Introduction
During 2023-2024, WOAH’s Gender Task Force had the opportunity to meet with Chief Veterinary officers, researchers and other senior professionals from different continents to discuss their priorities as leaders within the veterinary domain.
Here, a CVO from the Asia Pacific region shares her career trajectory and discusses the role of behaviour change, women’s growing participation in the workforce, avoiding over-work, and the importance of contributing to the greater good, in the Veterinary Services.
Tell us about yourself:
I have been in the position of Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of my country for less than four years. I applied for the position when there was a vacancy. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Sciences and then completed a Master’s degree from Australia. I began my career working as a veterinary officer at a veterinary laboratory. The post of CVO in my country, like elsewhere, is a competitive post while the positions lower to that can be attained upon possessing the requisite competencies and meeting the expectations required for that post based on performance appraisals.
Was it easy to apply for the position of Chief Veterinary Officer?
We have a clear, rigorous and transparent process in place for selection whenever there are vacancies in the civil service. In my case, my predecessor encouraged me to apply although I was not really keen. But he was supportive and gave me the confidence to feel ready for the job. In hindsight, I feel very glad that I seized that opportunity.
How do you describe your leadership? How do you develop confidence as a leader?
You must lead yourself first before leading others, something called Leadership of the Self. Make your team’s working environment comfortable: first, you should be comfortable yourself in that environment, for others to feel the same. My team has a strong sense of being mission-driven: people know that if they are not there and don’t do the work, no one will. My team is committed to serving farmers, animals, and the nation.
We do face challenges. These include dealing with a very old farming system, the recurrent threat of transboundary animal diseases and a strong need to implement biosecurity measures.
Can you provide an example of where you helped enable the empowerment of others ?
The experience with the COVID-19 pandemic placed a lot of pressure on staff, who were dealing with multiple animal disease outbreaks at the same time. Due to this experience, we put in place a compensation system to address overtime hours, where staff could recuperate days off following busy periods. Seeing a need for more efficient laboratory systems, after the pandemic we also instituted measures to process sampling more efficiently and promptly.
Can you tell us more about key moments so far in your leadership journey?
Planning and efficiently responding to continuous outbreaks of transboundary animal diseases heads-on and implementing some very impactful programmes in the country.
What advice do you have for working with diverse groups?
Working with diverse groups has challenges, as each group has different problems. It is not easy to change behaviour when working with stakeholders of different educational levels, but having diverse groups at work is also useful at the same time. Behaviour change is something we aspire for in our subsistence farmers considering numerous transboundary animal disease (TADs) outbreaks in backyard farms and the need for reliable biosecurity practices.
So are you saying that behaviour change is an important part of the work of national Veterinary Services ?
Yes. Especially as diseases are emerging and re-emerging, people should have a systems-thinking approach of how this could affect them. Encouraging behaviour change of farmers is important.
Working with finance teams and politicians for compensation to farmers is also challenging. There is also a need for behaviour change among policy makers.
Do you think it is inspiring for new generations to see leaders like yourself ?
I try my best – I have a lot of new veterinarians working in my team now, even if the turnover is high. I want them to contribute to the system. I keep myself motivated, repeating the saying, “if not me, who? And if not now, when?” Another motivating factor is that despite the high turnover, new veterinarians are joining.
It helps that there is a formal programme to develop annual workplans which include mentoring and online training.
What can WOAH do to help encourage women to take on leadership roles ?
WOAH can support Veterinary Services by offering training for leadership and explaining what it means to be a good leader – not only for veterinarians, but also for paraprofessionals. It would be useful as well to have access to international fora for paraprofessionals around the world to share their difficulties and be heard. The format could be virtual for a start, and then WOAH could consider moving to physical meetings.
Is gender a topic that is spoken about enough among veterinary services professionals?
There is huge acceptance now of women in the workforce among Veterinary Services and other departments as well. Women are seen taking up more leadership roles in Asian countries. People are open and aware about equality issues. Also, women in the region don’t shy away from considering leadership roles anymore. In addition, supporters – both men and women – empower women, as was the case with my predecessor. I believe women are more ready than ever before to take up leadership roles.
Do stakeholders engage with promoting gender equality?
Yes, many are engaged, especially among veterinary and veterinary paraprofessional associations. They are in direct contact with people in international organisations and their representatives.
Is there anything you would like to add ?
There are lots of women at WOAH. It is very encouraging and inspiring, to have lots of women in the international organisation that represents Veterinary Services globally. We are moving in the right direction at an international level as women, and we should support each other. Sometimes women pull one another down through competition.
I will end with the saying, “The door of possibilities is infinite”.
The Gender Task Force is grateful to this interviewee for sharing her perspective and leadership experience with WOAH in 2023.
Written by Sonia Fèvre and Nada Essawy
