Introduction
Ethiopian Veterinary Association (EVA) is an autonomous non-for-profit professional membership organization in Ethiopia, established on June 22, 1974 through the initiative of 13 visionary veterinarians. The association is a member of the World Veterinary Association. It has a mandate of promoting and strengthening the veterinary profession, respect professional ethics and code of conduct, and above all to safeguard the right of veterinarians. Moreover, EVA has been contributing to the emergence of efficient, effective and competitive livestock industry in Ethiopia. The association is dedicated to policy advocacy, development, promotion, and dissemination of knowledge and good practices in the livestock sector and serving the interest of the society.
The association is registered and accorded legal personality with Registry Number 0495 as local organization in accordance with the Civil Society Organizations Proclamation no. 1113/2019 (First registration occurred in 2009). The association has close to 2000 members involved in different sectors of the profession.
Through the EU-funded HEARD Project (Health of Ethiopian Animals for Rural Development Project), EVA would like to commission a qualified consultant to study and design a comprehensive, internationally acceptable standard methodological framework ( indicators) to be employed to determine the current and future veterinary services coverage of Ethiopia.
Background and Rationale
For countries like Ethiopia, where agriculture is the main economic stand for majority (about 80%) of the population and livestock has a great economic and cultural significance, animal health and welfare are of paramount importance. The responsibility of managing these professional services that contribute enormously to improved food security and poverty alleviation falls squarely on the veterinary service sector of the country.
The development and growth of many poor countries depend mainly on the performance of their agricultural policies and economics. This relates directly to the coverage and quality of their veterinary services. Quality of national veterinary services depends on a range of factors, which include fundamental principles of ethical, organizational and technical nature. Veterinary services need to operate on scientifically based principles and be technically competent, independent and immune from political pressure (OIE, 2010). In Ethiopia, the focus of strategic plans like GTP I, II and III, animal health strategy and the livestock master plan with respect to the livestock sector have been targeting in improving coverage, quality and regulatory aspects of animal health services. Accordingly, an all-encompassing animal health information system capable of generating real time epidemiological information which would help for investigation, control, early warning and early reaction should be established.
Improved animal health services could hugely increase livestock productivity and the earnings of their owners. Although the coverage and quality of such services are less than satisfactory, provision has expanded and improved across Ethiopia. To meet rising export standards and enhance the quality of animal health services, the Ethiopian government has embraced standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Regardless of the wide-ranging efforts made to improve quality and coverage of veterinary services in Ethiopia, there are still major gaps in realizing services of the desired quality and coverage. Further, while there is variation among regions on the way they determine the veterinary workforce they require, the national veterinary service system in Ethiopia recommends one animal health expert for three kebeles. However, little information is available to justify the real coverage of veterinary clinic and animal health posts, laboratories, private animal health service providers, quarantines and certification and inspection at border post, abattoir inspection, disease surveillance and outbreak reporting, the capacity of laboratories and veterinary clinics to provide definitive diagnosis for tests and treatment choices. Information on the involvement of private sector, their distribution across different geographical areas of the country and the range of services they provide is also scarce. Furthermore, there is no nationally adapted standardized methodological framework for determining the animal health services coverage in the country including standards of determining the number of animal health personnel required for the veterinary service. The national veterinary service system in Ethiopia recommended one animal health expert for three kebeles, while there is variation among regions on the way they determine the veterinary workforce they require. There is also no adequate data to provide operational and physical status of diverse animal health infrastructures across the different regions of the country.
The OIE employs its own PVS tools for determining performance of veterinary services of countries by using different parameters. One of the four pillars of the OIE PVS tool is the human, physical and financial resources allocated to the veterinary service in which the professional and technical staffing of the veterinary services is one of the major components. Therefore, strengthening the Ethiopian veterinary services in line with the OIE standards and the requirements of livestock and livestock products importing countries would make it competitive with other countries engaged in the livestock and livestock products export industry by enhancing national compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary standards. Furthermore, accurate statistics on the national animal health service coverage of a country enables decision makers to efficiently plan and implement required policy and strategic interventions. This is more logical and pragmatic approach to reduce disease impact and boost production for the food and nutritional security of the livestock producers of the country.
Compounded with this there has been very scarce to no standard indicators or methodological framework to determine up-to-date veterinary or animal health services coverage of the country, making it difficult for public and private actors to design and implement policies and investments which is meant to expand service coverage at different level of the country from Federal to frontline Kebele level.
Objective
The objective of this task is to study and design a comprehensive, internationally acceptable standard methodological framework or indicators to be employed to determine the current and future veterinary services coverage of Ethiopia.
Scope of Work
Expected Outputs of the Study
Methodology and Tasks to be Accomplished
The current assignment will be carried out by an external consultant having a team of qualified experts (a team leader and senior consultants). The consultants are expected to have adequate and good understanding of Ethiopian animal health care service systems, understanding of various livestock production systems (Pastoral, agro-pastoral and mixed farming systems) and agro-ecologies, institutional, governing structures and strategies. The consultants are expected to have a good understanding of the current constraints and opportunities of the Ethiopian livestock production systems in general, and the animal health services delivery system in particular. In addition, experiences of handling related assignment along with a good understanding of local and international animal health care requirements and principles are required.
The consultants will work mainly through a desk review to carry out the following assignment. Consultation of senior individuals, and key informant interview of different directors and Regional vet officers will be employed as necessary. They may also require to virtually communicate with the Regional veterinary officers on need basis to get some particular information or data.
The following approaches, methodologies and tools will be employed to design methodological framework to estimate national animal health services coverage of Ethiopia.
Task Management and Reporting
Required Qualification and Experiences
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