The African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) program is hosting its second program management team (PMT) meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, this week (27-28 Jan 2016).

At the meeting, 25 participants from Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania will review the project’s first year of work and plan for the second year of the program—a crucial year for the project which will see chickens imported into the three program countries for on-station and on-farm testing. A draft testing protocol was released just before the meeting and will also be discussed.

Teams from the three program countries and program-wide teams (including the people in charge of innovation platforms and  the long-term genetic gains and capacity development) will be working together to develop a collective plan that suits their needs.

The ACGG program staff and teams from the three countries previously met in a first PMT meeting in Ethiopia in 2015. This second PMT meeting will look back at some of the major milestones of 2015.

Highlights of the first year include the setting up and staffing of the program operations in the implementing countries, collecting baseline data and organizing a program-wide data management plan, setting up innovation platforms, identifying the specificities of the chicken value chain in each country, developing ideas for long-term genetic gains and related capacity development activities, setting up partnerships with other projects at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and initiatives such as the nutrition-focused Improving Nutrition Outcomes Through Optimized Agricultural Investment (ATONU) project and communicating on the intentions and early achievements of ACGG.

See the meeting agenda and follow discussions and results from the meeting here.