 My name is Lucy Gasheli, working in the business development office in Nairobi. I have been in Niri for the last 18 years, and initially I started off in the finance department. Then in 2004, I went on to the business development unit. At that time it used to be called the resource mobilization unit. What is my critical success story? Well, mine is securing sustainable and appropriate funding for Niri. And I'm going to tell a personal story which will connect with my work here at Niri. In Africa we say that it takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a mother to raise a village. This mother I'm talking about is my own mother, Mrs. Esther Muenje, and I am the first born of eight siblings that she has raised. I was born and raised in the eastern province of Kenya, which is about two hours' drive from Nairobi. My father was a banker, my mother was a school teacher, and she was also a farmer. A mixed farmer used to grow crops as well as keep livestock, sheep, goats, cattle, and chicken. My father provided for our shelter and school fees, but it was my mother's responsibility to ensure that her children were fed and all other needs taken care of including clothing and everything else, as well as looking after my many relatives and about some of our neighbors who are not as well as we were. Indeed, I can say she miraculously managed to work as a teacher and also till her farm and her livestock. I don't know how she managed this, although we occasionally helped her after school. We would go to the shamba after school work, we would go to, even on Saturdays and during the school holidays. She would measure a bed for us and tell us, I want you to finish that bed, and we would work very hard because we realized that without that, we would not be able to be fed and clothed and become like any other child. So income from both my parents was very critical because we were so many. And in addition, like most African settings, the community expected a lot from us actually. And I can tell you that feeding all those children plus others which were not hers was not an easy task. The produce from the livestock that she kept was mainly meant for the sustenance, while anything extra was actually sold to the neighbors or taken to the market. And hence she understood very well the purpose of being able to raise the income for her family. My mother worked on the farm for more than five decades, crop farming, improving the family standard of living. As a livestock farmer, she understood very well that this livestock would increase her income on our income as well. She took it as a setting asset. She also took whatever she got from the shamba because she knew that it was helping the soil productivity for her crops. And even her social status for a passe. Indeed it got to a point in her life that she put about four hectares of coffee in order to plant nepia grass and oruzan for her cattle. She increased her breed of cattle to improve them. And mini cattle, she didn't care about chicken very much. She even had pigs as well. But she realized that livestock was more beneficial than the crops that she was growing. My mother was extremely hardworking and at one point in her life, my father got sick and for that in good years, as well as I had a responsibility, she took care of him. Later on, about six years ago, my mother got dementia. And I am now looking after her. I'm living with her and it is not an easy task but I enjoy doing it. So in her own mind, my mother knew that livestock matters. So now in conclusion, I'd like to resonate my work at EV in the business development unit to my own upbringing. And today, because if it were not for my mother's efforts, I would not even be standing here today to talk to you like this. For me, in the business development unit, it all starts with circulating an appropriate proposal call to the scientists to make them aware that there is a possible funding that might be coming out. I am not a scientist but I want you to know that for every proposal that passes through my hands, it means so much to me, particularly when it gets funded. Because I understand it matters on a personal level because I have seen what livestock can do even to people back home. It has supported so many of us in the family and for that particular community that we used to live in. So I celebrate internally with the project leader, with the program staff and the institutes at home. I truly internally feel good about that proposal that has gotten funded because I understand that it will alleviate the poverty, improve nutrition of so many people in other communities as well. So, all in all, you can see how the critical success factor that I worked with resonates well with securing sustainable and appropriate funding for the institute. So yes, I also know that livestock matters. So now I would like to thank Susan for encouraging me to come up here to be able to stand here and to all of you for listening to my short story. Thank you.