The GAAP team. Photo credit: Chiara Kovarik
Last week, the GAAP team met at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the final technical workshop of the GAAP project. The group, which consisted of the grantees, project leaders, GAAP core members, and External Advisory Committee members, enjoyed the beautiful ILRI campus (including resident antelope!), strong Ethiopian coffee, and two and a half days of presentations and lively discussion about the projects.
Great presentations from all of the grantees. Photo credit: Chiara Kovarik
Grantees were asked to present their findings thus far and their plans for completing their work in the coming months. After each presentation, discussants drew connections across projects and pointed out ways in which the findings could be clarified or explored in more depth. Grantees were also treated to presentations about how to effectively present their message, as well as monitoring and evaluation. Coffee breaks and group dinners offered grantees the chance to discuss similarities and differences across projects and share ideas and lessons learned. A shopping trip to Addis Ababa’s crafts market created opportunities for bonding and boosting the local economy!
Stuck in a camel jam. Photo credit: Chiara Kovarik
On the last afternoon, a large group took a field trip to Debre Zeit, around 30 miles outside of the city, to a women's dairy cooperative to speak with the cooperative members about theexperience of belonging to the group and the challenges of dairy production. Though the bus was briefly delayed by a pack of camels, the field trip was a success! The cooperative members had questions for the GAAP participants too, inquiring how they can access resources to build their business and what smallholder dairy farmers in other countries have been doing. It proved to be a learning experience for everyone, and a nice way to see a bit of the countryside for the many that were visiting Ethiopia for the first time.