Announcing Development Gateway’s aLIVE Program: Advancing Livestock Data in Ethiopia
Development Gateway: an IREX Venture (DG)—with funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and in partnership with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)—is pleased to announce a new program, a Livestock Information Vision for Ethiopia (aLIVE). This four-year, $5 million program will empower Ethiopia’s stakeholders in the livestock sector to make data-informed decisions by providing relevant, accurate, timely, and digital livestock data and analytics. Ultimately, the aLIVE program will support Ethiopia in meeting national food demands as well as achieving food security while building a robust, more independent economy.
aLIVE Program Reaches Milestone: Livestock Data Standards Endorsed by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture
In early 2024, the “a Livestock Information Vision Ethiopia” (aLIVE) governing committee endorsed a comprehensive set of standards to guide the collection, storage, and maintenance of livestock data in Ethiopia (i.e., a data standard). The data standard specifically focuses on standardizing data on cattle, sheep, goats, and camels in the country. The National Livestock Data Standard document contains standardized data sets for national animal data recording, animal disease, diagnosis, treatment, vaccination recording, animal events recording, location, and other additional attributes.
Connecting Digital Dreams to Infrastructure Needs: Three Lessons from the aLIVE Program
After eighteen months of implementing the aLIVE program, we’ve learned three lessons on how to best support our partners in Ethiopia, advance our work in data systems and management, and ultimately, reach our overall goal of supporting Ethiopia in achieving food security and building a more robust, independent economy.