SOS consortium holds empowerment meetings with spray persons
2010-06-17
The most active of the so called spray persons (those offering spraying of animals on commercial terms to farmers in the area) were in April 2010 called together for meetings geared towards empowering them to reach out to treating even more cattle and also other livestock. With support provided by IKARE and CEVA, over 75 spray persons have now been equipped with product knowledge and strategies that could enable them to individually spray more than 1,000 cattle per month.
Workshops on creating strategic partnerships with the animal
owners were held under the guidance of High Heights Services
("HHS"). The chain that has been created since the start in May
2008 of the 3 V Vet activities in the area involves HHS, the 3V
Vets and the spray persons with whom they work on a regular basis
since the provision of the pump loans .Emphasis has been put to
trust, reliability and engagement as the pillars that will enable
to attract more farmers to the animal spray service. Through this
approach, a minimum of 75,000 cattle could be sprayed with Vectocid
(deltamethrin) on a monthly basis, doubling the number of cattle
currently regularly sprayed. The partnership has however set
ambitious targets to double this number to 150,000 livestock with
focus on including also cattle and pigs. In order to be able to
meet these targets, the spray persons will be needing additional
support in terms of transportation (mainly bicycles) and additional
business skills training as provided by HHS, with the continued
support of IKARE and CEVA.
To enhance the visibility of the 3V Vets and spray persons as
well as provide protection and comfort (as the spray persons are
involved in larger scale spraying), a colourful overall, gloves,
boots and a mask have been introduced. These overalls also
provide for easy identification by the farmers of spray persons
belonging to the SOS network. As the overalls carry both the SOS
and HHS logos, an assessment of qualifications is done before
admittance into the network is agreed. To qualify the spray person
needs to be hard-working, trusted, committed and come recommended
by the 3V Vet or the District Veterinary Officer ("DVO") as
the partnership needs to be sure of the quality of their work
outputs before agreeing to include them as a reliable
SOS partner.

Components of the Spray person work-shop and
training.
Objectives
- Empower the spray persons working with the 3V Vets with
appropriate knowledge on SOS and the 3V Vet activities to
increase their understanding of the products to be used
- To continuously refresh their knowledge on the advantages of
using these products in terms of improved animal health and public
health
- Create a process which enables the spray persons to identify
themselves with the SOS consortium. Initially this is done
through the protective wear which carries the SOS, HHS and Vectocid
logo on the overall. The colour of the overall was carefully chosen
to ensure that the spray persons are also protected from fly bites
(e.g avoiding colours that relate to the tsetse trap - blue, black,
white).
- Show the spray persons that they are not operating
in isolation but that they are a group, part of a network and
as such they have channels where they can forward vital
issues arising from the community that need to be discussed.
- Increasing the knowledge of the veterinary services provided by
the 3VVets and such products beneficial to tsetse control which are
available through the network - all together enabling the number of
cattle sprayed on a regular basis to reach a minimum of
75,000 per month in the SOS phase I area
- Give a clear message that if we keep working together, the
chances of succeeding also commercially in the spray business are
high, and that together we ,as communities, can achieve
sustainable tsetse control, enabling over time a movement
towards the elimination of sleeping sickness in the target
areas
By Prof. Charles Waiswa, Director High Heights Services Ltd and
Coordinator 3V Vets, SOS and IKARE Initiative, P.O Box 21828,
Kampala, hhsltd@yahoo.com