ActionAid seeks safety, welfare of donkeys
ActionAid, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has secured funding from the United Kingdom (UK) to support the safety, welfare and preservation of donkeys in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region.
The £129,482 Donkey Sanctuary Project is targeted at 1,080 women in 24 communities, including chiefs.
The 18-month project, which starts from June this year and expected to end in 2023, will involve the training of 140 schoolteachers to pass on the knowledge to 5,000 school children,” the Programme Officer at ActionAid, Ms Abibah Nibaradun, disclosed.
She was speaking at Tumu at a meeting with stakeholders to preserve and sustain donkeys as animals that help humans in both social and economic functions.
Ms Nibaradun said, “The goal of the project is to improve the welfare of women with donkeys to ensure improved feed, provide and improve existing water system for donkeys, vaccines and veterinary services”.
“It is also to increase the capacity of other stakeholders to bring about improved donkey harness to make the carrying of load less stressful and increase the safety of the donkey,” he explained.
Ms Terence Tienaah, the Upper West Regional Manager of ActionAid, said members of the NGO over the years had been friends with everyone with the objective of ensuring fairness and justice for all in society, including the welfare of animals.
She said donkeys had over the years helped humankind in their work in the Sissala area, but their welfare had been neglected, hence the intervention to secure donkeys.
Ms Tienaah, therefore, reiterated the need to enhance the welfare of donkeys so that they could continue to help humankind, with emphasis on care, feeding, and sustaining the animals by prioritising the donkey from being extinct.
A Senior Development Planning Officer of the Sissala East Municipal Assembly, Mr Duwiejua Mumuni Dramani, who spoke on behalf of the Municipal Chief Executive, urged the ActionAid to work with the Environmental Health Unit of Assembly and other stakeholders to ensure effective collaboration.
He asked owners of donkeys to keep the environment clean to keep them healthy.
Madam Damata Chimson, resident of Vamboi, said the donkey played important role in the socio-economic lives of the people, and appealed to donkey owners to provide them with shelter. – GNA
