Establishment of a Somali Regional Technical Veterinary School and Reference Centre (STVS) Phase II.

• In 1990, agriculture contributed 65% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ofSomalia including the livestock sector which accounted for between 40-50%. FSAU (2002) estimates that the livestock sector now provides 55 `)/0of the caloric intake of the population as well as 60 % of their income. Inlight of its economic importance, the Somali livestock export sector requiresefficient and effective veterinary support services in order to compete withother livestock exporting countries.• Against this dynamic and competitive background, the available Somaliveterinary support services are lacking and the general technical competenceis dwindling. There have been no new graduates on any level of veterinarytraining since 1990.• Priority activities for Somali veterinary services are as follows:Control of epizootic diseases and certification of the health of livestock andlivestock products for export,Protection of public health through control of zoonotic infections,Alleviation of husbandry related diseases and disorders affecting productivityof livestock.• Against this background Sheikh Technical Veterinary School (STVS) wasdesigned with the overall objective to ensure that Somali people have accessto efficient and effective veterinary services in order to safeguard publichealth, improve livestock production and animal welfare, and sustainlivestock export. The project purpose is to establish a regional technicalveterinary training and reference centre educating sufficient numbers ofyoung professionals and responding to demands from the Somali livestockindustry.• Phase 1 of STVS started in December 2001 and was due for completion inJuly 2003. Progress was slow due to delays in approval of the site allocationfor the school in Sheikh, the need to run a pre-entry foundation coursefor the students and uncertainty about the scale of building works. Phase Iwas extended twice up to May 2004 followed by bridging phases until thepresent phase 2 was approved and a grant contract signed, starting in July2005.• The overall objective for the STVS project has been defined as: Veterinaryservices in the Somali region safeguard public health, protect animal wel-- fare, improve livestock production and sustain livestock export.• The specific objective (purpose) of STVS has been defined as: A regionalveterinary training system supplies competent technicians and providesprofessional advice to major stakeholders involved in the Somali livestockindustry.• For Phase 2 of the project the following expected results were formulated:1) STVS conducts a fully recognised veterinary diploma course on a regularbasis;2) STVS is recognised by the stakeholders of the Somali livestock industryas a technical reference centre;3) Institutional framework of the school and administrative set-up is fullydeveloped.• Phase 2 of the project started under the grant contract no SO/0038/ITCOF/05 on 1St July 2005. The duration of the contract is 30 months, ending31st December 2007. The recipient organisation is Terra Nuova. The totalcontracted amount is € 2,210,506, of which € 2,100,000 is contributed byEC with Italian co-funding.• At the very start the project experienced a rapid turnover of managers, tutorsin the Sheikh school, and a change of project co-ordinators in the TerraNuova Regional Office in Nairobi. This situation has stabilised now andmanagement and staff development are very promising. In the meanwhilethe project has produced three extensive interim technical reports whichhad used the project's logframe as a guideline to evaluate achievements.• Several indicators used in the original logframe for Phase 2 are unrealistic.This applies to the project purpose as well as to the results level.• Assumptions and risks are formulated in a soft and non-committal fashion.Project ownership has not been defined, consequently long-term institutionaland donor commitment is lacking. This is a severe drawback for theprocess of accreditation and for the general sustainability of the project.Again this will be discussed in more detail under Section E.• All activities listed for result 1 (STVS conducts a veterinary diploma courseon a regular basis) were successfully implemented and achievement of result1 was rated highly satisfactory. STVS is conducting coursework now inthe third year and has consistently developed and improved all aspects ofteaching, training and administrating academic work. There was some initialdelay in the rehabilitation of the school buildings due to the fact that thesecond international NGO, originally in charge of this pulled out of the project.In the meanwhile the work has started and will be finished before theend of Phase 2.• Achievements under result 2 (STRVS is recognised as a technical referencecentre) were rather mixed but none was highly satisfactory. This isbasically to blame on overoptimistic planning from the very start of the project.The rather ambitious result was obviously expected to be achievedwithout a separate budget, without personnel assigned and without carefullyplanned infrastructure and facilities. If the reference centre is still considereda vital part of STVS this has to be amended for an anticipated nextproject phase. At least some of the needed physical facilities will becomeavailable once the final premises will be finished.• Result 3 is both the most important and the most difficult since it is stronglylinked to all questions of the sustainability of STVS. Although substantial legaladvice was provided through an expert employed by Terra Nuova noprogress was made in finding a legal framework for STVS against the difficultpolitical situation in Somalia. Long-term ownership and responsibility forSTVS has not been established. Efforts in that direction undertaken byTerra Nuova need to be acknowledged but no other stakeholder made anyproductive contribution to a solution of the problem. Closely linked to anddepending on the legal status are all other aspects of sustainability like accreditation,business plans, funding issues, and management structures.• The project management of STVS at the time of the MTE was solid and effectiveand able to respond to all matters arising from the day-to-day runningof the classes in Sheikh as well as all other academic activities. Thebuilding activities are making good progress and will be finished before theend of Phase 2. Links with the local livestock sector and related projectshave been formed and are yielding benefits to STVS. There is regular involvementof the steering committee and thorough internal monitoring andevaluation is carried out. There are a number of smaller changes in the financeplan but they are cost neutral with reference to the overall budget.Budget changes are mainly in relation to staff changes with a certain shifttowards expatriate (regional) staff.• Like with all projects in tertiary education impact and effectiveness will becomenoticeable only after a longer time. The best indicator will always bethe first graduate returning to the institution as a teacher. In the case ofSTVS I would estimate that a proper impact evaluation will become possibleearliest after another five to six years of continued operation and externalsupport.• STVS has almost achieved technical sustainability. The bulk of the investmentswill be implemented by the end of phase 2. The school's demonstrationfarm, the teaching clinic, and a service laboratory as part of the referencecentre could be installed easily and cost-effectively early in a potentialPhase 3. Once this has been done investment needs will go down to maintenancelevel.• Financial sustainability, business plans, and funding requirements will dependon establishing ownership and a legal framework for STVS. TerraNuova and the STVS management and staff have prepared the way for amuch needed and sustainable contribution to economic security in the SomaliEcosystem. In the process more than 4 million Euros were spent. It ishigh time for some of the institutional stakeholders to show political commitment.