Capacity building for animal health professionals in Benin on best practices in terms of veterinary diagnosis and treatment

Awarding of a certificate to a participant. Picture (c) H. J. Togbonon (Hobra Media, woah) 2026.

Each session combined theory, classroom demonstrations and hands-on work with animals in the field. Discussion sessions and Q&A sessions allowed trainers to focus on specific aspects in order to address the questions and needs of the VPPs.

This collaborative atmosphere helped to strengthen the bonds between trainers and learners, leading to the creation of communities on social media platforms for the ongoing sharing of real-world situations encountered by VPPs in the course of their work, even beyond the training period. The enthusiasm of the VPPs and the Beninese authorities for these continuing training courses is a key strength and a guarantee of the sustainability of these activities. Indeed, over 90% of the VPPs stated that they would be willing to participate in a fee-paying training course of this type.

Lessons learnt and outlook

Following these training sessions, Benin’s animal health system has emerged with enhanced skills and a greater commitment to the quality of Veterinary Services provided to livestock farmers.

Given the high level of enthusiasm among VPPs for these training courses, there is a clear need to institutionalise these continuing professional development (CPD) activities. The VPPs have stated that there is a willingness – to – pay (WTP) for such continuing professional development.

Several prospects were then discussed, including:

• the validation of the proposed programme and manuals as standard tools for VPP CPD;
• the integration of these training courses into the capacity-building plan of the Ministry responsible for Livestock;
• the establishment of fee-paying, certified continuing professional development (CPD) courses by ADENAP and AMEVEP, these two professional associations representing VPPs and private-practice veterinarians respectively.

With just a few months to go before the P3V Project concludes, the enthusiasm shown for these continuing education courses, the involvement of animal health professional associations and the commitment of Benin’s WOAH Delegate give cause for hope that the country will be able to continue these training programmes entirely independently.

Temperature-taking during the training of VPPs. Picture (c) H. J. Togbonon (Hobra Media, woah) 2026.