These guidelines are designed for all those involved in planning and implementing sheep breeding activities with resource-poor farmers in developing countries. This includes research centers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmers’ associations and livestock development projects, and government extension officials. The guidelines address the lack of generic direction on designing and implementing community-based breeding. Community-based breeding programs are proposed as an option for genetic improvement of livestock in developing countries. This new approach has been tested in a few places with promising results (e.g. with dairy goats in Mexico, llamas and alpacas in Bolivia and Peru). They draw on practical experiences from implementing community-based sheep breeding programs in four agro-ecological zones in Ethiopia and provide guidance for continuing and outscaling the breeding program in Ethiopia and for planning similar projects elsewhere.