The International Livestock Research Institute (www.ilri.org ) offers thesis possibilities for Masters and PhD students of various disciplines in their imGoats project (2011-2012/13) in India and Mozambique. The project entitled ‘Small ruminant value chains as platforms for reducing poverty and increasing food security in dryland areas of India and Mozambique’ aims to transform the livelihoods of goat keepers in India and Mozambique through a transformation of their subsistence level goat production into a viable and profitable enterprise. The project goal of imGoats is to  increase incomes and food security of the poor in a sustainable manner by improving performance of goat value chains in India and Mozambique . The specific objectives of the project are (a) to pilot sustainable and replicable organizational and technical models to strengthen goat value chains in India and Mozambique that increase incomes, reduce vulnerability and enhance welfare amongst marginalized groups, including women and (b) to document, communicate and promote appropriate evidence-based model(s) for sustainable, pro-poor goat value chains.

The target group is about 500 vulnerable households in the semi-arid Inhassoro district in the Northern Inhambane province of Mozambique, of which 25% will be Female Headed Households and 20% households living with HIV and AIDS. In India, the project operates in Udaipur district of Rajasthan state and Dumka district of Jharkhand state, covering a total of 5000 scheduled caste and scheduled tribe and landless households. CARE International in Mozambique (http://www.care.org/ ) and BAIF in India (http://dev.ikf.in/baif/index.asp ) are leading the development aspects and local project administration in their respective project sites. More information on the project can be obtained at www.imgoats.org.

For more information on specific Msc and Ph D thesis research areas, please see here. For other information or questions please contact Ranjitha Puskur (r.puskur@cgiar.org) or Birgit Boogaard (b.boogaard@cgiar.org ) of the International Livestock Research Institute.