The LISPT is a comprehensive analytical tool designed in the scope of the ALive platform, under the leadership of the World Bank and with the scientific contributions of FAO and CIRAD.
The LSIPT contains 5 modules and provides various functionalities such as analysis of livestock production systems, analysis of economy and vulnerability of livestock dependant households, analysis of value chains, assessment the of contribution of livestock to poverty alleviation and to national GDP, etc... Possible investment scenarios or technical changes can be simulated using the models, which can help decision makers in choosing the most appropriate investment options.
One of the key outputs of the toolkit is the estimation of the livestock sector's contribution to national GDP, which is often unknown or underestimated on the continent, and can be used as a powerful lobbying argument to convince high level decision makers to enhance their efforts for the sector.
The toolkit can be applied in a comprehensive manner in a country, which requires time and human resources, but various functionalities can also be used independently, for sub-sectoral studies, as for instance the production system modeling and simulation feature, or the value chain analysis tool.
The tool has undergone a long development process, which included two test phases in Mali and Zambia. It is currently being applied in Ethiopia and is now ready for rolling-out on the Continent.
The roll out of the toolkit is today one of the strategic priorities of AU-IBAR who will provide assistance, in partnership with its partners members of the Alive platform, to the member States and RECs who are willing to use the tool.
CIRAD, in partnership with the World Bank, the ALive Secretariat and with the support of the French Government, has recently organized two sessions of training of LSIPT facilitators, in May 2013 (Anglophone session) and February 2014 (francophone). Around 35 facilitators were trained, including 8 AU-IBAR staff, FAO, NGOs staff, private consultants, etc... This pool of facilitators is now ready to support the application of the tools in countries.
The training ended with a general final evaluation/assessment session, which also generated some recommendations regarding future opportunities to sustain the dissemination and the use of the Toolkit.
The participants left Montpellier with a strong commitment to constitute a "Francophone Toolkit Facilitators Group of Exchange".