Southern Sudan having experienced two decades of continuous civil conflict has been an environment only suitable for short - term emergency operations by NGOs, UN agencies and humanitarian organisations. However, following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the stage has now been set for the introduction of medium and long - term rehabilitation and developmental interventions. The majority of the population in southern Sudan are agro - pastoralists or pastoralists dependent on livestock (cattle, sheep and goats) for their food security. The remaining communities are agriculturalists keeping poultry as well as a few other species of small stock. Livestock rearing is thus a major livelihood activity and contributes significantly, directly or indirectly, to the food security of the people of south Sudan. However, two decades of civil war has destroyed the animal health delivery structures which were previously managed by the government. Due to the lack of essential veterinary services, major endemic livestock diseases such as contagious bovine pleuro-pneumonia (CBPP), haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS), black quarter, anthrax and foot and mouth disease (FMD) have become major constraints to livestock productivity and consequently the food security of livestock dependent communities of southern Sudan. The OLS Livestock Programme of southern Sudan, under which VSF Belgium implements its current projects, has been instrumental in establishing a community based animal health service delivery structure that is community managed and supervised. This project will provide veterinary inputs and training of animal health workers to strengthen the existing community based animal health delivery system particularly in gap areas that were difficult to access before signing of the CPA.

With the end of the conflict large numbers of refugees are returning to their homes.  These “returnees” represent a particularly vulnerable group of the population as they return with few if any assets to a very changed environment.  Traditional livelihood systems have changed considerably in some areas due to the presence of land mines, making agriculture impossible.  This effectively increases the reliance on livestock, especially small stock.  In order to assist these people the project will develop the skills for animal health service delivery and marketing in the area and improve the supply of animal health inputs.  This will be implemented alongside a programme to improve the capacity of regional and local authority structures to take over the running of animal health service delivery in the future.

“to increase the access of vulnerable communities to livestock and livestock products through the provision of livestock services, improved disease surveillance and skills training through the Marial Lou Training Centre over the next three years”.

“to enhance food security of vulnerable livestock dependent communities in southern Sudan.”

• This objective will be achieved by pursuing the following specific objectives:
• Increase access to essential veterinary services through the decentralized community based animal health care delivery system for 100,000 households in the target areas.
• strengthen disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, reporting and response mechanisms among 80% of all the animal health workers serving in the project areas.
• Improve animal husbandry practices and agribusiness management through skills training and technology transfer targeting a total of 4,500 persons.
• Improved diagnosis and livestock training through the establishment of a training and diagnostic laboratory and technical support to the Marial Lou Livestock Training Centre.

• Given the overwhelming reliance of communities on livestock the programme will build the capacity of the community based animal health services in the area.  This will involve the following activities:
• Supervision of the community – based animal health care delivery system.
• Carry out 400,000 consultations and treatments.
• Provide veterinary inputs to partners (VSF – Germany and Suisse)
• Carry out 15 initial and refresher trainings for CAHWs.
• Carry out 10 Community dialogues.

• An important component of the animal health system is disease surveillance and supporting structures that are able to respond rapidly to reported diseases.  These activities will help build the capacity of local structures which will be of increasing importance as Southern Sudan develops its marketing infrastructure.  Activities carried out in order to achieve the above objective will include the following:
• Provide 5 trainings in disease surveillance and investigation
• Carry out training on identifying and reporting of disease outbreaks
• Response time to disease outbreaks is maintained within 14 days
• Strengthen national and local counterparts’ abilities to develop strategies to control endemic diseases

• Gap areas, where VSF B has previously been unable to reach due to the conflict will be identified and the capacity of communities to support their livelihoods will be build through the training of selected individuals in the following courses:
• Provision of Animal Health Auxiliary (AHA) Training
• Provision of Stock Persons (SP) Training

Objective 4: Improved diagnosis and livestock training

• An increased capacity to rapidly diagnose diseases locally will significantly improve the value of the disease surveillance system described in Objective 2.  In addition to improving diagnostic ability the project will facilitate livestock marketing groups through the use of the Farmer Field School approach.  Activities implemented to achieve this will include:
• Establishment of Diagnostic and Training Laboratory at the MLLTC
• Laboratory Technician Training
• Market Oriented Animal Husbandry Training

The proposed intervention will provide support to vulnerable livestock dependent communities in Eastern Equatoria, Upper Nile and Bahr El Ghazal Regions of southern Sudan.

• 100,000 pastoralist and agro - pastoralist households
• 4,500 livestock dependent households in pastoralist, agro - pastoralist and peri -urban areas. These will include returnees, women, demobilised combatants and other poor livestock keepers in the program areas
• 12 Animal Health Auxiliaries (AHA) – community members selected by their communities for advanced technical training
• 75 Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) – Locally based service providers who provide day to day advice, vaccinations and treatment at the village levels to be provided with basic and refresher training
• 7 Stock Persons (SP) – Animal Health Auxiliaries selected by their communities for skills upgrading.
• 30 Veterinary Supervisors and Coordinators - sponsored for courses in disease surveillance and investigation
• Marial Lou Livestock Training Centre – A local institution charged with the mandate for livestock training by the government of southern Sudan
• Secretariat of Agriculture and Animal Resources (SAAR) – Project will work closely with county DARF organs and build their capacities

Program benefits are expected to spill over from livestock owning communities to those communities that do not directly own livestock but are dependent on the off take of livestock. Additionally, the institutional gains made by the MLLTC as a result of this intervention, will continue to impact on the food security of livestock depend households for the next few years.