Chief Executive Officer CGIAR Consortium Office Tier 1 ...

Frank Rijsberman Chief Executive Officer CGIAR Consortium Office Montpellier, France

30th March, 2016

Dear Frank,

On behalf of ILRI and partners, I am pleased to submit for consideration the Livestock Agri-Food Systems CGIAR Research Program as part of portfolio of the phase 2 CRP call. The partnership which developed the proposal is as follows: Tier 1 ILRI (Lead Centre) CIAT ICARDA GIZ Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Tier 2 ICRAF IWMI Wageningen UR

Since beginning work on the pre-proposal, ILRI constituted and chaired a task force of representatives from all tier 1 and 2 partners who met regularly (virtually) throughout the development, review and finalization of the pre-proposal and full proposal. The task force provided oversight of the various steps during these stages, and ensured partner approval and buy-in for key aspects such as shares of W1/2 resources across the flagships, allocation for management budget etc. Participants from partner organizations worked at flagship and CRP level both virtually and in three intense face-to-face workshops, with ILRI coordinating the processes.

The concept for the CRP reflects the findings of the 2013 ISPC White Paper on livestock research in the CGIAR by consolidating the relevant capacity within the System. Lessons from the current Livestock and Fish CRP and particularly the recommendations of the recent Independent External Evaluation of that CRP have informed both the agenda and the organization of the proposed Livestock Agri-Food Systems CRP.

As you are aware, we have received two sets of comments from the ISPC in relation to the development of this proposal, one set each following the submission of the pre-proposal and the revisions of the pre-proposal. Please note that we have responded fully to those comments in the

preparation of this full proposal and a table outlining how those comments were addressed is included as Annex 3.10.11.

In addition to the contributions from the ISPC to developing this proposal we have also received support from a group of international livestock and related experts who reviewed the pre-proposal and the full proposal, providing substantive comments which have guided this final submission (see Annex 3.10.10). I would like to express again my appreciation for the inputs provided by the Peter Gardiner on behalf of the Consortium Office at a critical point as we were finalizing the proposal.

Development of this proposal also benefited from discussions and debate within the context of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock () and Livestock Global Alliance, two global multi-stakeholder groups involving international organizations and national partners, and public and private sector stakeholders. In addition to engaging in the GCARD3 and site integration process in the countries where the CRP intends to be active, we also undertook extensive structured and unstructured consultations specifically on the proposal with diverse groups of stakeholders (Annex 3.10.4).

We are confident that through the implementation of this proposal on livestock agri-food systems, a very significant contribution to attaining the objectives of the CGIAR's SRF will be made. It is recognized that there are many entry points for the contribution of research to these foods systems. However, we believe that emphasis on small and medium enterprise is where the CGIAR can make its strongest contribution and this is consistent with the focus of the SRF and several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Our research proposal will span six years with a base budget of US$296 M and an uplift budget scenario of US$444 M, of which funding from W1 & W2 is expected to be US$137 M and expended according to Table 1 below.

The proposed research program will be executed under five Flagships as follows: 1. Livestock genetics 2. Livestock health 3. Livestock feeds and forages 4. Livestock and the environment 5. Livestock livelihoods and agri-food systems

Research on gender, capacity development and youth are interwoven in all aspects of the proposed flagship research, with a specific cluster of activities devoted to gender and equity in flagship 5.

Table 1. Proposed share of budget by flagship and management unit

Areas

% share

% share (Yr 1)

% share (6-yr target)

W1 & W2 W1, W2 & Bilateral W1, W2 & Bilateral

Livestock genetics

25

24

18

Livestock health

25

18

16

Livestock feeds and forages

20

19

15

Livestock and the environment

15

12

14

Livestock livelihoods and agri-food systems

15

15

25

Management and Strategic Investment

11

11

Fund*

*Note that only 5% is for management per se; the remainder is for a Strategic Investment Fund

I would like to stress that our submission termed `livestock agri-food systems', includes research on, not just one but a number of livestock commodities. Thus there are three agri-food systems of focus (dairy, ruminant meat and pork) with poultry as ancillary food system, and still other commodities featuring as part of systems work (eg beef in some pastoral areas) each with distinct ecological, economic and social determinants for development. This complexity imposed challenges to articulate some of the components of the proposal, in particular designing the single theory of change as required in the guidance document. Also, the diversity of livestock agri-food systems make extrapolation of aggregate global or regional demand or supply data on animal-source food prone to criticism when interpreted for every locality.

We understand that an exercise will be undertaken in the coming weeks to identify how the CRP proposals have addressed the caveats raised during their development. I would like to highlight our approach to some of the caveats.

First, with respect to explicit prioritization within CRPs called for by the ISPC, we are very pleased to indicate that an ex-ante assessment was undertaken to quantify potential impacts of the proposed areas of research. That assessment shows a cost benefit ratio of 1:9 (see Annex 3.10.2) for the complete proposal, with specific research in each of the five flagships representing a good investment in its own right. The assessment indicated that the CRP has a healthy balance of long and short term investments.

Second, to address the request for clearer explanations of what W1/2 funding will be used for, the narrative and budgeting within each flagship describes the specific agenda and activities to be supported by W1/2 funds, and those components that will rely on W3/bilateral funds to be mobilized. We hope that this specificity will increase donor confidence in how the funds are being used.

Conservation of animal genetic resources, a caveat with particular relevance to this program, is addressed through the work described in the flagship on Livestock Genetics, with an allocation of almost $14 million over the 6 year period. The Genetic Gains Platform will provide support on genotyping and bioinformatics for this work.

Finally, the attention given to gender and capacity development is evident in the estimated shares of budget contributing to each, though recognizing that the metrics for defining such contributions are still very crude and that current investments are in large part dictated by allocations in existing bilateral projects. Our current estimates for the CRP as a whole are about 15% of the total budget for gender and 8% for capacity development and we anticipate allocating portions of the strategic investment fund to these important areas. We will be translating our commitment to capacity development by increasing its share as we develop new generations of bilateral/W3 projects.

Our submission includes a number of additional annexes, which I have listed below, noting particular that readers will benefit from the list of acronyms (Annex 3.10.9).

Yours sincerely

Jimmy Smith Director General, ILRI

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