MENAW Conference
(Continued from "EMRO and Mau News" in the Spring 2010 Mewsletter.)
MENAW Conference (Middle East Network for Animal Welfare)
This second MENAW Conference was held from 1st to 3rd March at the Concorde el-Salam Hotel in Heliopolis. This conference, specifically assembled for animal welfare groups in the Middle East, went off very well with plenty of interesting presentations and workshops. EMRO had a booth display with three attendees - Dr. Abdelrahman Fahmy, Dr. Hazim Hassan, and Ms. Rosalind Smith. EMRO's booth and attendance fees were supported and sponsored by PURINA.
Representatives from charities in North Africa and Middle Eastern countries, including those from Iran and Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, and Turkey were in attendance. Presenters from other charities and organizations from around the world gave us several thought-provoking presentations on various programs, such as TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release), "burn-out" syndrome suffered by animal caregivers, marketing as a tool for charities, "Can animal welfare societies work together?", and raising slaughterhouse standards in the Middle East. Also discussed were the elimination of use of animals in circuses, improving zoo standards of captive animals, and the protection of endangered species, etc.
Princess Alia of Jordan held the position of Honorary Chair while representing her Princess Alia Foundation which was founded to promote balance, harmony, and respect of all creation. Three workshops were held on Tuesday morning, two for companion animals at ESAF (Egyptian Society of Animal Friends), ESMA (Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals), and a zoo workshop at Giza Zoo. An additional workshop relating to farm animals was also held at the hotel. On the final afternoon, voting for the MENAW board was held to elect seven members out of 11, along with establishing short and long-term goals. The voting was not easy to carry out as most of the charities at the conference had different agendas, since they all came from different countries with varying conditions.
Julie Dodd, a frequent pet escort for EMRO and other charities, also attended the conference. The EMRO banner was designed and supplied (at a special price) by the staff of "eWebbers", and the photo taken for EMRO was by Ms. Karen Anne Thom who kindly donated it. Thanks to all, especially to PURINA, for supporting EMRO's attendance at the conference.
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Attendees at the MENAW conference were Ms. Anna Hashim Cabrera (Program Director for the Philippine Animal Welfare Society - PAWS), Bob Bloomberg (Co-founder ESAF), Dr. AbdelRahman, Dr. Hazem, Ms. Rosalind Smith, Julie Dodd, Kim Bartlett (Kim Bartlet
Director of International Relations.
Animal People (AP)), Princess Alia, and HH Sarra.
Report submitted by Ms. Rosalind Smith.
THE VOICE OF THE SILENT MINORITY
MENAW CONFERENCE 2010 (Middle East Network for Animal Welfare)
“Mission Possible, Legislation & Enforcement”
Following the success of the first groundbreaking MENAW conference in Cairo in 2007, the El Salam hotel in Heliopolis hosted the 2nd MENAW conference in March 2010.
Article 1. This second MENAW Conference was held from 1st to 3rd March at the Concorde el-Salam Hotel in Heliopolis. This conference, specifically assembled for animal welfare groups in the Middle East, went off very well with plenty of interesting presentations and workshops. EMRO had a booth display with three attendees - Dr. Abdelrahman Fahmy, Dr. Hazim Hassan, and Ms. Rosalind Smith. EMRO's booth and attendance fees were supported and sponsored by PURINA.... (To read the complete MENAW report submitted by Ms. Rosalind Smith, click here.)
Article 2. Following the success of the first groundbreaking MENAW conference in Cairo in 2007, the El Salam hotel in Heliopolis hosted the 2nd MENAW conference in March 2010.
The MENAW organisation was founded by Ahmed El Sherbiny the society's Chairperson, a law attorney and passionate animal welfare advocate, and Robert Blumberg of ESAF (Egyptian Society of Animal Friends).
MENAW was set up primarily with the purpose of promoting the exchange of news, ideas and lessons learned between animal welfare organisations in the Middle East by establishing a network forum for all the animal welfare societies in the region.
Spread over 3 days the conference was attended by 120 people from 23 countries and its main focus was the implementation of legislation and enforcement to regulate improvement of animal welfare in general in the Middle East.
Presenters at the conference included international and national NGO's and societies, government officials, judges, and speakers from the private sector.
DAY 1
The 2nd MENAW conference was opened by Mr. Ahmed El Sherbiny, co-founder of MENAW and ESAF (Egyptian Society of Animal Friends) followed by speeches from amongst others Mr. Robert Blumberg (co-founder of MENAW) and HRH Princess Alia Hussein of Jordan introducing PAF (The Princess Alia Foundation). Princess Alia has been awarded the position of Honorary Chair by MENAW.
Also present were HH Sharifa Sarra Ghazi, Dr. Monique Eliot (representative of OIE, The International Organisation for Animal Health), Dr. Hassan Shafik (representing The General Organisation for Veterinary Services, Government of Egypt) and from the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Amin Abaza.
The rest of the morning was dedicated to presentations about the current status of animal welfare and protection in the region.
After a vegetarian lunch in line with conference sentiments the long afternoon session included a special presentation on how to recognise and prevent 'burnout' in animal activists.
The major topic of the afternoon involved presentations and discussion analysing the effectiveness of TNR programs (Trap-Neuter-Release). Speakers from many parts of the world, not just the Middle East, talked about procedures and results in their respective countries, leading to lively discussion and providing the opportunity to exchange and learn new ideas.
DAY 2
Day 2 was taken up by a series of workshops involved with different areas of animal welfare. During the morning session there were 3 workshops running concurrently.
Concerning companion animals a visit to local animal shelters ESAF and ESMA (Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals) looked at the particular challenges faced by animal shelters and methods of fund raising. Animal wild life was represented by a trip to Giza zoo and examined programs for improvement, whilst in the El Salam hotel a third workshop focused on farm animals and the problems posed by the global spread of factory farming.
After lunch the conference turned its attention to the serious topic of transport and slaughter practices in the Middle East and ways of implementing OIE guidelines in a country's own legislation.
DAY 3
The final day of the conference started with some interesting presentations including pain threshold assessment by a representative from The Donkey Sanctuary in the UK and a business orientated session about marketing animal welfare societies effectively and building strong marketing strategies.
During the day a series of workshops were available on topics such as improving the welfare of animals in captivity, the problems of animal welfare societies working with each other and importantly, establishing a Middle East Animal Welfare Act to improve conditions in the long and short term periods.
Around 4.30pm after three long days of a tremendous amount of interesting and vital information swapping and valuable learning on many different aspects of all animal welfare areas the conference was brought to a conclusion with an open floor discussion about what MENAW's identity as an organisation and it's main objectives should be.
Following this the main recommendations made during the conference were identified.
And finally MENAW members elected their new members for the MENAW board bringing to an end what should be regarded as an extremely successful conference for MENAW and a positive step forward for the silent minority they have all worked so hard for, the animals and wild life of the Middle East.
A report on the MENAW 2010 conference and a list of the main recommendations will be available in April on the MENAW website www.menaw.net
Reported by Ms. Gail Taylor, Cairo, March 2010
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