Livestock Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) are “schools without walls” where groups of small-scale livestock producers test, validate, and adapt good agricultural and marketing practices that help them increase their production sustainably and to improve their, and their families’, livelihoods. Over the past two decades, Livestock FFSs have been implemented/supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other development stakeholders in a wide range of environments and livestock production systems including pastoralism and agro-pastoralism, dairying, poultry production, integrated rice-duck systems, rabbit production, pig production, beekeeping, beef production, camel production and small ruminant production. Today, the FFS approach is used to spur livestock growth across developing regions, with governments, NGOs, the private sector and other stakeholders increasingly interested in applying it.

 This guidance document was prepared to help decision-makers involved in policy formulation and programme planning to: (i) gain a basic knowledge of the FFS approach, with emphasis on animal production, health and marketing; (ii) learn about the contribution of FFS to the livelihoods of livestock-dependent communities in different contexts; (iii) recognize the conditions required for the successful implementation of Livestock FFSs; and (iv) comprehend the potential of the FFS approach in a wide range of livestock production systems and socio-economic settings.