| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Livestock Project: Puntland Pastoralists Program |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
LICUS |
Status: |
Closed |
| File Number: |
16
| Region: |
AFR |
| Sector: |
Agriculture, fishing, and forestry |
Country: |
Somalia |
| FY approved: |
2005 |
Grant Theme : |
Rural development |
| Keyword(s): |
Civil society / NGOs;Community-driven development |
Approved Amount: |
$498,555.00 |
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Grant Recipient:
CARE-Somalia |
Grant Purpose:
This project will support animal health and welfare, and projects to train animal health auxiliaries remain of critical importance to the Somali livestock sector. More specifically, the grant will:
(i) Support reduced vulnerability of pastoral communities through increased resilience of livestock production to climatic variations through increased access to essential animal health services for the target pastoral communities;
(ii) Improving understanding and consensus among the stakeholders on natural resource management needs.
The primary contribution of this proposal to the longer-term livestock strategy in Somalia, developed by the Government, in partnership with the World Bank and the European Commission, will be its positive effect on livestock productivity as a result of conservation and regeneration of pasture and water, coupled with provision of essential animal health services through public-private partnership. This proposed support will also provide a strengthened institutional framework for community animal health services delivery amongst the Ministry of Livestock, the private sector and pastoral communities in Puntland.
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Grant Activities:
Component 1: Community-based animal health services
CARE and VSF-Suisse will work with four local NGOs to establish community animal health “businesses” run by 60 Nomadic Animal Health Auxiliaries, who will be technically trained and supervised by urban-based professional veterinarians and will work under the public endorsement and backing of the Community Development Committees (CDCs) that represent pastoral communities. In two of the target locations in Bari region, CARE and two local NGOs will introduce the business-oriented approach tested by VSF-Suisse in the south to the existing, CDC-managed community-based animal health services. At the same time, CARE and VSF-Suisse will work with two other local NGOs to design new community-based animal health interventions that involve both private veterinarians and CDCs from the start in the remaining two locations in Nugal and Mudug.
Component 2: Institutional framework
Working with four local NGOs, CARE will identify an appropriate form of participation for the mobile population and build inclusive and representative CDCs in the pastoral communities. Since all the stakeholders will be interdependent in sustaining community-based animal health service delivery long after the close of the program, CARE and VSF-Suisse will bring together the local NGOs, the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Environment, private veterinarians, and the pastoral communities, to provide ongoing support to them so that they are all able to play their part, and that linkages between different sectors are effective and productive. The program will create an opportunity for these stakeholders to learn to work together in the process of design, implementation, monitoring and/or evaluation of a set of mutually reinforcing animal health interventions at multiple levels.
Component 3: Natural resource management research
The policy vacuum following the collapse of the former regime and eroding authority of traditional/clan elders resulted in loss of consensus on equitable, peaceful and sustainable natural resource management (NRM) between clans which dispute over access to natural resources. With a view to inform policy and practices at the grassroots and national level, CARE and the local NGOs will work with the the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Environment (MoLAE) and the Community Development Committees in the target communities to conduct in-depth research at macro and micro levels on the existing NRM practices and their implications on pastoral livelihoods. The research designs will allow participation of MoLAE and pastoral communities in the process and their influence on the outcome, and will be meant to build their ownership of the findings and recommendations. Through ongoing learning and reflection, the outcome of the researches will lead to the participatory design of a full-fledged NRM component in follow-up activities.
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Lessons Learned:
In 2006, the livestock sector in Somalia accounted for over 80 percent of the agricultural activity in the country, employing over 50 percent of the population. It was expected that the sector would be the major source of revenue for regional administrations. The goal of the Puntland Pastoralists Program (PPP) was congruent with these expectations – the objective of the project was to strengthen institutional structures within the public, private and civil society sectors, so that they could deliver animal health services. Although there were large numbers of livestock, there were few service providers for animal health. The ultimate goal was increased access to essential animal health services for communities.
The project was implemented jointly by CARE and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Suisse, in cooperation with local NGOs, as a one-year pilot project. Both implementing partners have had a long experience in supporting community-based animal service delivery in Somalia.
The PPP trained and provided financial assistance to 60 nomadic animal health auxiliaries (NAHAs) and four veterinary supervisors in animal health service delivery and management. The NAHAs and vets were selected by communities and served as the main service providers of animal health. The project helped vets open their veterinary drug stores and purchase more than 20 types of high quality medicines. After the initial supply, the vets were able to buy additional medicines with money obtained from the first supply of drugs. The NAHAs and vets were able to treat more than 116,000 animals.
Studies showed that there was an overall decrease in livestock mortality during the time the PPP was implemented. In addition, while NAHAs were previously seen as inefficient, an evaluation suggested that the level of confidence in NAHAs by livestock keepers increased as a result of their increased quality of service.
Before the project, drugs were imported from Asia and the Middle East but stored very poorly and sold by traders without any relevant knowledge of the drugs. During the project, the distribution of drugs through the newly-established drug stores provided pastoralists with high-quality medicines. Although the drugs promoted by the PPP were more expensive due to their superior quality, their concentrations were higher, and lower volumes were required to achieve the desired dosage, compared to the drugs sold on the black market. An evaluation of the project established, however, that more sensitization is needed to provide pastoralists with efficient information on drugs and animal health services, so that they could change their attitudes and refrain from buying cheap veterinary medicines sold on the black market. Pastoralists tend to buy cheap drugs primarily because they are not well informed. For this reason, implementing agencies recommended that dynamic campaigns were needed to market the concept of high-quality drugs as well as usage of improved animal services.
The evaluation of the PPP suggested that the USD 120 drug kits provided to NAHAs were too small as initial capital to allow them to start a sustainable business and use their work as a means of earning a living. In this case, NAHAs had to find other means of income, which affected the time they spent on animal health services. Therefore, bigger financial assistance is needed as a start-up in similar projects. There should be adequate monetary rewards for services provided to the community, so that the service providers could earn their living from their employment.
One of the project components provided capacity building to local public and private institutions in animal health service delivery. Although this marked a process of strengthening of Community Development Committees and Pastoralists Associations and defining their roles, it will take time for renewed capacity to influence policy development. Also, more efforts are needed to enhance the capacity of these institutions and strengthen their roles.
The evaluation of the project outlined the private-sector driven approach utilized in the project as a positive step in the process of establishing sustainable animal health delivery services. The business approach supporting NAHAs and vets not only proved feasible but was accepted and appreciated by the local community. In addition, achieved reductions of animal mortality would mean larger herds of livestock which, in turn will present vet practitioners with more business, thereby enhancing sustainability of the private-sector driven approach.
The PPP evaluation also found that the external sourcing of drugs would not be sustainable, as it would depend on project funds. Efforts should, therefore, be made to identify veterinary professionals and business people to procure, distribute and sell veterinary drugs and supplies. This would support home business ventures.
Similarly, the short time span of the implementation period required a clearly defined strategic implementation approach. Up-front stakeholder analysis rather than mere identification would have enhanced defining the roles of stakeholders.
Project evaluation also suggested that, although the PPP significantly achieved its goals, one year is too short to measure the impact of livelihood on the population. A longer time span is, therefore needed for measuring the effect of the project, as it would yield more results on the impact of livelihood activities on communities.
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