Final Communique - Training on Policy Decision Making Tools: Extrapolate & Value Chain Analysis Workshop

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of The Republic of The Gambia and the Economic Community of West African States (E.C.O.W.A.S.) in collaboration with the African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), held a five-day training workshop on policy decision making tools: EXTRAPOLATE & Value Chain Analysis at the Baobab Resort Hotel. The AU-IBAR Reinforcing Veterinary Governance in Africa (VET-GOV) Programme facilitated the workshop and it was attended by 40 participants representing the livestock sector stakeholders including 26 National Livestock Policy Hub members.

The objective of this training was to strengthen the capacity of the livestock sector public officers, national farmers organizations, value chain stakeholders in policy review and formulation processes; and to engage them in high level livestock policy dialogue with other stakeholders influencing the livestock sector at country level, as well as to develop their skills and capacities for evidence-based advocacy.

Mr. Lamin Saine, the focal person of the National Livestock Policy Hub of the VET-GOV Programme, was The Chairman of the Opening Ceremony.

In his welcoming speech, Dr Duto Sainy Fofana, the Director General of the Department of Livestock Services, emphasized the importance of the training and urged participants to be actively involved in the deliberations. Dr Baboucarr Jaw, the Vet-Gov Program Coordinator, in making remarks on behalf of the Director of AU-IBAR, expressed gratitude to participants for attending the workshop and informed them of their willingness to support such workshops. In the same vein, Mr Sheriffo Bojang, Permanent Secretary (2) of MoA, thanked AU-IBAR for their support in strengthening veterinary governance and expressed Government’s commitment in improving the livestock sector/industry. He concluded by making an expressed declaration to officially open the Workshop.

The agenda of the workshop were: policy and processes; livestock development strategy in Africa; the EXTRAPOLATE tool; and policy and value chain analysis. The programme of the workshop included presentations, discussions and group work.

Presentations on the use of the EXTRAPOLATE tool, were made at the Plenary Session. This tool is utilised to integrate qualitative data to support policy formulation and implementation. Following presentations, participants worked in groups using the tool to test the impact and relevance of policies implemented within the framework of the development of the livestock sector in The Gambia.

The Chairman of the Workshop was Dr Henry D R Carrol (M.R.G.), the Chairman of The Gambia Law Reform Commission at the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice and a Founder Senior Law Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Abdourahman Loum, livestock consultant.

The Resource Persons for the Workshop were: Dr Baboucarr Jaw, Program Coordinator at AU-IBAR; Dr Henri Kabore, Vet-Gov Regional Coordinator for ECOWAS; and Mr Lamin Saine, Deputy Director-General, Animal Production at Department of Livestock Services.

Further to fruitful discussions during the workshop, participants highlighted the following:

1. To consider priority problems, challenges and opportunities relating to the development of the livestock sector in Africa;
2. To set up the livestock development strategy of the sector based on equity and the holistic involvement of all stakeholders concerned;
3. To contribute to the analysis and the formulation of the livestock development policies in order to improve positive results in the sector by our different governments within the framework of Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP);
4. To use policy tools to improve decision making based on evidence, participation and dialogue;
5. To reverse the current top-down, linear approach of formulating development policies for the livestock sector, bringing on board all relevant stakeholders;
6. To set up more participatory and inclusive policy-making approaches; and
7. To draw up results-centred roadmaps as the basis of action for years to come.

The participants made the following recommendations:

A. To the Republic of The Gambia

1. To ensure that studies are carried out on priority value chains of the livestock subsectors, using technical, economical and financial evidence- based analyses.
2. To develop a system for collecting reliable statistics on macro-, and microeconomic and as zoo-sanitary data on the livestock sector.
3. To roll out and scale up the training received by workshop participants and other stakeholders involved in the livestock sector development policies;
4. To evaluate the relevance and impact of the current policies being implemented by stakeholders using EXTRAPOLATE; and
5. To prepare and circulate a Conceptual Note addressed to the Ministries in charge of the development of the livestock sector for better networking and sensitization of relevant authorities on the existing tool used to facilitate the analysis and formulation of policies for the development of the livestock sector.
6. To conduct an overall review of the policy-regulatory framework of the livestock industry and have a comprehensive strategy and policy for livestock development (say, 2015-2020).

B. To AU-IBAR & Food and Agriculture Organisation (F.A.O.)

1. The AU-IBAR shall continue to support Member States.
2. The Contracting Parties will improve further the EXTRAPOLATE tool, in order to facilitate its wider use and optimization by Member States to improve their livestock sector policies; and
3. The Contracting Parties will improve the utilization of Extrapolate software with suitable platforms (Window 2010, Macintosh, ...)

Done at Banjul, The Capital of The Republic of The Gambia, on the 23^rd of October, 2015.

The Participants