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Alleviate poverty through working equine welfare?
American Friends of the Brooke is delighted to hear that the Brooke held a unique seminar - "Alleviating Poverty Through Working Equine Welfare" - which brought together international development, veterinary and animal welfare experts to discuss how the needs of working equine animals can be included on the international development agenda.
This seminar - the first of its kind - saw the charity joined by leading figures from international nongovernmental organizations (iNGOs), funding and policy making bodies, academics and journalists. They examined why equine animals do not currently form a key component of many iNGO development agendas, and sought to open communications channels to see how this issue can be brought to the fore.
What the Brooke hopes to achieve...
The Brooke knows that its goal cannot be achieved by simply expanding their operational work within existing and new countries.
The seminar forms part of the charity's wider advocacy work, communicating the crucial role working equine animals have in the lives of millions of families and entire communities in developing countries.
The Brooke wants to ensure that working horses, donkeys and mules are recognised as being indispensable to the lives of many poor people and that they play a key part in alleviating human poverty.
To date, this important role has been largely invisible in international development policy and plans – and the Brooke recognizes that this must change.
But the Brooke can’t do it alone.
The charity hopes to influence changes in policy and practice among other organizations to improve the welfare of these hardworking animals - and the American Friends of the Brooke supports this goal.
Opening channels of communication…
The Brooke's seminar focused on opening channels of communication with other organisations, and aimed to:
• discuss the role of equine animals in development and alleviating human poverty
• explore the opportunities for working animals to be better represented in international livestock programmes, research and policy, and see how development iNGOs can be engaged in achieving these opportunities
• establish the foundations for future consultation, dialogue and collaboration
• identify potential areas for practical collaboration and potential joint activities
A panel of expert speakers…
The meeting was chaired by Dr Andrea Gavinelli of the European Commission, and also featured discussions from the following key speakers:
• Paul Starkey - international specialist in rural transport and animal power, Animal Traction Development, UK
• Ganesh Pandey - Project Director, Shramik Bharti, India
• Prof Cheryl McCrindle - FAO expert panelist on animal welfare, University of Pretoria, South Africa