Restoration of Livestock Services in Conflict and Drought Affected areas of Ethiopia (RESTORE)
An EU initiative, RESTORE’s primary objective is to enhance food security, nutrition, and livelihood resilience for rural communities nationwide, focusing on regions impacted by drought and conflict. It covers the following outputs:
- Livestock service delivery systems restored in conflict and drought affected areas
- The quality and reliability of integrated public and private veterinary service delivery improved, with more efficient production
- Improved compliance and enforcement of animal health, food safety standards, responding to market requirements
- Availability and Quality of livestock feeds improved through farmers/pastoralists and private sector driven fodder production and marketing
- Enhanced quality of hide and skin through improved animal health intervention
RESTORE aims to achieve sustained recovery of the livestock system from the conflict and drought-induced crises, with increased overall sector productivity and improved marketing of livestock products, focusing on improved disease control and feeding practices. By focusing on improved disease control and feeding practices, the project is expected to result in increased livestock food production and livelihoods and improved market access, driven by better assurance of livestock health status. Additionally, efficient production methods are anticipated to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity and minimize wider ecological impacts associated with livestock farming.
Rationale
Ethiopia, with the largest livestock population in Africa, relies on livestock for economic development, food security, and poverty reduction. However, droughts and conflicts have severely reduced productivity and threatened the livelihoods of millions dependent on livestock for income and nutrition. The RESTORE project draws upon the insights and experiences gained from the implementation of the completed Health of Ethiopian Animals and Rural Development (HEARD) project (2019 to 2023) It expands its scope from the existing three EU HEARD project regions (Amhara, Oromia, and Somali) to focus on regions that have been particularly affected by recent conflicts and drought (Afar, Southern Ethiopia and Tigray).
The RESTORE project is organized into five work packages:
WP1: Restore Livestock Service Delivery Systems focuses on addressing the impact of recent droughts and conflicts on livestock systems. The main goal is to restore services by equipping veterinary clinics with essential tools and medicines, improving disease surveillance, upgrading lab diagnostics, and providing ICT equipment to select clinics to ensure rapid response.
WP2: Improved Veterinary Services aims to strengthen veterinary support for livestock keepers and enhance regional and national disease control programs. This includes using innovative methods for animal health service delivery, disease detection, and control. Activities involve risk mapping, data collection, training, and support for controlling priority Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs). It complements WP1 by providing equipment and medicines to veterinary service providers.
WP3: Improved Health and Food Safety Standards aims to enhance livestock trade and exports by working with Ethiopian government veterinary services. It involves reviewing import requirements, addressing gaps through training, and improving animal disease surveillance. Additionally, national surveillance and livestock management systems will be strengthened, with a focus on data-driven decision-making.
WP4: Improved Fodder boosts livestock resilience by enhancing feed and forage production. It includes capacity-building initiatives, providing low-maintenance equipment, and strengthening feed value chains with private sector and community involvement. Training will cover feed production, management, safety, and better use of agroindustrial by-products. Additionally, dung management training will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promoting compost production.
WP5: Improved Hide and Skin Quality will work with regional partners to identify challenges in the livestock hide and skin sector. Proposed solutions will be tested through pilot projects, and recommendations will be made.
