The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has published its annual report for 2018, and for the first time in its publication history, the report is primarily online. Going digital was done to save paper, match the best practices of other organizations within  CGIAR, and just generally speaking jump into the 21st century, says new Communication and Knowledge Management director Michael Victor.

In addition to the full online report, the institute also produced an eight-page brochure, with summaries or precis of the stories in the report. The brochure includes a QR Code that will take people to the full report online using their cell phones.

The report focuses on 10 of ILRI’s specific achievements:

1. A novel index to measure women’s empowerment in livestock production;
2. A rapid, standardized and cost-effective tool for tracking agricultural performance;
3. The creation and promotion of a bioinformatics community of practice for agricultural sciences in Africa;
4. An electronic disease surveillance system to improve early detection of livestock diseases;
5. A program using cell phone apps and emerging genomics to provide farmers and scientists with the information they need to improve dairy cattle in east Africa;
6. A process, adapted from emerging biofuel technology, to convert straws and stover into feed concentrates;
7. A program to secure rangelands and settle conflicts through village land use planning in Tanzania;
8. The Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)-ILRI Hub efforts to mentor women to become future leaders in science;
9. A retrospective of ILRI’s participation in Borlaug-Ruan high school internship program, as recognized at the 2018 world food prize award;
10. A program in Vietnam to foster South-South partnerships to improve food safety in Asia.

In addition to the stories about ILRI’s various research and programmatic initiatives, the report includes an overview from director general Jimmy Smith and Board chair Lindsay Falvey and some graphics about ILRI research and communication projects. Smith and Falvey write that the state of the institute is strong. For ILRI, they write, ‘2018 was a year of continuing progress and solid achievement—and for that we remain both grateful and proud. Thanks to our staff, our partners, our donors and the governments with which we work, ILRI is helping countless farmers and other stakeholders in the livestock sector in the developing world live better lives through livestock.’