The Annual Meeting of the Centre for Tropical Livestock, Genetics and Health (CTLGH) took place at the end of September.
The meeting, held at the Nairobi campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was attended by over 80 network members, including scientists, funders and members of the advisory board.
Throughout the four-day event, attendees enjoyed presentations, discussions and field trip activities designed to facilitate knowledge-exchange and drive innovation.
A Centre for impact
CTLGH was established in 2014 as a tripartite initiative between the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, ILRI and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). The Centre supports partnership programmes that aim to improve livestock-based livelihoods in the tropics.
It seeks to address challenges faced by smallholders in tropical regions that are caused by local issues such as diseases, feed and water scarcity, as well as global issues such as climate change.
CTLGH receives strategic investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Roslin Foundation.
Engaging programme
The aims of this year’s meeting included taking stock of progress against activities and objectives, demonstrating the breadth and depth of this work, reflecting on challenges and achievements, and sharing plans for next steps. These aims were achieved through pathway-to-impact, scientific and project management presentations, augmented by in-depth group discussions.
Incoming leadership
Professor Mizeck Chagunda, recently appointed as Director of CTLGH, opened the meeting with a quote from Things Fall Apart by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe: “When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”
The 2024 Annual Meeting was Professor Chagunda’s first as Director of CTLGH.
“It is my genuine privilege and honour to lead this Centre, whose work by design impacts the real lives of smallholders in tropical regions. This Annual Meeting was a pleasure to organise and to lead, at every stage focusing on the downstream impacts of our upstream scientific endeavours.” – Professor Mizeck Chagunda, CTLGH Director