Project Description

The Empower Growth Initiative is a comprehensive project aimed at enhancing the livelihoods of poor and marginalized communities. Livestock rearing is an integral part of the livelihood of poor and marginalized communities in rural areas of Nepal.  Livestock and poultry farming is increasing gradually in urban areas of Nepal, which ultimately caused an uneven distribution of human resources with technical abilities. High concentration of veterinarians and technicians in urban areas caused a lack of technicians in rural areas. The livestock sector contributes 27% contribution of Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) and 11.5 % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nepal which also includes these small-scale farmers along with large commercial farms. In the light of the context, the Empower Growth Initiative was born. Lack of basic managemental knowledge and human resources was the major problem in rural areas of Nepal and is still a problem in many areas. To mitigate this problem, we needed to create more people with sound technical knowledge to handle basic livestock cases in rural areas and to teach the farmers about the proper management of livestock.

The primary focus of the Empower Growth initiative is to provide comprehensive training in animal health and management to individuals across Nepal.  Furthermore, these training courses contribute to the development of entrepreneurial culture and generation of the employment opportunities within the country.

We train farmers, community leaders, and technicians on handling practical situations they may face in rural areas. This ensures they can manage these situations wisely and confidently. As a result, we aim to reduce livestock mortality, enhance production performance, and uplift the economic condition of poor and marginalized communities.

Major Training Courses offered at AHTCS

1. Village Animal Health Worker (VAHW) Training

Village Animal Health Worker (VAHW) training is a 35-day course, designed to provide skill-based training for leader farmers, to assist the poor and marginalized farming families to improve their livestock-rearing practices. The course is designed to provide basic technical knowledge and skills in animal health, animal management and related fields, to the literate leader farmers and persons who contribute to the community and needy people through animal health and management activities directly and indirectly to the development of the livestock sector. The ultimate goal of this training is to produce Village Animal Health Workers capable of treating and controlling basic animal diseases and problems at the village level. In the past, all the VAHW training courses were organized according to the training approval letter from the Livestock Training Center, Government of Nepal. The courses are jointly supervised by the Regional Livestock Training Centre, Pokhara and the Directorate of Livestock Services Training and Extension, Harihar Bhawan, Lalitpur. Training is jointly monitored by the Livestock & Fisheries Directorate and Livestock Service Training Center, Gandaki Province, Nepal. AHTCS has organized 87 events of such training courses from its inception till 2024 and produced 2215 VAHWs including 1753 males and 462 females with coverage of 70 districts and 7 provinces of Nepal.

2. VAHW Refresher Training

To empower VAHWs with recent diagnostic and treatment techniques and to address the shortcomings noticed during follow up visits, refresher training is organized after need assessment. In refresher training, VAHWs share their experiences among themselves to inspire each other from successful ones and to learn from mistakes. Those active in the job and the increased possibility of activity after refresher training are taken into account during the final discussion. This training duration ranges from 10 to 15 days based on the needs of participants.

3. VAHW Facilitation Training

VAHW are the grass root level technicians. They can provide basic animal health care and management in rural areas after the training. The VAHW training course focuses on technical aspects only so that AHTCS recommends all VAHWs to participate in Improved Animal Management (IAM) Facilitation Training. The seven days long IAM-FT is especially designed for VAHWs to provide basic knowledge and skill to disseminate the skills and knowledge gained by them to the concerned communities. This training is designed based on the specific needs of VAHWs of partner projects so that after this training they can work not only as animal health workers but also as social mobilizers and/or group facilitators.

4. VAHW Level-l Skill Testing Orientation and Examination

This activity is for VAHW and person who has narrow range, but has useful skills in the animal health and management sector. This is of 9 days of activity (5 days of orientation and 4 days of examination). The program includes orientation and examination to enable participants to:

• Review the learned skill and knowledge gained at the time of training;
• Share the experience and learning during his/her work at the community;
• Build further confidence in technical skills;
• Select, advise on, and implement best practices for better livestock rearing;
• Appear in skill testing examination

Conducted by Council for Technical Education and Vocational Trainings (CTEVT).

5. Animal Management Training

Animal management training is 3 to 7 days course designed for community groups which includes parts of animal husbandry such as shed management, feeding management, fodder and pasture management and breed improvement; and the parts of animal health such as animal diseases, their transmission and preventive measure. This training is aimed to improve the livestock rearing practices of the community farmers and ultimately to help the people improve their economic status.

6. Goat Raising Training

The goat health and management training course is a 3 to 5 days basic course on goat health and management. The course is designed to provide basic skills and knowledge on; breed selection, breeding techniques, common diseases, de-worming practices, forage, fodder and balanced diet preparation etc.

7. Pig Raising Training

This training is a 3 to 5 days basic course on pig health and management. The course is designed to provide basic skills and knowledge on Restraining and handling of pigs: Disinfection of shed, Breed selection and breeding; Balance diet formulation: Common diseases, De-worming practices etc.

8. Poultry Health and Husbandry

This training is aimed for poultry raisers/farmers to boost up the income of needy and poor families. The key components of this training are preventive poultry health care, curative poultry health care, basic management, etc. This course is of duration 7 days.

9. Animal Breeding Training

This is 2-3 days long training conducted by the organization with major components such as introduction to animal breeding, types of breeding, heat detection, mating, management of breeding male and female, animal selection etc. This training aims to raise animal production potential by preventing inbreeding and other related problems.

10. Small-Scale Slaughter House Management (Hygienic meat Production)

This training is targeted mainly for meat producers and consumers who want to produce and consume good quantity and hygienic meat respectively. Hygienic meat production, planning of small-scale meat enterprises, basic sanitary requirements, rules and regulations pertaining to meat enterprises etc. are the major contents of this trainees.

11. Commercial Milk Production and Processing training

This training is for commercial milk producers as well as milk co-operatives to use alternative ways of milk utilization including knowledge about dairy animals, feeding of production herd, clean milk production, marketing different milk products etc. This is a 10-day duration course but may vary on the needs of trainees.

12. Fodder and Forage Production Training

This training is of duration 2 to 3 days. The key contents of this training are about the importance of nutrition and improved grasses, cultivation techniques of various fodders, soil fertility management and other practical demonstrations. The main goal of this training is enhancement in the availability of green fodder to increase the production potential of the animals. 

13. Animal Nutrition Management

Training The Animal Nutrition Management training course is a 3 to 5 days course, designed to provide basic knowledge and skill in animal nutrition management, especially focusing on balanced feeding by using locally available ingredients.

14. Zoonotic Disease Control and Prevention Training

This is a 3 days training course targeted to the community. The key contents of this training are introduction to zoonosis and public health, methods of transmission, biosecurity measures, and major zoonotic diseases: rabies, plague, anthrax, cysticercosis, echinococcosis, kalajar, bird flu etc, milk and meat borne diseases prevention measures etc.

15. Shed Management Training

Shed management training is a two days course designed for the community groups which includes the contents like drainage, ventilation, floor space requirements, sanitation of barns and practical demonstrations related to these contents. This training aims at providing practical knowledge on animal shed construction for better animal production.

16. Integrated Fish Farming Training

A 5-day package of integrated fish farming training aimed to the community is an important step towards fish farming with new technology. To transfer the modern technology of fish farming in the communities, the basic training course is designed to provide farmers the required skills in fishery, structures of fish pond, fingerlings. Hatchling, diseases, feeding, and harvesting of fish. The training is also organized in coordination with DADO, Fish Development office in different district.

17. Commercial Vegetable Production Training

The main objective of this 5 days training is to produce seasonal and off-seasonal vegetables as commercial commodities to generate income for poor farmers. The organic farming approach (discarding harmful pesticides and insecticides) is also an important component of the training to promote safety food production. The training also focuses on practical seeding method through plot demonstration and identification of suitable varieties of vegetable crops according to the time of year.

18. Non-Timber Forest Production (NTFP) Training

This training is focused in the identification and cultivation of high value crops in non-timber forest production such as chiraito kurilo, tejpat etc. the training is organized according to the suitability of the specific location for non-timber forest products of herbal and medicinal value. This training is of 5 days duration.

19. Group Management Training

Group management training is a 2 to 3 days course conducted in groups with the aim to sensitize and help the participants realize the importance of the community groups and to make the group stronger and more sustainable. It also provides knowledge about the importance of savings and helps them to explore the ways to increase the amount of savings in the group.

20. Saving and Credit Training

In order to provide knowledge and skill about the savings and credit scheme and the maintenance of all transactions in pass books and ledgers, this training is conducted for representatives of the community groups. This is of 3 days package.

21. Gender Sensitization Training

To facilitate the community in reduction of gender discrimination, violence and to build better social harmony, gender sensitization training is conducted for community groups. This is 2 to 3 days course designed on the need of particular community. Women’s Right and Legal Awareness Training to provide basic information on issues of women’s rights and legal provision to the group members, 2 to 3 days training course is targeted to the representatives of groups. The foremost contents of the training is Violence against women and its type, Abortion, Marriage and Divorce, Human Trafficking, Rape, Property Right of women/ Muluki Ain and Constitutional rights etc. This training is conducted in collaboration with District Women Development Office.

22. Basic Cooperative Management Training

To provide basic knowledge on cooperative establishment and its management, 5 days cooperative training package is offered to the communities. Main objectives of this training are to motivate respective groups to go on cooperatives. This training is conducted in collaboration with District Cooperative Division Office.

23. Agro-based Market Management Training

Agro-based market management training is of 3 days long training for rural farmers. The training is comprised of ensuring the marketing channels and its better methodology where market is not functioning well for agriculture and livestock products. The training imparts some important basic knowledge to farmers about market sub-sectors analysis, assessable market value of goods and quality products for better market. Different governmental and non-governmental organizations are used for facilitation of the training.