The Feasibility Study for the Animal Movement Rout and animal disease notification and control, two key topics were discussed on the 4th advisory committee on the 29th of March. At the beginning of the meeting the Alliances KK Programme Director Ms. Helen Bradbury provided a brief presentation concerning the interventions of the programme.
Rati Mekvabishvili – the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture provided the latest updates on the Feasibility Study of The Animal Movement Route. As Mr Rati announced they are planning to hold a presentation on the conducted study and all interested stakeholders are welcome to attend it by the end of April. The Alliances KK Programme Director suggested the MOA arranging not just a presentation, but a participatory workshop, where stakeholders will have opportunity to voice their views and provide information for input into the feasibility study.
One of the main topics at the committee meeting was animal disease control issue; the newly appointed Head of the NFA Regional Division Mirangula Liparteliani presented latest activities of the NFA in this direction.
‘The NFA has launched the brucellosis program that aims to estimate and study general situation for the disease. After one week, Anthrax vaccinations will commence in sites of historical outbreaks under the state program of the free vaccination. In the nearest future, in each municipality minimum one slaughterhouse will be operated. Process has already started, for instance recently a new slaughterhouse was opened in Tsalka municipality. Currently the NFA is starting organizing community level vet offices.’-said Mr Mirandula Liparteliani.
The committee will continue to be a forum for the discussions facilitating interaction and information exchange between relevant national, regional and local stakeholders form the public and private sectors.
From the ISET Economist news (http://www.iset.ge/news/?p=4633)
By Eric Livny
The “do no harm” (primum non nocere) principle is well known to students of medical schools. It is one of the most fundamental maxims in medicine, as formulated, for example, in the Epidemics book of the Hippocratic Collection:
“The physician must … have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm“.
Doctors are taught that medical interventions are not risk-free. Thus, when facing a “problem” one should consider whether to use a particular procedure (e.g. surgery or chemical treatment) or do NOTHING.
Not surprisingly, this very principle has applications in many fields other than healthcare. And it is high time for this principle to be studied and applied in Georgian policymaking.
Heather Briggs, agronomist, agro-consultant on plant productivity, international expert on cheese and journalist visited Tbilisi to hold the training for agro-journalists last week. "Batumelebi" newspaper interviewed her.
For the first time in Georgia a training on agro journalism was conducted for media representatives wishing to report specifically on rural issues and news. The main purpose of the training was to fill knowledge gaps of media practitioners in crops, livestock husbandry and agriculture management and to introduce the basics of agro journalism. Heather Briggs, an international expert and member of British Guild of Agricultural Journalists - was invited to lead a 5 day training from January 26th to February 2nd. About 50 representatives of regional, national broadcasters and printed media participated in the event. The training was organized by the Georgian Regional Media Association and facilitated by the Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme.
By Helen Bradbury: Team Leader, Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme
We are in an interesting conundrum. Gender in most places has been written-in to law. Bar a few notable exceptions, every country in the world, has varying degrees of success in applying universal suffrage. Fifty countries are signed up to the CEDAW convention (the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women). On the CEDAW world map of Discrepant Government Behaviour Concerning Women, the countries shaded dark green which denotes ‘virtually no enforcement of laws consonant with CEDAW or such laws do not even exist’, are where you expect them to be and in fact they are relatively few. It is the next two categories which disturb, covering the vast majority of the globe, the mid and lighter green, where laws are partly or fully consonant with CEDAW but there is little effective enforcement or spotty enforcement of them and the issue is low priority or hit and miss. After the gains, the laws and ratifications of the last centuries it seems that we must tread very carefully indeed for we must counteract indifference, in which inertia and inactivity stop us moving forward.
Government Momentum Builds on Animal Movement Route after the years of discussion and information exchange. The biggest challenge in Georgian sheep sector – the Animal Movement Route issue has come to the point when there is a willingness and concrete plan for taking actions and reaching tangible results.
The Eco Films LTD film The Road, commissioned by ALCP KK, was shown at the BIFED - Bozcaada International Festival of Ecological Documentary on October 31, 2014. The documentary was presented in the non-competition section and highly appreciated by the audience.
