Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty. It has been working in Somalia/Somaliland since the 1970s and plays a key foundational role in supporting Somali people and communities to provide development and lifesaving programs. It supported civil society organizations and has been called by many current and past partners "the mother of Somali civil society."
Oxfam’s support of women's rights, advocacy, and gender equality has been a steady component of the program, and many leading advocates for women's rights, gender equality, and women's issues were once partners or trainees of Oxfam. We are an international confederation of 19 organizations (affiliates) working together with partners and local communities in humanitarian, development, and campaigning, in more than 90 countries. All our work is led by three core values: Empowerment, Accountability, and Inclusiveness.
Oxfam is a member of the Somali Resilience Program (SOMREP), a multi-year initiative carried out by seven international non-governmental organizations and one local NGO. Its main objective is to address the issue of recurrent droughts leading to chronic vulnerability among pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, and peri-urban households across Somalia. The program focuses on meeting the specific needs of these communities to help them build more resilient livelihoods.
Currently, Oxfam is implementing SDC phase 5 in the El Afweyn district. SDCP5 is a program funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) to support Somali recovery and enhance national resilience to frequent natural disasters. This project is an extension of the multi-sector resilience project previously supported by the SDC through SOMREP. Oxfam has been chosen to implement this project within the El Afweyne district and its surrounding areas.
The SDC CE project is a multi-sector initiative aimed at supporting the recovery of Somalia and building national resilience to recurrent natural disasters. The project's goal is to enhance the resilience of chronically vulnerable Somali individuals, households, communities, and systems to climatic shocks and related risks in targeted pastoral, agro-pastoral, coastal, and peri-urban livelihood zones by 2024.
Since project inception, the SDC project has made progress in implementation and has responded to climatic shocks in the region. In response to the worsening situation caused by cyclic droughts and floods, the project has implemented longer-term resilience work by improving access to water for domestic and irrigation purposes, employing land restoration practices through the Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) approach, and accelerating privately led veterinary pharmacies among others. The focus is on expediting the recovery of affected communities from cyclic droughts that struck the region in 2016/17, resulting in massive destitution, displacement (including internally displaced persons), and a reduction in livestock herd sizes thus depleting the productive assets of the communities. The project aims to address multiple hazards and enhance resilience by revitalizing productive assets and introducing technologies and techniques to diversify livelihoods. It is a multi-sector project that integrates water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), food security through agricultural investment, and women's economic empowerment components. The project also includes a component to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis (crisis modifiers) to protect and maintain the resilience gains achieved.
The pastoralist communities in the El-Afweyne district predominantly rely on nomadic herding practices for sustenance and economic activity, whereby over 90% of the communities involve livestock-related activities. These practices, deeply rooted in local customs, have historically served as the primary livelihood strategy, sustaining generations of families and forming the region's economic backbone. Climate change exacerbates existing environmental stressors, leading to unpredictable weather patterns, prolonged droughts, and erratic rainfall, all of which directly impact the availability of water and vegetation in the region. With changing climatic conditions, the El-Afweyn district experiences variations in precipitation patterns, resulting in shifts in the distribution and abundance of grassland resources. Prolonged dry spells and reduced rainfall during critical periods can lead to dwindling vegetation cover and diminished forage availability, forcing pastoralist communities to seek alternative grazing areas or resort to supplementary feeding for their livestock.
The district faces a shortage of fodder and inadequate veterinary services despite having the largest livestock population in the country. The closest places where pastoralists can access veterinary services are major towns in the Erigavo and Burao districts. Although a few private veterinary pharmacies operate in the district, they struggle with drug supply shortages and have limited capacity to run the business. The linkage between Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) and private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) is weak, resulting in insufficient veterinary services in the district. Despite investments in the livestock industry and supporting services, there is still a lack of consistent and high-quality animal health services coverage. CAHWs and PVPs encounter challenges such as inadequate linkages to sustainable input suppliers, limited access to financial services, insufficient training, and market disruptions caused by free drugs and services provided by other actors, which are not sustainable in the long run.
Oxfam, as part of the SDC CE project activities, plans to support existing veterinary pharmacies in El Afweyn and nearby villages to improve access to necessary vet drugs and make them available to the CAHWs. The goal is to build a strong linkage between the national input supplier, the PVPs, CAHWs, and the pastoralists to ensure the availability of quality vet drugs to the pastoralists in the area so that they have access to quality veterinary drugs. In collaboration with SOMREP, Oxfam aims to strengthen, support, and revive existing Private Veterinary Pharmacies (PVPs) and Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) by connecting them with private veterinary drug suppliers.
In that regard, Oxfam is looking for an experienced national-level veterinary input supplier to achieve the key milestones outlined in this assignment.
- Providing quality and affordable veterinary drugs to PVPs
- Training PVPs and providing 10% loan of purchased vet drugs
- Offering advisory support on animal feeding and feed formulation
- Assessing and supporting the capacity of existing PVPs and CAHWs, including assessing their business plans
- Train PVPs and CAWHs on the specific subjects required to address the capacity gaps identified.
- Quality and affordable veterinary drugs procured and supplied to designated PVPs.
- Training sessions conducted for PVP staff, covering pharmaceutical management and relevant technical topics.
- Capacity assessments of PVPs completed, with tailored training plans developed for each pharmacy.
- 10% of total purchased drugs provided on credit to PVPs.
- Linkages established between PVPs and CAHWs, facilitating access to veterinary services for pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities.
- Training for CAHWs on relevant topics such as conducting minor surgeries and animal nutrition (feeding and feed formulation)
As part of this work, the upcoming input supplier will receive incentives from Oxfam to capacitate PVPs and CAWHs and provide funds with 10% credit to ensure linkage between them and the PVPs and the CAHWs. Upon completion of training and engagement, the PVPs will further provide inputs in the form of credit for animal health workers who provide animal health extension services to pastoralists and agro-pastoralists.
The assignment will cover 4 PVPs in the El Afweyn area and support at least 16 CAHWs. Each PVP will be linked to four CAHWs to access drug services on credit and improve access to vet services for pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities.
Experience and Track Record
Prospective suppliers should meet the following criteria:
- Wholesale company specializing in high-quality vet drugs with experience in vet-related training
- Veterinary expertise available for training CAHWs and PVP staff
- Track record of procuring vet drugs from reputable sources
- Participation in similar livestock interventions
- Extensive networks providing veterinary services to pastoralists, dairy farmers, and agro-pastoralists
- Private company registered with the government and Willing to provide up to 10% of drugs on credit
- Evidence of providing veterinary services and supplying drugs
- Offer novel veterinary products and alternatives to traditional drug classes
Oxfam will transfer allocated money to the selected input supplier to provide vet drugs to PVPs, with 10% provided on credit. Incentives will be provided for delivering the required services.
Interested companies meeting the above requirements should submit their expression of interest along with a financial proposal detailing how they would carry out the assignment. Please send your application to SOM-Consultancies@oxfam.org . We look forward to receiving your expressions of interest by 13th July 2024.
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