Annual Report 2006/07 - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

An introduction to ZILZIL’s profile and programmeThe reporting period from January 2006 to June 2007 wascharacterised by two major developments: Firstly, thepreparation and implementation of the new contractbetween ZIL and SDC (phase V, April 2006 to March 2010),and secondly the merger of ZIL with its sister institutionNIDECO (Network for International Development andCooperation) to become the North-South Centre of the ETHZurich. Therefore, this is the last ZILAnnual Report in its present form.Barbara Becker,Executive ManagerIn March 2006, ZIL formally concluded thethree-year funding phase IV, althoughmost of the individual research projectsstill continued into 2007. The new phaseV contract with SDC came into force inApril 2006, and for the first time it coversa four-year period, until March 2010. Thisis a great sign of the SDC’s confidence inZIL, permits longer-term planning, and ismore in line with the average duration ofdoctoral projects.The most important feature of the newcontract was the condition that ZIL secured the structural andfinancial commitment of the ETH Zurich for its managementand administration within the first two years of the contractperiod. ZIL achieved this objective by merging with NIDECO tothe North-South Centre, effective at the beginning of July 2007.ZIL research programmeLivestock systems research in support of poor peopleIn 2005, the ZIL constituency decided to continue its researchprogramme on “Livestock systems research in support ofpoor people” into the new SDC contract phase. In a series ofinternal and external consultations, ZIL members and theirpartners and advisors concluded that the need for livestocksystems research was as great as when ZIL started this programmethree years earlier. The animal sector remains thefastest growing agricultural activity in developing countries,undergoing rapid structural changes. Therefore, research hasto address technologies, institutions, and policies for povertyalleviation, environmental sustainability, and public health.The structural changes go along with the concentration ofanimal production in large industrialised units (mainly periurban),with changes in consumer behaviour and demand(urbanisation and “supermarketisation”), and the expansionof ruminant production into marginal areas. The environmentaland social impact of these changing patterns of animalproduction has to be addressed at different system levelsand on different scales, and has to take into accountcross-sectoral effects. In order to face these challengingresearch topics, ZIL has adjusted its programme structure tothese emerging issues by giving greater emphasis to environmentalaspects (diagramme on p. 24).In a further step, ZIL developed a project document with alogical framework for its intended activities over the nextfour-year contract period. Beyond specifying the livestocksystems research programme, this document linked the ZILprogramme to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),and presented the institutional development of ZIL as thecomplementary component of its contract with SDC.New research projectsBased on these considerations, ZIL launched two calls for projectproposals for the new funding phase V, one in December 2005and one in July 2006. The selection procedure remained the4