{"id":25601,"date":"2024-02-26T13:10:39","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T12:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/?p=25601"},"modified":"2024-02-26T13:35:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T12:35:29","slug":"guidelines-for-community-animal-health-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/?p=25601","title":{"rendered":"<span style=\"color: #ff4815;\">Guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; color: #ff4815;\">A new frontier for the WOAH Workforce Development Programme<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">This April, the WOAH Competency and curricula guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) will be available to all Members, as well as veterinary and continuing education establishments. These guidelines will aid the development of competency-based training for CAHWs.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Launched in 2020, WOAH\u2019s workforce development programme supports Members in strengthening their \u2018enabling environments\u2019 to foster well-integrated and well-functioning workforces. Whilst WOAH\u2019s earlier work focused on veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals, it recently identified the need to also recognise the role of Community Animal Health Workers in local animal health systems. Consequently, WOAH partnered with the leading NGO in the field of CAHW training, <span style=\"color: #ff4815;\"><a style=\"color: #ff4815;\" href=\"https:\/\/vsf-international.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">V\u00e9t\u00e9rinaires sans Fronti\u00e8res International<\/a><\/span>. The partnership has led to the creation of competency and curricula guidelines for CAHWs, via an <em>ad hoc<\/em> group in the framework of the project \u2018Strengthening the enabling environment for CAHWs through the development of competency and curricula guidelines\u2019 (funded by <span style=\"color: #ff4815;\"><a style=\"color: #ff4815;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usaid.gov\/about-us\/organization\/bureau-humanitarian-assistance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USAID\u2019s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance<\/a><\/span>).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>As we approach the publication of the new guidelines, we are keen to present to you the highlights of the venture.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>As part of the Organisation\u2019s directive to build capacities in the veterinary workforce, WOAH has placed greater emphasis on competency-based training. In this vein, WOAH has published recommendations on the Competencies of graduating veterinarians, as well as Competency and Curricula Guidelines for Veterinary Paraprofessionals (VPPs).<\/p>\n<p>However, the need for a third component emerged. Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) are a key global workforce, delivering last-mile animal health services. Though their legal status varies from country to country, they are frontline service providers who carry out basic animal health care and take part in vaccination and deworming campaigns<a href=\"https:\/\/vsf-international.org\/project\/enquete-dispositifs-sap\/\">[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>WOAH assembled an <em>ad hoc<\/em> group of experts on CAHWs to develop competency and curriculum guidelines. A multi-step selection process and extensive criteria ensured the group\u2019s varied regional and gender representation and expertise across the required competencies. As a result, the <em>ad hoc <\/em>group comprises diverse and multidisciplinary professionals, including veterinarians, pedagogic experts and policymakers.<\/p>\n<p>Across a series of meetings, the group worked on shaping the working dynamic of this innovative veterinary workforce initiative. The <em>ad hoc<\/em> adopted a collaborative approach and based its work on an extensive review of the training programmes and curricula provided to CAHWs worldwide, with a focus on Africa and Asia with recommendations for improved practices. They evaluated challenges faced by CAHWs and the potential benefits of improved competency and standardised curricula. The group\u2019s diverse viewpoints led to a constructive dialogue and a more comprehensive understanding of existing knowledge gaps.<\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Involving WOAH Members in the development process<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>A key factor to arise was an emphasis on participatory decision-making. The group recognised the importance of involving WOAH Members in the development process. This inclusive approach ensured that the guidelines and competencies would not only be practical but would also reflect real-world challenges. To this end, WOAH Members were surveyed with a questionnaire to collate data on the following topics: CAHWs\u2019 involvement in Veterinary Services, the regulation of CAHWs in Member countries, and Member expectations on the challenges and opportunities of CAHW involvement in the veterinary workforce.<\/p>\n<p>The CAHWs competency and curricula guidelines will be launched by April 2024. These publications are organised across 11 modules, each with 40 units. The guidelines describe 23 core CAHW competencies and 17 additional competencies. Each of these competencies has 71 core and 48 additional learning outcomes. The eleven modules cover an extensive scope, outlining the following areas of CAHWs involvement: CAHW scope of work; Basic principles of animal health; Animal husbandry and production; Basic clinical and husbandry procedures; Basic animal disease management; Sampling procedures; Veterinary Medicinal Products (VMP); Population disease management; Keeping food safe; Engagement with the community; and Running a sustainable service.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, regional field consultations are being carried out to assess the alignment of the guidelines with existing CAHW curricula and training materials. These consultations will gather feedback from intended users on the proposed curriculum content and format, as well as its suitability for user-specific contexts.<\/p>\n<p>The guidelines will provide a basis by which CAHW training can be improved and assessed. Overall, the aim is to promote better recognition and acceptance of CAHWs as important and useful members of the veterinary workforce.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Contact: Xyomara Chavez (<span style=\"color: #ff4815;\"><a style=\"color: #ff4815;\" href=\"mailto:x.chavez@woah.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">x.chavez@woah.org<\/a><\/span>), Capacity-Building Department<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: #808080;\">Cover photo:&nbsp; The <em>ad hoc<\/em> group working session. \u00a9 WOAH\/X. Chavez<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25607\" src=\"https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Ad-hoc-CAHWs.jpg\" alt=\"Community animal health workers WOAH ad hoc group\" width=\"677\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Ad-hoc-CAHWs.jpg 677w, https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Ad-hoc-CAHWs-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Ad-hoc-CAHWs-600x395.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Ad-hoc-CAHWs-134x88.jpg 134w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">(Front row left to right) David Sherman, Andy Catley, Xyomara Chavez, Barbara Alessandrini, Elise Le Bihan, Nandipha Ndudane, Jean-Philippe Dop, Satender Arya, V\u00e9ronique Renault, (Back row left to right) Tim Leyland, Alexia Rondeau, Robyn Alders and Chris Bartels &#8211; \u00a9 WOAH<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new frontier for the WOAH Workforce Development Programme This April, the WOAH Competency and curricula guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) will be available to all Members, as well as veterinary and continuing education establishments. These guidelines will aid the development of competency-based training for CAHWs. Launched in 2020, WOAH\u2019s workforce development programme &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/?p=25601\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;<span style=\"color: #ff4815;\">Guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":25611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,295],"tags":[2172,3009,76],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers - WOAH Bulletin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The overall aim is to promote better recognition of Community Animal Health Workers as important members of the veterinary workforce.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bulletin.woah.org\/?p=25601\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers - 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