On 31 March 2014, Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Tom Derksen, managing director for agriculture of SNV Netherlands Development Organization signed a memorandum of understanding to start of a formal collaboration between SNV and the ILRI-led CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish. It also opens up spaces for further collaboration between SNV and ILRI beyond the program.

ILRI/SNV MoU signing ceremony on 31 March 2014 at ILRI in Nairobi (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu).
15 years ago, SNV reformed itself to become a premier capacity development organization in which a network of advisors work with clients to unlock intractable development problems. These advisory services are constructed around agriculture, water sanitation and hygiene, and renewable energy.
The Livestock and Fish program is already engaging with SNV staff in several of its value chain countries. In Tanzania, collaboration on exploring ways and means to service dairy hubs has begun as part of the MoreMilkiT project where SNV brings in expertise on multi-stakeholder facilitation. In Uganda, SNV and ILRI are working together to form a pig value chain multi-stakeholder platform. In Ethiopia, SNV contributes to the Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholder project and SNV staff participated in ICARDA-led stakeholder workshops on the development of small ruminant value chains. In Vietnam and Nicaragua, there is expressed intent to expand collaboration around pigs and cattle value chain systems respectively.
These individual collaborations have converged to form the basis of a global relationship. For SNV, the partnership offers connections to well-established global knowledge, learning and research capabilities in ILRI and the other partners. For Livestock and Fish, the collaboration brings a thinking approach to development, a global field presence, and abilities to adapt innovations and take research out into development. The partnership is a concrete step towards the program’s ambition to achieve impact at scale.
The program is delighted to have found the grounds to build a shared vision and create shared value with SNV – Stuart Worsley, head of development partnership, Livestock and Fish program
The next steps are to develop a series of specific collaborative research agreements that specify joint work in a number of country and research domains of mutual interest.
The signing ceremony was also attended by Tom Randolph, director of the Livestock and Fish program, Shirley Tarawali, ILRI director institutional planning, Harm Duiker, SNV Kenya country director and Mary Njuguna Kimwadu, SNV agricultural sector leader Kenya.