Happy National Telephone Day From Brooke
It’s been over 140 years since the first phone call was made by Alexander Bell so it is easy to see how the humble telephone can nowadays be taken for granted.
But Brooke is marking National Telephone Day by sharing a new innovative project introduced by our West Africa team and their country partner Union des Groupements Associés du Niombato (UGAN). They have teamed up with communications company Jokalante to roll out a new media and telecommunication campaign in Sokone, Senegal.
Brooke West Africa recently carried out research which found that a massive 94 percent of people living in Senegal owned a mobile phone. After the recent success of creating regional radio programmes which offer veterinary advice to local equine owners, Brooke WA decided to increase their reach even further. Key messages broadcast on equine welfare radio programmes are now texted to owners involved in the project.
The project allows equine owners in even the most remote parts of the country to receive regular and timely updates via text message.
These alerts are used to warn communities about potential threats such as contagious diseases and increased risk of animal theft as well as sharing important welfare and husbandry advice to ensure Brooke’s message is spread as far as possible. These new channels of communication have also allowed the team to publicise the country’s bylaw against overloading and bad driving of carts and calèches.
Local equine owner Demba Diallo said: “Equine owners have to understand that equids should also be taken care of as they do with their children and wives, these equids contribute to household livelihoods and they should be looked after when it comes to their health, food and especially transportation of loads and welfare.
Thanks to the Brooke and UGAN project I have been able to change a wrong perception. For a long time equine owners have thought that when their animal suffers from a disease called bardjii they had better sell it. It cannot be cured. But a Brooke trained vet spoke on the radio programme and said the disease could be cured if the animal is given treatment.
This new and more effective information system strengthens awareness around equine welfare and can also be used when owners have questions about their animal’s health and need extra support. They are able to call the project number and receive answers or other messages from UGAN directly to their phones.
Another local owner said: “I have a friend whose donkey was stolen. It is thanks to the radio programmes released in the village Badoudou that he found his donkey. The radio programme is very good for us equine owners.”
Brooke West Africa will continue to monitor the pilot project by holding regular community meetings to gain feedback from local owners. More than 150,000 people have been reached by the Jokalante initiative, allowing Brooke to drastically increase the scope and scale of its work in raising awareness of good animal welfare practises in rural communities.
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