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Project to improve animal vaccine delivery system launched in Upper East

By
Anthony Apubeo, GNA

Bolgatanga, Oct 13,
GNA – Three organizations have launched a new project in the Upper East Region
geared at improving the vaccine delivery system of chickens and goats of
smallholder farmers in two districts.

The project, dubbed:
“Transforming the Vaccine Delivery System for Chickens and Goats in Northern
Ghana”, is being implemented by the CARE International in Ghana in collaboration
with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRS) and Cowtribe
Technology with funding support from the International Development Research
Centre (IDRC).  

The new project
would benefit smallholder farmers from the Bawku West and Pusiga Districts in
the region and spans from March 2019 to March 2022.

Speaking in
Bolgatanga at the launching of the project, Mrs Gifty Blekpe, the Assistant
Country Director of CARE International in Ghana, explained that the three-year
project would seek to test and monitor two approaches including gender
accommodative and gender transformative to improve vaccine systems for chicken
and goats.

She said the
project, apart from seeking to create knowledge on institutional requirements
for responsive vaccines delivery systems, would also seek to address women’s
needs and gender norms towards an improved vaccine delivery system for animal
health service providers and women farmers.

Mrs Blekpe stated
that over the years, CARE International, Ghana, in implementing its projects
considered gender issues as very critical.

She entreated all
stakeholders in the Poultry and the rearing industry including the Regional and
District Directors of the Department of Food and Agriculture, Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Animal Research Institute, National
and Regional Officers of the Veterinary Service and Chiefs, to support the
implementation of the project.

Mrs Agnes Loriba,
the Programme Manager in charge of Food and Nutrition Security of CARE
International in Ghana, mentioned high gender disparity in accessing
agriculture inputs, such as equal access to vaccine delivery system,
insufficient gender accommodative among other things as some of the challenges
confronting smallholder women farmers. 

Mrs Loriba, who is
also the Principal Investigator of the Project, stated that apart from the
project adopting two gender approaches being Gender Accommodative and the
Gender transformative approaches to address the root causes of gender
inequalities, it would also leverage the use of the Cowtribe mobile technology
to deliver animal healthcare in hard-to-reach communities.

She noted that the
project would also adopt the Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs)
structures formed with the support of CARE International in Ghana at the
project communities, to work with women farmers as collectives to foster joint
learning, reflection and action.

GNA

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