Community farmer field school animal health facilitators: hybridizing private animal health care and capacity building in remote pastoralist areas

This study is conducted to evaluate the inherent capacity of the Livestock Farmer Field Schools (LFFS) approach to contribute to the development goals of VSF-Belgium in Turkana, Kenya; to evaluate current strengths and weaknesses of the community-based primary animal health care system in Turkana; to evaluate the appropriateness, and the likely success, of combining the role of Community Animal Health Worker (CAHW) and LFFS facilitator; and to assess the initial performance of Community Farmer Field School Animal Health Facilitators in 10 pilot LFFS sites and evaluate opportunities for scaling-up of the LFFS model. The report is divided into nine sections. Section 1 provides an overview of traditional pastoralism in Turkana. Section 2 examines the acute livelihood challenges faced by pastoralists. Section 3 summarizes the history of key livelihood interventions in Turkana. Section 4 is divided into two subsections: (a) evaluates the role of International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) in catalysing the re-establishment of a primary animal health care system in Turkana and in promoting Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) as the cornerstone of this system, and (b) provides an overview of the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) approach. Section 5 explores the possibility of combining the CAHWs and FFS approach in the form of Community Farmer Field School Animal Health facilitators. Section 6 provides an initial assessment of the CAHWs/LFFS Facilitator approach in Turkana. Section 7 provides a conclusion to the report, and Sections 8 and 9 suggest recommendations on the way forward and future research needs, respectively. The report also includes recommendations and future research needs