Advancing Women’s Participation in Livestock Vaccine Value Chains

The project was implemented by AHTCS in partnership with the University of Florida (UoF), USA, from 2021 to 2022.  The project aimed to increase women’s use of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) vaccines for their small ruminants in Nepal. PPR had been the major health concern of small ruminants in Nepal. Subsistence farmers with few goats were barely covered under the preventive vaccination campaigns endorsed by Nepal Government, which not only posed the risk of infection in those animals but also created the potential for outbreak within the communities. Acknowledging the role of women in animal husbandry practices, the project was designed to orient and involve beneficiaries and stakeholders with the goal of extending the vaccine coverage among the low-holding farming communities of six districts (Chitwan, Dhading, Kaski, Nuwakot, Palpa, and Tanahu) through improved women’s engagement. A myriad of factors prevented women from vaccinating their animals, most often related to gender and other intersectional issues (such as class, caste/ethnicity, disability, age, etc.).  The implementation of gendered intersectional transformative approach (GITA) to working with women livestock owners, all levels of animal health workers, and trainers fostered transformation by opening the spaces to allow for fuller participation of women and other marginalized populations in the livestock vaccine value chain.

The project strategy relied on communicating and training veterinary and livestock development officers at the provincial and district levels, as well as village animal health workers (VAHWs) on GITA and other ‘soft skills’ necessary to improve veterinary extension to women livestock owners. The program involved a multi-level training focused on: 1) a training of trainers (TOT) workshop geared towards professional veterinary and livestock development officers to prepare them to include GITA in the trainings they provided to community members;  2) a training for VAHWs by TOT participants to cascade the knowledge and skills from the TOT training; and finally, 3) trained VAHWs conducting a seminar or leading a dialogue with community members to raise awareness about vaccination benefits and the role of women in animal health.

The project reached 1046 farmers (862 female and 184 male) and 15 VAHWs through their engagement in project initiatives, thus further laying a foundation for initiating a cascade of impactful changes involving the role of women in livestock vaccine chain.