The Challenge: The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) launched the Global Livestock Advocacy for Development (GLAD) initiative in 2016 to convene a community of practice to advocate for sustainable livestock as a lever for sustainable development. ILRI, on behalf of GLAD, sought support to communicate the initiative and its key messages externally.
Our Approach: Marchmont has worked with ILRI and GLAD since 2016 to help communicate the nuances of why livestock matter to developing countries. This has taken a phased approach as the GLAD initiative has evolved, which has included:
- Carrying out a media audit at the outset of GLAD’s first phase, which identified a key issue in media coverage to inform future media pitching – namely that Global North livestock narratives tended to dominate media coverage despite priorities for the Global South (e.g. undernutrition, higher animal mortality, extensive systems etc.) not being covered sufficiently.
- Carrying out out a series of interviews with key stakeholders to gather insights about the current perceptions of livestock for global development, as well as testing the emerging key messages that formed the basis of advocacy and communications work.
- Developing the concept and content for a microsite called “Why Livestock Matter” that is organised by theme and consolidates evidence to support further funding into the sector.
- Engaging media on behalf of the entire GLAD network to leverage case studies and stories from the whole community in support of the initiative’s objectives.
- Leading several dedicated media campaigns at strategic moments, including the coordination of an open letter ahead of the COP28 climate talks, signed by more than 130 supporters.
- Drafting and placing opinion articles on key themes at strategic moments.
- Providing both in-person and virtual press office support for key events such as UN climate, biodiversity and desertification talks.
Outcomes: To date, Marchmont’s outreach has helped secure ongoing media coverage of the potential for livestock to support sustainable development, driving spikes of coverage at key moments, including UN climate talks, such as COP27, as shown below, where spikes show peaks of coverage of livestock during the talks:
Coverage has included articles from Axios, Bloomberg, CNBC Africa, Forbes, the Guardian, New York Times, Reuters, and Voice of America among others. Op-eds from ILRI spokespeople and partners have also appeared in Al Jazeera, Devex, Euractiv, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Mongabay and Reuters among others.
