Embedded Files
Page 3
In the case of veterinary services, the reforms aimed to increase the role of private markets in services delivery, lower public expenditures, improve the quality and coverage of the services provided to livestock owners, and enhance effective control of animal diseases that endanger human health (Smith 2001). In developing countries, the reforms resulted in the privatization of selected tasks, decentralization of veterinary organizations, and a move towards confining the state veterinary services to delivery of public goods services (Cheneau et al. 2004). Although previous studies report on both pros and cons of decentralization and privatization (e.g. Sen and Chander 2003, Ahuja 2004, Leonard 2004, Woodford 2004), there are few in-depth studies of the interactions among the diverse stakeholders and the transformations of formal and informal institutions that result from decentralization and privatization. Nonetheless, as some studies indicate (Robinson 2007, Awortwi 2010), the outcomes of decentralization reforms are often mediated by a number of institutional factors beyond the control of local officials, such as the prevailing pol-itical context, power dynamics at local and national levels, and lack of financial resources. All too often, the reforms were pursued without due attention to complementary changes in the broader governance structures and socio-economic conditions. For Ghana also, there is little recent information on how the diverse actors reacted to the reforms of the public veterinary services. The present study aims to fill this gap by examining the effects of privatization and decentralization on veterinary services delivery in Northern Ghana by assessing (1) the changes in delivery of animal health services and (2) stakeholders’ responses to the reforms. To provide an analytical lens for the study, the following section outlines dimensions of veterinary services reform to understand the different elements that constitute veterinary services provision, and the kind of institutions that influence the provision of, and are affected by, reforms. Section 3 describes the case and the research methods. In Section 4, the findings are presented. The paper ends with a discussion and conclusions. In this study, the term ‘service provision’ refers to the execution of a process intended to enhance the productivity of resource use in on-farm operations. Examples include technological and business advisory work, and regulations aimed at plant and animal disease control. Goods pro-vision, on the other hand, refers to the provision of material goods, for example, fertilizer distribution (Smith 2001). Smith (2001) distinguishes four main categories of veterinary services:
(i) preventive services (avoiding the outbreak of diseases);
(ii) clinical or curative services (treatment of diseased animals and control of production-limiting disorders);
(iii) production and distribution of drugs, vaccines, and other products (such as artificial insemination); and
(iv) human health protection (inspection of marketed animal products including live animals in markets, during transportation, and on farms).
Google Sites
Report abuse