Report of the fourth meeting of the imGoats Inhassoro innovation platform, Manusse, Mozambique,15 March 2012

Abstract

The goal of the “Small ruminant value chains as platforms for reducing poverty and increasing food security in dryland areas of India and Mozambique (imGoats)” project is to increase incomes and food security in a sustainable manner by enhancing pro-poor small ruminant value chains in India and Mozambique. The project proposes to transform goat production and marketing from the current ad hoc, risky, informal activity to a sound and profitable enterprise and model that taps into a growing market, largely controlled by and benefiting women and other disadvantaged and vulnerable groups; while preserving the natural resource base. The specific objectives of the project are to: (a) pilot sustainable and replicable organizational and technical models to strengthen goat value chains in India and Mozambique that increase incomes, reduce vulnerability and enhance welfare amongst marginalized groups, including women; and (b) document, communicate and promote appropriate evidence-based model(s) for sustainable, pro-poor goat value chains. In addition to goat keepers, beneficiaries will include other goat value chain actors, including small-scale traders, input and service providers. The project is following innovation systems approaches within a value chain framework. The value chain models will be implemented through the two mechanisms of innovation platforms and producer hubs, which will be comprised of multiple and diverse stakeholders. Innovation platforms (IPs) provide spaces for value chain actors to interact, communicate and act to improve performance of the value chain and with the resulting benefits to the actors. They will also be the mechanism to stimulate joint action to test feasible technical, organizational and institutional interventions for improving the productivity of goats, their marketing and associated service delivery. Using an appropriate and focused Monitoring and Evaluation framework, the project will document the participatory approaches used, processes followed, outcomes generated and lessons learned to generate research evidence towards the development of goat value chain models that benefit the poor. Lessons learned and opportunities for scaling up and out will be communicated to policymakers and development practitioners. The project is being implemented by CARE in Mozambique, while the overall leadership and co-ordination of the project is done by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). This report provides an account of the fourth meeting of the imGoats Innovation Platform (IP) held on 15th of March in Manusse, Inhassoro district of Mozambique, facilitated by CARE. To monitor innovation processes, it is important to capture the IP meetings as well as the process between the meetings. This report therefore also included the activities in between the 3rd and 4th IP meeting (section 2). Due to unexpected circumstances, there have been almost 5 months (18 October 2011 – 15 March 2012) between the two meetings (see section 3 Preparations for 4th IP meeting). The report continues with the meeting process (section 4) and is concluded with a few lessons learned for designing and facilitating future meetings (section 5).