Background:

The “Improving Animal Disease Surveillance in Support of Trade” in IGAD Member States or “Surveillance of the Trade-Sensitive Diseases Project (STSD)” is a regional component of the “Supporting the Horn of Africa’s Resilience (SHARE) Project”, a three (3) year project that aims to strengthen technical and institutional capacities of the IGAD member states (MS) to protect livestock assets, enhance the resilience of the livestock-based livelihoods and promote livestock trade. It also aims at reducing the impacts of TADs and zoonoses on trade through improved disease surveillance, animal identification and traceability as well as health certification systems in all eight (8) MS of the IGAD region. STSD equally aims at harmonizing regional sanitary measures, while specifically supporting the development of regional traceability and certification schemes, which will help reduce impact of the specified trade‐significant transboundary animal diseases (TADs) by developing an umbrella programme, jointly coordinated at the AU-IBAR/IGAD levels and subscribed to by all the participating countries and technical partners in order to provide for the needed regional uniformity.

Generally, the project goal is to improve the contribution of livestock to food security and safety, economic growth and poverty reduction in the IGAD region with a specific objective to increase inter and intra regional exports of live animal and livestock products; and consequently contribute to the reduction of poverty, enhance regional economic growth and integration through improved access of live animals and animal products to the regional and international markets. Other important project’s purpose, however, is to coordinate and harmonize animal identification, traceability and health certification and regulations in the Greater Horn of Africa region.  The project intends to enable better coordinated responses against many recurrent transboundary animal diseases (TADs), especially PPR through ensuring early detection capabilities and development of PPR regional and national control and eradication strategies and coordination mechanism.

Objective of STSD PSC Meeting:

The meeting has the following specific objectives:

• To hold the 4th STSD Steering Committee meeting and ensure full participation of all the stakeholders in the implementation of STSD project activities;
• To review project progress report and present a work plan, including M&E plan for the period covering January to June 2016, including technical and financial reports;
• Facilitate the overall coherent project implementation, including monitoring and evaluation;
• Strengthen coordination and information sharing with complementary interventions in the region.

 Summary of proceedings / Outcome

Against this background, the ICPALD/IGAD organized the 4th STSD steering committee meeting, which was held back-to-back with AU-IBAR Standard Methods and Procedures in Animal Health (SMP-AH) Steering Committee Meeting in March 6th, 2016 in Hargeisa, Somalia, to review STSD project progress report, and present the project work plan for the period covering January to June 2016, including technical and financial reports; and listen to actions taken from the minutes and the 3rd STSD PSC recommendations and follow-up on its recommendations and actions taken, work plan and budget while providing the needed guidance for the smooth implementation of STSD as well as strengthening coordination and information sharing with complementary interventions in the region.

The meeting was opened by H.E Abdullah Mohamed Daher, Minister of Livestock, Somaliland while the welcoming remarks were made by Prof. Ahmed El Sawalehy, Director of AU-IBAR and Dr. Ameha Sebsibe on behalf of Dr. Solomon Munyua, Acting Director of ICPALD. The participants were the members of STSD PSC who are Directors of Veterinary services (CVOs) in the IGAD member states, AU-IBAR, ICPALD, representatives of NEALCO and key technical partners such as ILRI. Ethiopia, Somalia, OIE, PANVAC in addition to EU did not make it to attend this time round, with apologies from EU and PANVAC registered.

Main issues of the agenda were discussed in the meeting included follow-up on the recommendations made in the 3rd STSD Steering Committee Meeting and actions taken that were approved after a brief discussion. This was followed with the STSD project review, progress and financial reports and work plan and M&E plan 2016.

The steering committee evaluated and approved the progress reports and work plans 2016 of the STSD project for the next six months (January-June) and provided some recommendations for follow up. the meeting agreed that the next STSD PSC meeting be held in August 2016 in Tanzania.

ICPALD/IGAD expressed its gratitude and appreciation to the EU for having financially enabled it to hold this event through STSD project.

The following are the recommendations from the 3rd STSD Steering Committee Meeting:

Recommendations

Considering:

• That there is need to implement all the project activities in order to fully exploit the benefits of the project by the MS;
• That delay has been experienced in the implementation of the cross-sectional surveys, in some countries while implementing partners made substantial progress on the other components of the project;
• The need to provide clear direction on LITS implementation in the region for the different purposes and scenarios;
• That some MS have low capacity to effectively implement project activities, and;
• That the region is currently facing severe drought.

The meeting Recommended:

• MS to expedite implementation of the cross-sectional surveys and pursue the examples of Djibouti and Sudan;
• MS to make use of the LITS guidelines developed and adopted by the MS for LITS implementation in the IGAD region;
• AU-IBAR and IGAD to hold a meeting with MS, with relatively low capacities to implement project activities, in order to determine needs, and subsequently develop a consolidated plan for capacity enhancement;
• STSD and SMP-AH to collaborate and partner with other related initiatives in the region to enhance synergies and complementarities;
• Implementing partners (AU-IBAR, IGAD & MS) to ensure the engagement of the private sector during implementation of the project activities;
• STSD, SMP-AH and RAHS projects to enhance support for disease surveillance and disease investigation in areas affected by drought;