Introduction
The Ethiopian Veterinary Association (EVA) is an autonomous non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organization that acts on behalf of its members. It operates under the proclamation number, 1113/2019 issued to establish professional association. It is registered by the Ministry of Justice (Charities and Civil Societies Agency) with license number 0495 issued on July 3rd, 2019. EVA is established with the mission of advancing veterinary profession and creating an environment in which veterinary professionals benefit adequately while providing services to society and contributing to the emergence of efficient, effective and competitive livestock industry.
HEARD – is a European Union funded program designed to strengthen animal health services involving public and private sectors. The HEARD program aims to increase sustainable livestock productivity and improve the marketing of livestock products through enhancing quality and reliability of integrated public and private veterinary service delivery. As part of the EU-HEARD project, EVA aims to improve the quality of veterinary service delivery of the country by undertaking research studies in order to generate evidence on the existing gaps to inform decision makers for corrective actions. Key topics/research gaps to be studied under the HEARD project were identified and community’s willingness to pay for vaccination services is among the prioritized ones.
Background and Rationale
The quality of Veterinary Services of a country is an essential prerequisite for improved animal health and welfare, veterinary public health, food safety and hygiene and the protection of the environment. For developing countries, prophylactic vaccination remains the main feasible method of controlling livestock diseases. The government is providing free vaccination service for farmers for transboundary livestock disease such as peste des petits ruminants, lumpy skin disease, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, African horse sickness, sheep and goat pox and others. Vaccinations for former List-A diseases of the OIE are provided free of charge by the federal government. They are controlled by the federal veterinary services, but implemented by the regional states. These diseases are known for their potential for very serious and rapid spread, irrespective of national borders, serious socio-economic or public health consequence and are of major importance in the international trade of animals and animal products. On the other hand vaccination against former List-B disease is performed by the Regional States. They are often conducted as a response to an outbreak.
Livestock vaccines are relatively inexpensive and for diseases which cause livestock mortality, preventive vaccination usually makes economic sense; the benefit-cost ratio is usually very high if vaccination is properly planned and conducted. Private veterinary service providers still complain of unfair competition from State/public veterinary service delivery in properly carrying out vaccination. Provision of animal health service, at least at recovery cost, is indispensable for sustainability of intervention. Community participation, by devoting their financial and time resources, is crucial for the success and sustainability of such initiatives.
The main objective of this study is therefore to assess willingness of livestock producers to pay for vaccinations of prevailing livestock diseases.
General Scope of the Assignment
The consultancy service will be responsible to undertake in-depth study on community’s willingness to pay for vaccination services against livestock diseases. The study is considered to be of holistic and representative addressing different agro-ecological and livestock production systems of Ethiopia.
Organizational Relationships
The consultancy service will be answerable to the Project Coordinator of the EVA-HEARD grant and the majority of tasks will be undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, EU-HERAD Project staff and under the overall guidance of the Secretariat (EVA Manager) and executive board of EVA.
The consultancy service needs to prepare, submit and present an inception report before commencement of the actual work. The inception report should be focusing on the approach, methodology, work plan and outlines prepared to carry out the assignment.
The draft study report should be submitted at least 10 days before the end of the assignment to allow comments from the EVA and stakeholders to be incorporated before the end of the consultancy service’s assignment. The final study report will be presented by the consultancy service to relevant stakeholders to validate the output.
The following major tasks will be undertaken:
Expected Output (Deliverables)
Working arrangements and time schedule
Arrangement of Meetings
The consultancy service will make himself/herself available (at a date to be agreed mutually with the EVA) for a bilateral meeting to discuss on issues related to the assignment at the EVA Office. Moreover, the consultancy service will present inception report, study report and recommendation at a validation stakeholders’ workshop to be organized by the EVA prior to the final approval.
Qualifications and General Professional Experience