PULPA Members Attended NEALCO Policy, Investment, Communication and Advocacy (PICA) Training, AT ADDIS ABABA

VET GOV Programme that is being implemented by ICPALD in partnership with AU-IBAR and funded by the European Union (EU) has been supporting North Eastern Africa Livestock Council (NEALCO) to promote regional and international trade. NEALCO is a private sector regional livestock stakeholders’ association constituted by national livestock traders’ associations drawn from 13 countries, namely: Burundi, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania with the main objective of promoting, coordinating, sharing information and advocating for enhanced trade in livestock and livestock products within North Eastern Africa and Middle East Countries and beyond. The association has recruited livestock associations into national chapters from seven (7) IGAD member states, namely; Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda in addition to Tanzania. The association further has developed a five year strategy, constitution

However, the association faces several challenges including: (1) Limited number of national livestock associations from which NEALCO derives membership as a result of inadequate advocacy, (2) Limited capacity (financial, technical and organizational weakness) of livestock and livestock related associations in most member states due to poor investment attraction strategies, (3) Poor linkage between various actors e.g. producers and processors, credit suppliers, technology suppliers as a result of inadequate communication, and (4) inappropriate policies, legislations and investments that can ensure a comprehensive livestock development.

Therefore, the training of the second lot of NEALCO executives in Policy, Investment, Communication and Advocacy (PICA) for the national chapters from the seven countries was organized to support and enhance the capacity of the members of the association thereby deliver their commitment stated in the NEALCO strategy. The training took place from 29th May- 2nd June, 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia whereby Fifteen (15) association members were trained. NEALCO Puntland Chapter was represented by Abdikarim Ahmed Jama (NEALCO Chairman, Puntland Chapter), Mohamed Said Abdulle (Secretary, PULPA) and Farah Mahad Farah (PULPA Chairman).

The following recommendations were made:

1. The trainees expressed inadequacies in capacity in: Proposal writing and business plan development, Project cycle Management, Financial management, Human Resource Management and Livestock marketing that should be considered next time
2. In terms of delivery of the training and supply training of materials, they recommended that;

• Training materials should be provided in soft copy after training in branded USBs together with PowerPoint presentation.
• Efforts should be made to translate the training materials in Arabic/French to enhance learning of non-English speakers from NEALCO chapters.
• More group works during training should be encouraged during the training to enhance learning and sharing of experiences among the NEALCO executives.
• There is need to have an extra day for farm/field visits in the host country during the training for farm/field visits.

3. There is also need of post training follow up to the trainees utilizing a post evaluation questionnaire to assess the progress made by the NEALCO chapters regarding the trainings made.