ILRI40ConceptNote

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF ILRI

Situation

The instrument creating ILRI as an international organization was signed in Berne, Switzerland, on 21 September 1994 and the centre started operations 1 January 1995. Thus, ILRI will be 20 years old in September 2014. This year also marks 40 years (20+20) since the creation of ILRAD (1973) and ILCA (1974), its forerunners.

Proposal

A series of commemorative events to celebrate ILRI at 20 years that includes celebrating its predecessors ILRAD and ILCA and culminating in a two-day high-profile event immediately following the November 2014 board meeting in Ethiopia.

Goal

1) Celebrate ILRI’s past accomplishments (and uniqueness) while promoting an intentional, focused and forward-looking sustainable livestock agenda 2) An opportune time to showcase accomplishments of ILRI and its forerunners 3) Raise ILRI’s profile, as well as that of the livestock sector more broadly 4) ILRI’s long-term strategy (2013-2022) calls for achieving a higher global profile and becoming more influential 5) Reach a wider audience and generate more interest in, and support for, ILRI and the livestock sector 6) Raise understanding in donor, partner and other stakeholder organizations and in general publics of the importance of using livestock research 7) Raise ILRI's standing in scientific and development circles

Strategy

1) Keynote addresses, side events, opening addresses to highlight ILRI research, celebratory reception, interactive presentations and discussions at strategic meetings. 2) ILRI regional office-organized events. 3) Two-day event on the Addis Ababa ILRI campus will begin with a high-profile (politically focused) half day followed by by 1.5 days of a more technically focused meeting 4) Opportunity to inspire and mobilize former board members (such as Peter Doherty himself), staff and fellows as well as trainees to help serve as ‘ambassadors’ for ILRI 5) Accounting for past investments (impact studies, Livestock Xchange briefs), some by highlighting new ILRI-sourced information (Big Livestock Facts); and some by illustrating how research can help transform global livestock into a sustainable sector

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF ILRI

Situation

The instrument creating ILRI as an international organization was signed in Berne, Switzerland, on 21 September 1994 and the centre started operations 1 January 1995. Thus, ILRI will be 20 years old in September 2014. This year also marks 40 years (20+20) since the creation of ILRAD (1973) and ILCA (1974), its forerunners.

Proposal

A series of commemorative events to celebrate ILRI at 20 years that includes celebrating its predecessors ILRAD and ILCA and culminating in a two-day high-profile event immediately following the November 2014 board meeting in Ethiopia.

Goal

1) Celebrate ILRI’s past accomplishments (and uniqueness) while promoting an intentional, focused and forward-looking sustainable livestock agenda 2) An opportune time to showcase accomplishments of ILRI and its forerunners 3) Raise ILRI’s profile, as well as that of the livestock sector more broadly 4) ILRI’s long-term strategy (2013-2022) calls for achieving a higher global profile and becoming more influential 5) Reach a wider audience and generate more interest in, and support for, ILRI and the livestock sector 6) Raise understanding in donor, partner and other stakeholder organizations and in general publics of the importance of using livestock research 7) Raise ILRI's standing in scientific and development circles

Strategy

1) Keynote addresses, side events, opening addresses to highlight ILRI research, celebratory reception, interactive presentations and discussions at strategic meetings. 2) ILRI regional office-organized events. 3) Two-day event on the Addis Ababa ILRI campus will begin with a high-profile (politically focused) half day followed by by 1.5 days of a more technically focused meeting 4) Opportunity to inspire and mobilize former board members (such as Peter Doherty himself), staff and fellows as well as trainees to help serve as ‘ambassadors’ for ILRI 5) Accounting for past investments (impact studies, Livestock Xchange briefs), some by highlighting new ILRI-sourced information (Big Livestock Facts); and some by illustrating how research can help transform global livestock into a sustainable sector

Budget

1) Budget from ILRI 2) Budget from Partners

Priority	Conference	Date	Place	Detail	Budget
	Ecohealth 2014. Connections for Health, Ecosystems and Society	11 – 15 August 2014	Montreal, Canada	A number of ILRI staff are participating and the DG will give a keynote presentation
	10th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP)	17 – 22 August 2014	Vancouver, Canada	A number of ILRI staff have prominent roles in this congress
	Tropentag 2014: Bridging the gap between increasing knowledge and decreasing resources	17-19 September 2014	Prague, Czech Republic	[[1]] Keynote address by Jimmy Smith: Livestock matters: Health, wealth and environmental benefits of livestock. Leading a 1.5-hour side event that includes an opening address to highlight ILRI research conducted with our German/European partners. This will be followed by interactive presentations and discussions highlighting research on: livestock value chains; environmental win-wins in the livestock sector; food-borne disease and zoonoses; and the opportunities for translating livestock research to agricultural impacts
	5th Multi-stakeholder Platform of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock,	XX October 2014	Cali, Colombia	ILRI is a member of the Agenda’s guiding group and participates as a key research leader in all three of the focus areas addressing ‘resource use efficiency’, ‘restoring value to grasslands’ and ‘waste to worth’ (manure management).
	World Food Day/Borlaug Dialogue	15 – 17 October 2014	Iowa, USA	ILRI proposes to host a side event at the Borlaug Dialogue, which is held during the World Food Prize week (15 – 17 October) in Des Moines, Iowa. This side event, Livestock and food security: Animal agriculture in the developing world, will focus on food and nutritional security and highlight new agribusiness and market-oriented opportunities.
	Global ‘food and agriculture’ week in ILRI offices	15 – 17 October 2014	ILRI offices globally	We also propose organizing a series of events during this global ‘food and agriculture’ week in ILRI offices around the world, beginning in the furthest east (Hanoi) and concluding with ILRI’s side event in Iowa (…the sun never sets…). These ILRI regional office-organized events will be short (2 hours or so each) and engaging, bringing together local, regional and international livestock stakeholders in each region and offering regionally ‘flavoured’ livestock communications of diverse types (e.g., panel discussions, filmed interviews, audio recordings, field site visits, photoessays, feature articles).
	6th All-Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture	27–30 October 2014	Nairobi, Kenya	ILRI is providing its full support to this important event (the conference meets only every four years). Four senior ILRI scientists are participating in committees preparing for this conference, and ILRI will co-convene sub-themes 3 and 4, with many other ILRI scientists offering presentations at the various scientific sessions. ILRI will host a half-day side event, beginning with a broad overview of livestock in Africa and followed by the theme on pastoral systems which ILRI is co-convening. This will be followed by a celebratory reception. As part of the event, the conference participants to take a tour of ILRI. We anticipate that these events would involve significant African luminaries in livestock science, notably those who are ILRI alumni.
	ILRI two-day conference	6-7 November 2014	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	This two-day event will begin with a high-profile (politically focused) half day involving high-ranking officials from the government of Ethiopia, ministers of agriculture from other countries, donor representatives and Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty, who will deliver the keynote speech. This will be followed by 1.5 days of a more technically focused meeting. Participants will include ILRI alumni, board and staff as well as key partners, totaling no more than 120 people. Main components of the two-day event will be broadcast live to all ILRI’s staff and offices globally as well as promoted to general public, the global community of ILRI alumni, former board members, etc · Specific materials highlighting ILRI’s achievements and putting livestock research in context will be prepared to support the above series of events. Included here are: · A presentation of impact narratives. · A short (8000-word) essay on the history of ILRAD, ILCA and ILRI · A heavily illustrated coffee-table-type book on the native cattle breeds of Africa · A series of 30 livestock facts prepared in collaboration with the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (www.livestockdialogue.org) · We are presently seeking further input from staff on outputs or achievements they wish to use this opportunity to highlight. · A tagline and logo to distinguish all the materials and events.
	Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2)	19-21 November 2014	FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy	ILRI has been engaged in preparatory technical meetings for this event, aiming to ensure that the livestock sector has good representation.