Directorate / ILRI / Kenya / Official

The view from Iain’s office – November 2018

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Visit from Sophia Huyer, CCAFS gender specialist

In early November, Sophia Huyer, gender specialist with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), visited ILRI. Based in Canada, Sophia was working as a consultant for CCAFS but is now employed by ILRI. It was a pleasure having her in Nairobi and she really appreciated the discussions she had with ILRI staff, particularly the gender team. She is looking forward to being part of the ILRI gender team.

South Sudan

The CGIAR delegation to Juba

I was in Juba, South Sudan on 13–16 November. This mission was a follow up to one in May 2018 when a CGIAR delegation visited the country to explore how CGIAR could contribute to rebuilding resilience in South Sudan. On this occasion 15 CGIAR staff representing 6 centres attended a learning event of the Partnership for Recovery and Resilience (PfRR), a voluntary partnership of UN Agencies, donors and implementing agencies that seeks to coordinate and collaborate on activities to rebuild resilience in South Sudan, across all sectors. Over 200 people attended and it was evident that there was a real willingness to work together, even if it was not yet clear what the modalities were. CGIAR was asked to give a short presentation on what we could contribute. I also gave a separate presentation on livestock value chain development. Both presentations were well received.

A number of ideas and concept notes on how CGIAR could support the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) programs are being discussed. It was agreed that we would identify some ‘quick wins’ that could start in 2019, while at the same time we will work on developing a longer-term and more comprehensive engagement strategy for funding.

Visit by director general of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, Myanmar

From 26–28 November, Ye Tu Win, director general of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department at Myanmar’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation visited ILRI in Nairobi to explore how ILRI could support the development of the livestock sector in Myanmar. Several topics of mutual interest were identified:

  • Livestock master plan
  • Food safety
  • Antimicrobial resistance
  • Avian influenza
  • Beef cattle value chain development
  • Capacity building program
  • Pigs and African Swine fever

We will explore how we might take forward some of these topics in the next few weeks and months.

IFPRI-FAO conference

Jimmy, Susan MacMillan, Habibar Rahman and myself attended the IFPRI-FAO conference on Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition, which was held in Bangkok on 28–30 November. Two of our Board members, Lindsay Falvey and Jing Zhu also attended.

The conference focused on how to increase the drive to end hunger and malnutrition in all its forms. It attracted about 500 delegates, including several high profile delegates:

  • Grisada Boonrach, minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand
  • Édouard Ngirente, prime minister, Rwanda
  • Inonge Wina, vice president, Zambia
  • Zinash Tayachew, first lady, Ethiopia
  • Gerardine Mukeshimana, minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Rwanda
  • Guido Girardi, president of the Commission of Health and Commission of Future Challenges, Chile
  • Phouang Parisak, deputy minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR
  • Mario Arvelo, chair, Committee on World Food Security
  • Gerda Verburg, UN ASG and coordinator, Scaling Up of Nutrition (SUN) Movement
  • Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson, BRAC, Bangladesh

    Participating in the panel discussion on Sustainable Diets and Climate Change

Jimmy was scheduled to be a panel member on Day 1, but because the program was running late he had to leave to catch a flight to Australia before the discussion, so I stepped in at the last minute. My opening remarks can be found here. I was also panel member during a session on the second day, discussing sustainable diets and climate change. That panel discussion is also on the conference website here. I made the argument for the importance of animal source foods in improving the nutrition of vulnerable groups in developing countries and argued against over-simplistic calls for a reduction in consumption of animal source foods across the globe.

Till next month.

Iain