Research Paper
Animal health surveillance plays a vital role in ensuring public health, animal welfare,
and sustainable food production by monitoring disease trends, early detecting (new)
hazards, facilitating disease control and infection, and providing data for risk analysis.
Good stakeholder collaboration across the sector can lead to better communication,
better science and decision-making and more effective surveillance and response. An
understanding of relevant stakeholders, their interests and their power can facilitate
such collaboration. While information on key stakeholders in animal health surveillance
is available at the national level in Tanzania, it is missing at the subnational level.
The study aimed to explore the existing stakeholders’ collaborations and influences
at the subnational level through stakeholder mapping and to determine potential
leverage points for improving the national animal health surveillance system. A
qualitative design was used, involving consultative workshops with government animal
health practitioners in Sumbawanga, Sikonge and Kilombero districts of Tanzania
from December 2020 to January 2021. Data were collected using an adapted
USAID stakeholder collaboration mapping tool with the following steps: (i) Define the
objective (ii) Identify all stakeholders (iii) Take stock of the current relationships (iv)
Determine resource-based influence (v) Determine non-resource based influence and
(vi) Review and revise the collaboration map. Forty-five stakeholders were identified in
all three districts and grouped into four categories: private sector and non-government
organizations (n = 16), government (n = 16), community (n = 9) and political leaders
(n = 4). Animal health practitioners had a stronger relationship with community
stakeholders as compared to other categories. The results also showed that most
of the stakeholders have non-resource-based influence compared to resource-based
influence. The private sector and non-government organizations have a relatively higher
number of resource-based influential stakeholders, while political leaders have more
non-resource-based influence. The mapping exercise demonstrated that the system could benefit from community mobilization and sensitization, resource mobilization
and expanding the horizon of surveillance data sources. Some of the leverage points
include integration of surveillance activities into animal health services, clear operational
processes, constant engagement, coordination and incentivization of stakeholders. The
diversity in the identified stakeholders across the districts suggests that collaborations
are contextual and socially constructed.