Residues of Sweetpotato and other Root and Tuber Crops for Pig Feeding in Uganda”. Michel Dione will attend the same workshop from 2nd to 3rd
  • December 2–3: Kristina Roesel will attend training on Scientific Writing and Publishing organized by ILRI Capacity Development Unit (CapDev) & People & Organizational Development (P&OD) at ILRI-Nairobi
  • On December 7, the Uganda Pig Value Chains Team will make a presentation of the work done with partners under the Livestock & Fish CGIAR Research Program to the CRP 3.7 SPAC and PPMC members. The meeting will be held at Speke Resort, Munyonyo


Back to top

ILRI East and Southeast Asia: compiled by Jackie Escarcha (J.Escarcha@cgiar.org)

  • December 1–5: Lucy Lapar will travel to India for Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) CSISA project field visits and meeting with project partners and collaborators in Patna, Bihar. On 5th, Lucy will participate in the international conference  entitled ‘Innovation in Indian Agriculture: Ways Forward’ at the  India International Centre, New Delhi, jointly organized by the The Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), New Delhi and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Scholars from India and abroad share new evidence on key issues in India’s pathways toward agricultural development and poverty reduction, identify areas where new work should be done, and relay innovative recommendations to policymakers. The conference intends to (1) highlight evidence on the impacts of past reforms in Indian agriculture on agricultural productivity, consumption, and resource degradation; and (2) analyze new options for accelerating productivity growth, poverty reduction and environmental conservation through Indian agriculture going forward; and (3) share evidence from other countries and regions. The conference aims to bring together policymakers, donor agencies, private firms and industry organization and civil society, apart from scholars from India and abroad.
  • December 3–4: Aziz Karimov and Thinh Nguyen will attend the Humidtropics Extrapolate Workshop in Central Highlands, Vietnam.


Back to top

ILRI South Asia: compiled by Oli Roma (R.Oli@cgiar.org; +919990401404)

  • On 2nd December, Vamsidhar Reddy would be participating in the LGI meeting via skype. December 3–4: he would be working with the Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP) to finalize the methodology for the study on policy bottlenecks for small-holder dairy in Bihar.
  • November 27–December 10: Dhiraj Singh will be in Bihar to attend a Kaushalya Foundation meeting and accompanying Lucy and Jane for CSISA site visits.
  • December 1–4: Ram Deka will be in New Delhi to attend the 9th Food Safety & Quality Summit organised by The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
  • December 1–6: N.M. Ibrahim, Project Coordinator, GEF Asia project will visit Nairobi for discussions with UNEP, Nairobi, Dr. Okeyo and ILRI Finance.


Back to top

ILRI Nairobi: compiled by Angeline Nekesa (a.nekesa@cgiar.org; +254 20 422 3863)

Directorate

  • 04 Dec: Institute Management Committee (IMC) will hold its meeting in the afternoon at ILRI Nairobi Campus in Room 720.
  • 04 Dec:  Jimmy will hold a town hall meeting with staff in the John Vercoe Auditorium (JVC) from 11:30 am. Your participation is valued and is critical to making ILRI the place we all want it to be.
  • 5Dec:  Jimmy Smith and Vish Nene will attend the  official launch of the Centre for Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases (CTTBD) in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Animal Biosciences

  • 5-6 Dec: Phil Toye will be travelling to Malawi for the Launch of the Centre for Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases (CTTBD).
  • 30Nov- 10 Dec: James Audho: will Travel to Lower Nyakach for climate smart villages fieldwork activities.
  • 30Nov- 5Dec: James Akoko: will Travel to Busia for Fieldwork activities
  • 3-Dec: Patrick Muinde and Maurice Karani will be Nyeri for a Kenya veterinary board workshop.
  • 30Nov-23-Dec: Absolomon Kihara, Henry Kiara and Denis Mujibi will be in Tanzania for AGRITT Blood Sampling activities.

Vaccines platform

  • 1-12 Dec : Joerg Jores and Anne Liljander will travel to Bern/Switzerland and Germany for meetings with GALVmed Consultants to discuss research approaches related to a Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) concept note and for discussion with scientists of FU Berlin about potential collaboration in the field of antimicrobial resistance and lecturing at Freie Universität, Berlin.

BecA-ILRI hub

  • 1-4 Dec: Appolinaire Djikeng will travel to the University of Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources where he has been invited as a guest and featured speaker of the college bi-annual seminar series on Wednesday, December 3, 2014. During the visit Appolinaire will meet with a number of faculty members and research leaders to explore collaborative opportunities as follow up discussions from the Agricultural Research Connections (ARC) workshops previously organized jointly by the BecA-ILRI Hub and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
  • 1-5 Dec: The BecA-ILRI Hub will host a workshop to advance the project designs of two of the projects under the BecA-CSIRO partnership, supported by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The purpose of the meeting which will be held at the DusitD2 Nairobi Hotel  is to clarify the design, partnerships, budget and other critical components of the projects being funded for four years under the Africa Agricultural Productivity Partnership (AAPP) in preparation for submission to DFAT at the end of January 2015. The workshop will bring together partners from the Amaranth and Cavies projects and CSIRO staff including Larelle McMillan, Deputy Partnership Manager of the AAPP and Caroline Bruce, Partnerships Coordinator.

CapDev

  • 2-3 December 2014: Tigist Endashaw will be participating in the Africa RISING Review and Planning Meeting in Addis to review and jointly plan Capacity Development activities within the Africa RISING project.
  • 02 – 03 December 2014 – CapDev unit working in collaboration with P &OD unit and Training Centre for Communication (TCC) has organized another session on  Introduction to Scientific Writing & Publishing module training. The training will take place at JVC meeting room (Nairobi) and will benefit PhD/MSc fellows, postdoctoral fellows and early career researchers/ ILRI staff to help them improve their writing skills and impact their scientific documents.
  • 2 – 5 December: Els de Rijke (a gender specialist from Transition International) will travel to Tanzania on Sunday 30th November until Monday the 8th of December to meet with  the Livestock and Fish CRP dairy value chain partners in Dar es Salaam and Lushoto district to assess partners’ understanding of gender issues and to strengthen their capacity to integrate gender in their work. The capacity assessment methodology has been recently revised based on input derived from the Ethiopia mission one month ago and will now be tested with the Tanzania Dairy Development Board, Faida Maili, (departments of) Sokoini University, and Heifer International. For internal capacity development and documenting purposes Violet Barasa, Gender Research Technician will accompany the mission. Diana Brandes – van Dorresteijn (Global Capacity Development Specialist) will join the mission from the 2nd until the 5th onwards to co-facilitate a workshop with the national and local government partners, and key development partners in Lushoto.
    The Tanzania findings will be reported upon by the end of the year; by then an almost final methodology will be ready which will be further tested in the Livestock and Fish value chains namely in Uganda (Jan. 2015), India (Feb. 2015) and Nicaragua (Q2). In Ethiopia the assessment will be rolled out in 3-4 project sites from Jan. 2015 onwards and as soon as the newly recruited National Capacity Development Associate is on board.

CGIAR Research Program for Livestock and Fish

  • 6 – 10 Dec: Tom Randolph, Stuart Worsley, Patricia Rainey, Shirley Tarawali, Keith Child and Esther Ndung’u travels to Kampala, Uganda to attend the 11th Program Planning and Management Committee meeting (PPMC) and the 5th Science and Partnership Advisory Committee meeting (SPAC) at Munyonyo Speke Resort.  This will also include a field visit to the pig value chain in Masaka on 8th and 9th December, 2014.

Food Safety and Zoonoses

  • 1-6 Dec: Florence Mutua and Nicholas Ngwili will be carrying out the LITs project (Developing livestock traceability system for domestic and export market in Pastoral areas of East Africa) field surveys in Narok.
  • 2-3 Dec: Johanna Lindahl and Ram Deka will attend the Food Safety meeting in Delhi, India .
  • 2-3 Dec: Kristina Roesel will attend training on Scientific Writing and Publishing organized by ILRI Capacity Development Unit (CapDev) & People & Organizational Development (P&OD) in Nairobi.
  • 2-4 Dec: Mwansa Songe will attend the “Nutrition and Women’s Participation in Decision-Making and Control over Income” Workshop at the Bioversity Headquarters in Rome, Italy.  The workshop is being organized by the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and the objective is to strengthen gender analysis of CRPs by improving the quality of the intersection between agriculture-gender-nutrition research to build capacity and stimulate research across CRPs and to build a community of practice on gender and nutrition.
  • 4 Dec:  Johanna Lindahl will attend the periMilk project meeting in Delhi, India.
  • 4-31 Dec: Kristina Roesel will be sampling pork from serological clusters in Masaka, Mukono and Kamuli districts in Uganda for the isolation of infectious Trichinella larvae and Toxoplasma gondii.

Livelihoods, Gender and Impact (LGI) Program

  • 2 Dec: Livelihoods, Gender & Impact (LGI) Program Review and planning meeting will take place at Zen Gardens.
  • 30Nov -5 Dec: Violet Barasa will travel to Dar es Salaam and Lushoto for gender field work activities .
  • 2-8 Dec: Julius Githinji will travel Tanzania to conduct field activities in Lushoto alongside Faida MaLi.
  • 3-5 Dec : James Rao will travel to Kisumu to participate in a Humid Tropics meeting.

Policy, Trade and Value Chains (PVTC) program

  • 3-6 Dec:Joseph Karugia will be travelling to South Africa to  attend a workshop on “Small farms – Global markets” to be held at the University of Pretoria, on 4th and 5th December, 2014.
  • 1-5 Dec: Paul Guthiga will be travelling to Tanzania to attend the Tanzania Annual Policy Conference on 02 – 04 December 2014.

Back to top

JOIN THE ILRINET GROUP ON YAMMER AND KEEP ON SHARING…… (KoS)

Meron Mulatu | Communications and Publishing Officer
Email: m.mulatu@cgiar.org