AU-IBAR convened a two day workshop on 17th and 18th March 2014 at Nairobi, Kenya, for the review and refinement of a draft framework for the monitoring of investments and performance of the livestock sector in Africa. The draft framework had been developed earlier by a team of Consultants commissioned by AU-IBAR following the 8th Conference of Ministers responsible for Animal Resources which urged Member States to implement the Maputo Decision on investing at least 10% of national budgets in agriculture, of which 30% (based on the fact that on average, livestock contributes 30% of the agricultural GDP in Africa) should be allocated to livestock, and AU-IBAR and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) should monitor its implementation.

This workshop brought together 22 experts on Socio-economics, monitoring and evaluation and animal sciences from different countries and institutions across Africa, to serve as a peer review forum for the draft framework for monitoring investments in the livestock sector. The participants were drawn from Members States including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases in Eastern Africa (FAO-ECTAD-EA, the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and AU-IBAR.

The official opening of the workshop by Prof. Ahmed Elsawalhy, the Director of AU-IBAR was preceded by remarks from Mr. David Ariasingam from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that provided financial support for convening the workshop and follow-up actions towards the finalization and roll-out of the Livestock investments monitoring framework.