CHOLD Initiative was renamed in 2025 to reflect a sharper focus: the holistic development of livestock systems, delivered through data intelligence, disease resilience and inclusive leadership engagement. This note sets out what that focus commits us to between now and 2030.
A caveat belongs at the top rather than in a footnote. Every target below is conditional on partnership. We are not a delivery agency operating alone; the attainment of these impacts is hinged on strong partnerships and collaborations with government, donors, research institutions, private sector actors and traditional institutions. Where those partnerships do not materialise, the corresponding target will not be met, and we would rather say so now than explain it in 2030.
01: Enhanced livestock productivity and health
The headline commitment: 5,000,000+ livestock reached through improved animal health services and disease surveillance, 10,000+ veterinary professionals trained in digital animal health systems and diagnostics, and an 80% reduction in outbreak response time in target areas through digital early warning.
The training figure matters more than it looks. A surveillance system is only as fast as the slowest human in the chain, and the constraint in most states is not the absence of veterinarians but the absence of veterinarians equipped to use digital reporting and rapid diagnostic protocols.
02: Strengthened traditional leadership engagement
3,000+ traditional leaders trained and engaged in livestock governance and planning. 200+ community-led development frameworks co-designed with traditional institutions. A 50% increase in local adoption of veterinary and livestock technologies where leadership endorsement is secured.
This is the impact area most likely to be treated as soft. It is not. It is the multiplier on every other area, and it is measured through adoption rates rather than attendance sheets.
03: Livestock information and data systems integration
National or regional Livestock Information Management Systems deployed across 125+ administrative sub-national levels. 100,000+ livestock producers registered and tracked within digital platforms. 95% data accuracy in herd management records and disease surveillance databases.
The accuracy target is deliberately the binding constraint. Deployment counts are easy to report and easy to inflate; accuracy is what determines whether a minister can act on the dashboard in front of them.
04: Livestock value chain growth and innovation
5,000+ agripreneurs and livestock SMEs supported through training, finance or market linkages. A 30% increase in livestock product market access and revenue for rural producers. 1,000 new jobs in supply chain logistics, cold storage and value-added processing.
Value chain work is where the sector's development case becomes an investment case. Cold storage and processing capacity are the difference between a producer who sells at the farm gate under distress and one who chooses when to sell.
05: Resilient and climate-adapted livestock systems
50+ climate-resilient pastoral zones mapped and supported through data planning tools, and a 20% decrease in climate-related livestock losses in supported areas. Alongside this, the development of climate-sensitive livestock insurance tools for vulnerable communities.
The urgency here is not abstract. Northern Nigeria loses roughly 350,000 hectares annually to desertification, at an estimated cost of $5.1 billion per year. Shrinking pasture drives southward movement, and southward movement drives conflict. Climate adaptation in this sector is conflict prevention.
06: Capacity building and knowledge exchange
25,000+ stakeholders trained (farmers, extension workers, policymakers and youth) across 300+ training sessions and workshops, supported by an open-access knowledge platform for data, research and training materials.
The open-access commitment is intentional. Knowledge held privately by implementing organisations is one of the quieter reasons the sector keeps relearning the same lessons every funding cycle.
07: Emergency response and coordination infrastructure
10+ Emergency Livestock Coordination Centres designed or supported, real-time reporting channels established across 5+ national veterinary networks, and a 60% reduction in emergency response time through digitised communication and early alerts.
Coordination infrastructure is unglamorous and it is the difference between an early warning and an early response. A signal that arrives in a system with no one rostered to receive it is not a warning.
How these fit together
Read as a list, these are seven programmes. Read as a system, they are one argument: data makes the sector legible, surveillance makes it safe, traditional leadership makes it adoptable, value chains make it profitable, climate work makes it durable, capacity building makes it self-sustaining, and coordination infrastructure makes it responsive. Remove any one and the others degrade.
That is what “holistic” means in our name. It is not a synonym for comprehensive; it is a claim about dependency.
