Strengthening Livestock Data Use through Capacity Building

The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)’s Livestock and Fisheries Development Sector governs vast amounts of agricultural data related to animal health, market trends, traceability, and genetics. However, professionals across the sector – including epidemiologists, veterinary experts, and other data users – face persistent challenges in effectively managing, analyzing, and visualizing this data. These challenges have resulted in inefficiencies and difficulties in decision-making, ultimately impacting policy formulation and service delivery.

To address these issues, Development Gateway (DG)’s a Livestock Information Vision for Ethiopia (aLIVE) project introduced a structured data-use training program in 2023. The program was designed to equip system managers and users of five key livestock data systems with practical skills in data handling, processing, and visualization. These systems include the Animal Disease Notification and Investigation System (ADNIS), Disease Outbreak and Vaccination Report (DOVAR) system, Ethiopian Livestock Identification and Traceability System (ET-LITS), African Asian Dairy Genetic Gains (AADGG) system, and National Livestock Market Information System (NLMIS). 

Through this initiative, system owners have gained hands-on experience with tools such as Excel and Power BI which empower them to make data-driven decisions in their day-to-day activities. The aLIVE program has made meaningful progress in building data use capacity and is contributing to livestock data use at the federal level in Ethiopia. While technical skills have been improved, sustained impact will depend on continued leadership support, long-term mentoring and resourcing, and a shift toward a stronger institutional culture of data use and thus evidence-based decision-making.