Decision-support tools are now available to help practitioners identify which households and communities would benefit most from restocking efforts. Restocking projects can greatly improve the food and livelihood security of vulnerable farmers and pastoralists. However, the impact they have on poverty is often low because they are badly targeted. By learning lessons from past projects, the new support tools could help to avoid this in our intervention areas. On the project level, a major lesson learned from restocking projects is that knowledge transferred was often limited to the individuals and organisations involved and not available to the wider community. Therefore, the project will invest in training programmes, public education campaigns and research to collect, analyze and spread results to inform donor thinking and programmes in livestock restocking in many places.

It is important, when considering poverty that the capabilities and agency of the poor are not ignored. Inarguably, livestock are a key means to facilitate the potential of the poor. The sale and consumption of animal products decrease the vulnerability of households to normal seasonal food and income deprivations. Therefore, livestock can both fulfill wider food security needs and enhance the nutritional status of the most vulnerable: women, children and the elderly. Keeping livestock also helps to shield households from sudden shocks. Further, animal ownership may increase the ability of households and individuals to participate in social rituals and fulfill social obligations. Livestock are also a key source of collateral for the poor and enable many households to obtain access to capital and business loans. Thus, livestock are an important capital asset, which with careful tending can propel households out of abject poverty and into market economies.