India

At a glance

• India is home to over 500,000 working horses, donkeys and mules.
• 21% of the population live below the international poverty line.  
• Brooke has established 3,220 Equine Welfare Groups. These groups have developed alternative sources of livelihood and generated funds to further support their equids. We are proud that 2,073 of these groups are for women.

Take a closer look

Each working equine in India supports about six people, but many families who depend on working horses, donkeys and mules for their livelihoods face real problems rearing them.

Equines often become sick due to a lack of proper food and clean water – and the challenging work terrain and climate conditions are severely harsh on these sentient beings. Furthermore, outdated traditional veterinary and farriery practices followed in several parts of the country create substantial animal welfare issues.

Since we were founded in 1992, Brooke India has grown from a mobile ambulance team that provided free treatment to animals who were suffering, to a team that works in partnership with local communities, large organisations and government to raise the profile of working horses, donkeys and mules and the issues they face – and create the lasting change needed to end it for good.

Brooke India’s Journey

Improving the lives of working horses, donkeys, and mules in India for more than three decades, the programme in India has evolved through various phases.

• The first phase was characterised by the provision of veterinary services for working equines and the activities were directly managed and supervised by Brooke UK.
• In the second phase, BI focused on equine welfare through the provision of free veterinary and support services to working equines at fixed locations.
• The third phase focused on achieving long-term and sustainable improvement in equine welfare through the engagement of equine owners.
• The fourth phase was focused on a holistic approach to achieving improved equine welfare with emphasis on strengthening the local service delivery system in addition to the above.
• The fifth and the current phase had an approach that also focused on multi-pronged interventions, i.e. formation and capacity building of Women and Men Equine Welfare   Groups (EWGs) and   Community   Based   Organizations (CBOs), provision of comprehensive equine health services, capacity building of Local Health Providers and establishment of linkages between   EWGs and BI trained service providers. Besides, BI targeted intervention at Brick Kilns (BKs) as these sites render livelihood opportunities to equine owners for a substantial period of the year. BI also provides emergency treatment services as per Brooke Service Provision guidelines to working equines in need of urgent medical intervention through dedicated equine fair extension intervention.

BI’s Priorities FY 22-23

For BI, equine health and welfare remain critical aspects. BI acknowledges, that the needs of working equines can only be alleviated if the equine owners who own and rear them, are financially capable, sensitised, and trained for adopting good animal husbandry and welfare practices. Towards this end, our programmatic intervention currently focuses on the following two aspects:

• To improve the health and welfare of the equines
• To develop the economic and social conditions of the marginalised equine owning communities

Documentation

Find out more about our work in India

Tel: +91 120 2400404
[email protected]
Joy Tower, C-20/1-A/1, Sector 62, Noida - 201301, Uttar Pradesh, India.