Uganda
Continuous professional development
Project start: 2016
Project Manager: David Balondemu (Director Bam Animal Clinics)
Partner institutions: Bam Animal Clinics, Uganda Veterinary Board (UVB)
Targeted groups: Veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals
Accreditation of animal welfare training content and inclusion CPD training
When the VETS UNITED project started in 2016 in Uganda there were no animal welfare related workshops for animal health professionals available and no structured continuous professional development (CPD) system in place. In 2017 national guidelines for the implementation were drafted and presented at the symposium of the Uganda Veterinary Association (UVA). Bam Animal Clinics applied for accreditation as official CPD provider to conduct animal welfare workshops and was officially approved in June 2018 by the Uganda Veterinary Board (UVB). In 2019 additional suitable topics for animal welfare CPD workshops were identified as well as additional training material compiled. From 2020 several meetings were conducted to support UVB in their plans to continue building a nationwide CPD structured programme and to integrate the existing animal welfare CPD workshops into the programme. In July 2023 official nationwide CPD guidelines for veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs) were published making continuous professional development mandatory for all registered veterinarians and VPPs.
Continuous provision of animal welfare training
In 2016/2017 three Animal Welfare workshops for veterinary paraprofessionals in 5 Eastern districts were conducted in collaboration with Bam animal clinics, German volunteer vets and local colleagues. Following these workshops, a pilot project focusing on structured CPD started in 2019 which was based on the Train-The-Trainer-concept. In preparation for the trainings a register was compiled of all VPPs and veterinarians in the pilot zones and roll-out region. From 2019 to 2021 in 2 pilot zones of Southeastern and Central Zone (23 districts in total) 46 trainers (2 district vets per district) were trained by Bam Animal Clinics, who then themselves trained 240 VPPs in their district in animal welfare topics. In 2021/2022 these 46 trainers received refresher trainings, and 120 additional trainees participated in animal welfare workshops. After the second round of workshops, 80% of all VPPs in the pilot region had participated in an animal welfare CPD workshop. In 2022/2023 the animal welfare CPD workshops were extended to an additional region (South-Western Region) where 20 trainers from 20 districts were trained who then trained 60 VPPs.
Independent Operation of the animal welfare training by project partners
The discussion about gradually taking over financial responsibilities started in April 2021, and the full takeover of the training was planned for April 2023. Unfortunately, local partners to acquire funds (e.g. government funding CPD training for public vets) or suitable alternative partners to apply for funding could not be identified by Bam Animal Clinics. As mandatory, structured CPD is still relatively new in Uganda and not yet fully enforced, covering all costs of the workshops through participants paying fees was at this point also not as a possibility by Bam Animal clinics. Due to the lack of a financial takeover concept the collaboration with Bam Animal Clinics was not continued from March 2023 onwards. However, communication with the local partners is maintained and further collaboration might be possible once the system is fully established.