Putting animal welfare standards into practice

Full title: Sub-regional Workshop on Operationalising Animal Welfare through Inclusive Public–Private Partnerships and Enabling Legal Frameworks in Southeast Asia.

Why this workshop?

Animal welfare supports healthy animals, responsible farming and safe trade. WOAH sets standards for it in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code, including Chapter 7.6, on animal welfare at the time of killing for purposes other than slaughter, and Chapter 7.13, on animal welfare in pig production systems.

In 2025 and 2026, the WOAH Sub-Regional Representation for Southeast Asia, working under the Regional Animal Welfare Strategy (RAWS) for Asia-Pacific, ran Training-of-Trainers (ToT) workshops on pig welfare and humane killing for disease control. The workshops built skills in animal behaviour, welfare assessment and humane handling, and created a group of local trainers. Participants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam told us the same thing: more people now know the standards, but using them in daily work is still hard.

Change needs more than government. Companies, farmers, producer groups, veterinarians, community animal health workers and civil society all play a part.

Laws matter too. In the four countries, veterinary laws only partly recognise these roles and often lack rules for cooperation, accountability and investment.

Civil society groups, including members of the International Coalition for Animal Welfare (ICFAW), a WOAH partner, ask for strong safeguards. Partnerships must be open, fair and judged by real results for animals, with clear rules to avoid uneven enforcement and weak oversight.

This workshop follows Resolution No. 35 of WOAH’s 92nd General Session, which calls for more cooperation and better governance to put animal welfare standards into practice. The Animal Health Forum at the 93rd General Session also showed that private companies help with services, funding, new ideas and value chains. Clear laws make investment less risky.

What we want to achieve

What we expect to see

• Better understanding of how to put WOAH animal welfare standards into practice through partnerships.
• Each country reviews its laws and institutions and finds priority gaps.
• Practical partnership models with clear roles and ways to track results.
• Draft country roadmaps for legal change, stakeholder involvement and investment.

How the workshop works

This is a hands-on workshop, not a series of lectures. Participants share experience, discuss challenges openly and build their own solutions.

The workshop uses the WOAH Public–Private Partnership Handbook. It also supports skills under the WOAH Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) Pathway.

Who takes part

Each country sends eight participants: four from the public sector and four from the private sector, all with decision-making roles and experience in animal welfare, especially pig production.

Women’s participation: we aim for at least 40% women among participants and will count participants by gender.

Three steps, from preparation to results

How we check learning: daily group exercises and short quizzes, and a short survey at the end.

Caring for the environment: we aim to use less paper, avoid food waste and save energy.

Programme

This programme is a draft, and times may change.

Select a day to see the timetable.

Presentations

Note: The photos below are from previous Training-of-Trainers (ToT) workshops in the same project series. Photos from this workshop will be uploaded soon.

Partners and support

The WOAH team

Who to contact

This workshop is for invited participants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. It is organised by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).