Women in livestock farming in Uganda have been empowered and trained on vaccines access and proper administration for both animals and poultry.  This was during a project dubbed the Livestock Vaccine Innovation Fund (LVIF) undertaken to address the barriers faced by women in livestock vaccine systems in Uganda and generating new evidence on how women can better benefit and participate in the vaccination systems.

The Livestock Vaccine Innovation Fund (LVIF) was funded by Canada International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to support the development of affordable livestock vaccines, targeting diseases that affect women and men who are livestock keepers. The project has been implemented through a set of research action based accomplishments including;

The SHeVax+ research (hearing Their Voices, Action Research to Support Women’s Agency and Empowerment in Livestock Vaccine Distribution, delivery and Use is a partnership between the Cumming School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and the Africa One Health University Network (AFROHUN) together with their implementing partners including Makerere University, University of Nairobi and University of Rwanda. Prof. William Bazeyo is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AFROHUN. The project assessed the state of women’s empowerment and gender parity on the vaccine value chain, identified key entry points among women smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs to contribute to and benefit from livestock vaccines thereby improving livestock production   and livelihoods. The project was implemented in Sembabule district in Uganda, Machakos County in Kenya, and Nayagatare district in Rwanda.

Advancing Women’s Participation in Livestock Vaccine Value Chain Nepal, Senegal and Uganda research. Implemented by the University of Florida (UF) in collaboration with Makerere University, the project aimed at increasing women’s use of pest des petits ruminants (PPR) vaccines for their small ruminants in Nepal, Senegal, and Uganda as well as Newcastle Disease vaccines for their poultry in Senegal.  Recognizing  the fact that there are multiple  factors  that prevent  women  from vaccinating  their animals, most often related to gender  and intersectional issues  such as class, ethnicity, disability  and geographic location, the project introduced the Gender Intersectional Transformative Approach (GITA) with the aim of working with women livestock owners, all levels of animal health workers and trainers with a transformative mind of opening up spaces to allow full participation in the livestock vaccination value chain. In Uganda, the project was implemented in Karamoja Sub region targeting selected sub counties in four districts of Abim, Amudat, Kotido and Moroto.

According to Dr. Evelyn Baraké, the Project Officer- IDRC, the Livestock Innovation Fund was initiated to accelerate the development of new vaccines against neglected livestock diseases, increase the efficacy, marketability and use of existing livestock vaccines and fostering effective partnerships between vaccine researchers and public and private sector actors. The project also focused on animal diseases posing the greatest risk to poor livestock keepers in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia.

“Our program on Women empowerment and Livestock Vaccines has enhanced the mapping exercise on livestock vaccine value chains. Through this program, we have been able to identify barriers preventing women from accessing vaccines and sought out the effective interventions to increase the demand for vaccines and their use,” she noted.

Dr. Evelyn Baraké also mentioned that IDRC has utilized the programme approach to define and measure changes in gender norms and empowerment hence fostering gender transformative impact.

Majority of rural households in low developing countries are engaged in livestock rearing.  This activity is undertaken by both women and men in most cases who are predominantly agro-pastoral smallholders within mixed farming systems.  According to Dr. Nargiza Ludgate- the Co-Principal Investigator of the project; Advancing Women’s participation in livestock vaccine value chain, gender and attitudes of animal health service providers can affect their veterinary practice and quality of care. Therefore, developing an understanding of how gender and perceptions can influence veterinary practice is essential to improve the reach and quality of service delivery.

In Uganda, women are often left out of agricultural extension services and technical support. This is because household power imbalances play a key role in animal health services.  In the livestock vaccine value chain, women and other marginalized groups such as minority ethnic groups, the elderly and persons living with dis-abilities have less access than men to key inputs such vaccines as well as limited ability to influence decision-making on vaccination and animal health within the households. In addition, women tend to miss out on veterinary services due to the deep- rooted social- cultural biases at household and community levels.  

“The unvaccinated animals of women and other marginalized groups are at a higher risk of infection and can spread diseases easily to other livestock. This, consequently undermines community level and global diseases control interventions, such as eradication of peste des petis ruminants by 2030,” noted Agnes Yawe, Head of Grants and Resource Mobilization/ Partnerships, AFROHUN.

Yawe also highlighted the bigger gender gap that has for long existed in the current veterinary curriculum in Uganda when she said, “this curriculum is set by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) and must meet the World Health Organization (WHO) for Animal Health standards for veterinarians or para- veterinarians.  However, the primary focus of the current curriculum is directed to scientific and technical knowledge or the “hard skills” with little or no space for soft “soft skills” such as gender responsive communication, empathic listening, effective communication and community engagement.”

She further noted the need to integrate gender concepts in refresher courses and workshops for veterinarians   and other animal health service providers to enrich their understanding on how best to reach out to women and other marginalized groups.

Prof. Anthony Mugisha, SheVax Country Lead and Co-Principal Investigator in Uganda highlighted the need to increase women’s access to communication tools as a way of enhancing their access to information.

“Women’s limited access to mobile phones and community networks that pass on information also means that they often miss out on the messages related to animal health campaigns. Additionally, those livestock   keepers (women and men) who are poor, elderly   or living with disabilities or belong to an ethnic group such as the Tepeth who live far away from the community centres on the slopes of Mount Moroto are always left out by veterinary extension agents,” he said.

On Monday 5^th March 2023, a multi-stakeholders meeting was convened at Golden Tulip in Kampala, Uganda to; –

1. Engage key stakeholders in the livestock vaccine value chain
2. Showcase promising approaches for gender responsive and inclusive livestock vaccine value chain
3. Disseminate research findings and policy recommendations with key stakeholders

The meeting was officially graced by Hon. Janet Akech Okori-moe, Woman Member of Parliament of Abim district and the Chairperson Agriculture committee of Parliament of Uganda and attended by livestock farmers, policy Makers, research and scientists and media.

Speaking at the meeting, Hon. Janet Akech Okori-Moe said that small ruminants such as goats, sheep and poultry form a bigger part of livelihood enterprise and provide key benefits to most smallholder farmers especially women in the developing countries including Uganda. She also noted that whereas this is so, the animal   value chain right from production up to the end point of selling the product quite often leaves out women and other vulnerable groups.

“It is estimated globally that approximately 262 million people at the worst poor keep livestock for food security and income generation and women represent two thirds of this total population. Women being smallholder farmers, face serious challenges and therefore the need to support them, build their confidence in a patriarchal society and allow their participation in matters that affect them through equipping them with information and mindset change training sessions,” she noted.

“Available record also shows that women have poor access to vaccines for the few livestock they manage. They are believed to be good animal care takers compared to their male counter parts hence strategies are needed to ensure that women’s ability to participate and benefit from the vaccine value chains is realized,” she added.

With reference to the existing village health teams, Hon. Janet Akech Okori-Moe called for the consideration for formation of the village animal health teams to attend to challenges affecting livestock farmers in Uganda.  She as well urged policymakers to enhance their actions and discussions that support the need to address animal health challenges in Uganda.

Highlighting government support towards livestock farming in Uganda, Hon. Akech Okori-Moe informed participants of the recently launched government Scientific Vaccine Trials that are currently being tested in five centres in Uganda including two prison farms. She acknowledged the tremendous work done by experts from Makerere University, School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, the University of Florida (UF), and the Africa One Health University Network (AFROHUN) through research to empower more women in livestock farming.

In the same spirit, the Honourable Member of Parliament thanked Canada International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for supporting programmmes tailored at addressing dilemmas surrounding animal health in Uganda.

“Thank you for building confidence in women. With your support, their voices are being heard, their actions are being felt, their participation is being noticed in animal health promotion and I pray that this research is replicated with resources and time allowing to other equally deserving areas,” she said.

The project success stories

According to Dr. Hellen Amuguni, the Principal Investigator of Shevax project, Dr. Hellen Amuguni, the project was able to;-

• Train 24 Animal Health Service Providers and well quipped to serve 140,000 households.
• Over 1500 people have received animal health training.
• 1,200 Vaxxer calendars have been disseminated.

She acknowledged the projects efforts to equip farmers with solar powered fridges, vaccine kits and trainings on how and when to access and administer the vaccines to animals and poultry.  

Three policy briefs on making vaccines available and accessible to women and marginalized livestock farmers; Gender-responsive and inclusive veterinary extension for health animals, reduced poverty and empowered women; and Gender and social inclusion training for veterinary animal health services providers were developed and shared to key stakeholders.

The project also facilitated the development of IEC materials in form of posters and comic books written and translated in the local languages of the communities that were engaged during the project implementation process.

Women were also trained in basic skills in photography as a way of expressing themselves, tell their stories and enhancing their voices on livestock farming. In seeking to transform the veterinary extension services to become more gender aware, responsive and inclusive, the team recommended the following:

• Putting gender-inclusive livestock policies into practice through actual procedures or processes to improve vaccination programs
• Fostering collaborations between animal health technical providers and community development service providers to reach stakeholders who are left behind
• Gender responsiveness of service provision should be an integral part of animal health technical trainings
• Including women along the animal and poultry Vaccine Value Chain (VVC) improves the efficacy and efficiency of vaccination programs by reaching underserved smallholders
• Government and private Animal Health Service Providers (AHSPs) need to recognize that socio-cultural issues at household and community level prevent women and other marginalized small holders from using and engaging as providers of livestock vaccine services
• Public- private collaboration within the livestock vaccine value chain needs committed leadership from government agencies and relevant departments
• Investing in integrating gender knowledge and communication skills into training and curriculum for veterinarians and animal service providers
• Encouraging women and marginalized groups to become animal health service providers
• Ensuring that Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) trainings follow a competence- based learning framework, enriched with gender and soft skills modules and offered as refresher courses
• Strengthening women, the poor, elderly and persons living with disabilities livestock keepers’ access to critical animal health welfare services, such as veterinary care, drugs and information and technology
• Investing in gender transformative approaches in veterinary extension training
• Sensitizing community leaders, CAHWs and other key community stakeholders