The Livestock Data for Decisions (LD4D) community of practice aims to drive better livestock decision making through improved data and analytics
LD4D connects the livestock community to catalyse positive change in the use and accessibility of livestock data in low-and middle-income countries. By bringing the livestock community together regularly to discuss, share, negotiate and resolve data challenges, and facilitate access to curated interactive tools, the community works to present its data in a compelling way to support decision-making.
LD4D was established in 2017 by SEBI (Supporting Evidence-based Interventions). SEBI relaunched as SEBI-Livestock in late 2020, and has secured another 5 years of funding for the LD4D community.
SEBI-Livestock support the LD4D community in peer-to-peer learning, data sharing, and promoting innovations and best practices. The community’s website, livestockdata.org, brings together tools, data, and more. We support members to better communicate their data through the creation of visualisations. We also spotlight our members’ innovations in livestock data through the LD4D blog. The aim is to help expose best practice and data outputs which can be used by others in the community and beyond.
Today, LD4D brings together 450 individuals and organisations working with livestock data around the world. The community facilitates connections and discussions amongst a network of livestock specialists from a range of disciplines and agencies, including national-level agencies and enterprises, and data science groups who have not traditionally been involved in livestock research.
LD4D is guided by a Steering Committee, whose members are leaders in the livestock data community.
Working groups
The LD4D community has convened a number of short-term working groups to discuss and address common challenges. These included the Livestock Fact Check project, which explored the origins of popular livestock facts and the Ontology Working Group, which has brought together a highly engaged range of organisations working on these topics.
Looking ahead, working groups will be invigorated with open calls for projects that focus on a collaborative approach, and deliver clear outputs for end users.
Community outputs
To date, LD4D has developed a range of data and evidence products, which are accessible through the community’s data and evidence portal, livestockdata.org.
Examples of community products
Factsheets
- The Livestock Fact Check series delves into the data behind popular livestock facts.
Data visualisations
- What livestock eat in low-and middle-income countries
- Global database of Veterinary Medicines Regulators
- Map of livestock development projects in low-and middle-income countries
Spotlight on our members’ livestock data innovations
- More meat, milk and eggs: a look at livestock yield gaps in Tanzania and Nigeria
- India’s high-tech milk boom
- It’s time to zero in on the gender gap in livestock data
- A streamlined tool for rural household surveys – Q&A with Jim Hammond on RHoMIS – the Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey
LD4D meetings and outreach
The LD4D community now meets virtually to identify thematic livestock data challenges, learn about innovative approaches for addressing decision maker data needs, and share experiences.
The Secretariat also facilitates communications and knowledge exchange activities for the network.
Get in touch
- Visit livestockdata.org
- Sign up for the LD4D newsletter
- Follow @LD4D_Community on twitter
- Contact the LD4D Secretariat