Animal welfare is becoming an increasingly prominent topic on the African continent as it seeks to align with global trends in ethical treatment, care, and protection of animals. Recognising animals as sentient beings and promoting their welfare is a growing priority. Universities and colleges, as centers of learning and innovation, are uniquely positioned to play a transformative role in advancing animal welfare. They can serve as hubs for training future professionals, conducting research, and fostering awareness. However, significant hurdles exist that hinder the full realisation of this potential including absence of animal welfare in the curricula, lack of animal welfare capacity building for lecturers as well as lack of funding for training and research.

In 2024 WTS and AWeCCA, the Animal Welfare Competence Center for Africa therefore initiated the African University Network for Animal Welfare to bring together animal welfare lecturers from universities and colleges from all over Africa to share experiences and discuss ideas on how to improve animal welfare education and overcome these hurdles.

Please contact university(at)welttierschutzstiftung.org