In this detailed post, we review Animal Welfare League’s activities in 2023 and outline our plans for the years ahead. This effort is part of our commitment to knowledge sharing and transparency, providing our partners, donors, and funders with an opportunity to understand our accomplishments, challenges, and strategic decisions and provide feedback.
Animal Welfare League is committed to enhancing animal welfare in Ghana, encompassing farmed, aquatic, and wild animals, among others. We strive to fulfil our mission through meticulously designed projects, research initiatives, and community outreach, collaborating with stakeholders, communities, and the government. We have been running our spearheaded project on farmed animal welfare called Cage-Free Project with specific research initiatives, and through volunteers, we conduct community outreach programs.
We employ a four-pronged strategy consisting of corporate campaigns, engagement with egg producers, raising consumer awareness, and sequentially advocating for policy to alleviate the suffering of hens in Ghana and across Africa.
We have established a dynamic database of targeted companies based on egg usage estimates, star categorization, and regional distribution, which currently includes 16 hospitality companies across five regions in Ghana. In 2023, we conducted 16 physical outreach initiatives and held 27 meetings with companies. As a result, two companies committed to transitioning to 100% cage-free sourcing. These two commitments spurred advancements toward cage-free production among their suppliers, that will impact over 10,000 hens by 2025. We then positioned ourselves for future growth by securing corporate training with Amy Odene from UserFriendly. This valuable training program officially commenced in 2024, and will equip us with the skills needed to effectively scale our local and regional cage-free commitments.
Additionally, we initiated collaboration with the Ghana Hotels Association, the premier association of hoteliers in Ghana, boasting over 600 members. In partnership with Animal Advocacy Africa and the Open Wing Alliance, we collaborated with Sibanye Animal Welfare and Education for African Animals Welfare to produce an article and webinar exploring the unique strategies for conducting cage-free campaigns in Africa.
Under this arm, we organized three workshops targeting poultry farmers in Ghana's key poultry production zones. These workshops convened over 132 egg producers from the Greater Accra, Eastern, and Ashanti regions. Among them, 93 egg producers joined AWL’s National Cage-Free Farmers Network, with 33 successfully certified to be listed in our National Cage-Free Directory. The commitments made by these 93 egg producers resulted in the assurance of cage-free housing for over 350,000 layers, reflecting the reported production figures at that time. As part of their involvement in the network, egg producers agreed to uphold our minimum welfare standards including the following terms:
Furthermore, three staff members completed the Cage-Free Egg Production online modules provided by Global Food Partners. This served as an initial step in staff training on cage-free egg production, aligning with our ongoing efforts to facilitate access to training on cage-free egg production for animal advocates and egg producers across Africa.
We also conducted farm visits to egg producers who joined the National Cage-Free Farmers Network and Directory. These visits enable us to assess husbandry practices, provide veterinary consultations, and collect farm data. Additionally, we guide farm owners and workers through our rigorous onboarding process and expectations, while also addressing their personalized challenges.
Recognising the critical need to address animal welfare issues considering the high level of neglect in Ghana, we prioritise raising consumer awareness, and so we broadcasted the egg producers' workshops on multiple television channels, including Joy News, Citi Radio, TV3, and Onua TV. Additionally, we conducted interviews on Oyerepa TV, AIT TV, and Focus FM stations to raise public awareness about the mistreatment and welfare issues faced by hens in factory farming. Furthermore, we recruited and provided training to 25 volunteers, increasing the total number of volunteers supporting animal welfare digital activism to 36. These volunteers collectively reported over 150 social media actions, generating over 12,000 impressions across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The Veterinary Council of Ghana extended an invitation to the Animal Welfare League to partake in a stakeholder consultation regarding a proposed amendment to the Veterinary Surgeons Law. One component of this proposed amendment involves the formation of an Animal Welfare Committee aimed at tackling animal welfare concerns within Ghana. Even though the process is in the early stages, Animal Welfare League remains committed to advocating for legislation that protects animal welfare.
Throughout 2023, we spearheaded the outreach efforts of the Open Wing Alliance Africa organizations to engage with global companies operating in Africa, advocating for global commitments to cage-free practices and regional reporting for their operations within the continent. This entailed conducting outreach to a subset of companies, including Cargill, Nestle, Barry Callebaut, Accor Group, and others, among the 47 targeted companies in 2023. Our objective was to promote accountability and transparency through the implementation of cage-free policies in their operations within Africa.
In reaction to the culling of dogs suspected of being rabid, we collaborated with the Volta Regional Department of the Veterinary Services Directorate to administer free rabies vaccinations for pets in four communities (Bagble, Ando, Etoe and Gbogame) within the Ho Municipality in the Volta region of Ghana. This vaccination initiative, conducted subsequent to the veterinary department's community sensitization campaigns, resulted in the vaccination of 198 pets (comprising 124 dogs and 74 cats) against rabies.
Dog vaccination against rabies at Bagble, Volta region, Ghana in 2023
This study is underway with initial funding from the Tiny Beam Fund. We have engaged two academic researchers from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to conduct a thorough examination of the Ghanaian poultry industry. The aim is to gather comprehensive economic data on both battery cage and cage-free systems, facilitating a direct comparison between the two. Additionally, the study will estimate the costs associated with transitioning from caged to cage-free systems in Africa.
We have conducted preliminary research involving over 1,600 pupils from sixteen schools across eight regions in Ghana. The aim was to assess the awareness, attitudes, and knowledge of school children regarding animal welfare. This information will be used to inform our humane education project. The report summarising the findings of the research this year.
Dr. Richard Dogbatse, Community Affairs at AWL speaking at ANAW West Africa Cage-Free Chicken Conference 2023.
We are interested in seeing more research on economics and financial aspects, government and policy, consumption and demand, and long-term public awareness interventions. Specifically:
We would like to see more conscious efforts in movement building within the continent, particularly in the effective animal advocacy space. We aim to see a greater number of regional events and conferences focused on advancing the movement in Africa.
We would like to see more concerted efforts to support knowledge sharing within the movement in Africa. While this goal can be addressed through previous initiatives mentioned, we believe that focusing on cultivating the habit and establishing appropriate avenues for knowledge sharing within the region is of utmost importance.
In 2023, our total expenses amounted to USD 51,967. The majority of our funding continued to be sourced from philanthropic funds and contributions from individual donors, with a significant portion coming from multiple individuals within the effective altruism and animal welfare/rights movements.
In 2023, we had four staff members who received regular compensation, and we added a new member in December 2023 to handle communications. Due to the fact that over 80% of funds raised in 2023 were directed toward project activities, we were only to provide stipends instead of salaried wages. We are actively fundraising in 2024 to be able to pay our staff competitive salaries.
We extend a big thank you to everyone who enabled us to make progress in our work and achieve the impacts we have made. In particular, this includes our donors, advisors, and our friends and family who support us in working for this cause. Some listed below
We value the contributions of everyone who has been in contact with us regarding our work and apologise for not including your name here as we cannot list everyone's name.
Executive summary: In 2023, Animal Welfare League made significant progress in enhancing animal welfare in Ghana through corporate campaigns, egg producer engagement, consumer awareness, and policy advocacy, while outlining goals and funding needs for 2024.
Key points:
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