Displaying items by tag: International Policy

As has been discussed previously on the blog, World Animal Net’s Janice Cox was invited as a panelist on animal welfare to the recent World Bank Global Practice Forum, which took place in March in Washington, DC.

The Retreat

The African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resource (AU-IBAR) recently hosted a retreat to review a draft animal welfare strategy and action plan for the entire continent. This took place from 6-8 March in Naivasha, Kenya. Participants included member states from the region, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Regional Economic Communities, and a number of major animal protection organisations. World Animal Net (WAN) was represented by Nick de Souza, veterinarian and experienced African animal protectionist. Tozie Zokufa, the President of the Pan African Animal Welfare Alliance (PAAWA), and a member of WAN’s International Policy Forum, also attended.

Wonderful News!

I have some exciting news which I want to share with you!

I have just returned from Washington, D.C., where I was invited to speak about animal welfare at this year’s World Bank Agricultural Global Practice Forum. There were three speakers on animal welfare. I opened the session, speaking about animal welfare as an important ethical, societal and policy concern. Then, a speaker from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations introduced the benefits of including animal welfare in development, followed by a presentation from the International Finance Corporation which included a lending case study.

In this blog, I am delighted to introduce my personal favourite from amongst World Animal Net (WAN)’s projects! This is a Humane Education (HE) pilot project which we are carrying out in Malawi over the 2016-2017 school year, with a wide-ranging and thorough professional evaluation guided by international and Malawian experts. We are already seeing great results from this project, and look forward to the final report in mid 2017. In the meantime, we wanted to share with you this update, which was prepared for our Malawian partners - as this gives more background on the project and its progress.

At World Animal Net, one of our key initiatives is to help animal protection organizations around the world better understand and leverage international policy opportunities to improve the lives of animals. Unfortunately, WAN was unable to personally attend the recent Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Marrakech. However, we are pleased that our colleagues Tozie Zokufa of Humane Society International, the Pan African Animal Welfare Alliance, and member of WAN’s International Policy Forum and Caroline Wimberly of Brighter Green were kind enough to prepare reports of their experiences and work at the convention as well as outcomes and future directions for advocacy at the UNFCCC with the wider animal protection community.

As we set our sights on our goals and resolutions for 2017, we have a unique opportunity to assess our advocacy for animals and incorporate a fresh approach to our strategies in the coming year.

2016 was a busy year for WAN. We do everything it takes to achieve policy change for animals across the world, and this year this has taken us to Paris, Washington, D.C., Addis Ababa, Malawi, and Guadalajara, Mexico, working for progress for animals everywhere.

We are proud to announce that the Model Animal Welfare Act, released earlier this year for viewing and download on our website, is now available as a paperback book! We know exactly what you're thinking—just in time for the holidays!