With the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals, the international community made the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger one of its primary targets. Livestock contribute to the livelihoods of an estimated 70% of the world’s rural poor by providing a small but steady stream of food and income, raising whole farm productivity, increasing assets and diversifying risks. Livestock also have an important role in improving the nutritional status of low-income households, confer status, are of cultural importance, and create employment opportunities within and beyond the immediate household.

The increasing demand for animal protein in low- and middle-income countries provides an opportunity for the rural poor to improve their livelihoods. However, the nature of livestock farming is determined by policy and institutional frameworks that rarely favour of the poor. Therefore, in 2001, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations launched the Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative (PPLPI) to facilitate and support the formulation and implementation of livestock-related policies and institutional changes that have a positive impact on the world’s poor. To achieve this goal, the Initiative combines stakeholder engagement with research and analysis, information dissemination, and capacity strengthening.

A central facility of the PPLPI, funded by the UK Department for International Development, has been established at FAO headquarters in Rome with the responsibility of guiding and co-ordinating the Initiative’s activities, and with the ambition to become a point of reference for livestock-related pro-poor policy development.

In order to cover the different levels of policy-making, extending from international, through regional and national to sub-national levels, and to engage directly with relevant stakeholders, the Initiative complements the work of the central facility with active participation in selected policy processes in a number of strategically chosen ‘focus regions’.