By Dr Anne Pearson (Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, UK)
17 Nov 2010

The time for the Sixth International Colloquium on Working Equids is approaching and promises to be a fascinating event.  As in the previous five colloquia the meeting will provide a great opportunity for participants to exchange knowledge and views on the issues concerned with working equids. At the same time the colloquium is a great place to make links and establish new contacts. This is a good meeting to attend for those new to this field of work.

As nothing should ever stand still, this year the 2010 colloquium has a new feel to it.  For the first time people from very different disciplines* will be attending. These people have been invited to share their experiences in helping people to improve livelihoods, hence the subtitle of the meeting “Learning from Others”.

The aim of this colloquium is to encourage participants to look at their activities in a new light, and take on board lessons learned from others.  The techniques used, ways of approaching problems and the reasons for successes and failures in the many different disciplines* represented at the colloquium may not turn out to be so very different - and it is hoped a lot of areas of common interest will be identified.

So often it is easy to remain focused just on the working horse, donkey or mule and ignore the bigger picture, so it is hoped that the meeting will result in people from these various disciplines prepared to work together in practice. And I believe in the present financial climate this makes good sense.

The challenge to the 2010 participants is to identify and come away with some promises of collaboration. It is hoped the working horse, donkey and mule can be seen as a key component in multi-disciplinary projects to increase livelihoods and raise income of some of the poorest people in the world.  Maybe this is impossible, what do you think?

The past events have always been very sociable. Lively discussions can often carry on late into the evenings, so if you work in one of these disciplines* why not come to Delhi from 28th November to 3th December and be part of this exciting discussion. It is a colloquium not to be missed.

* international development, social science, human health, education, animal science and veterinary medicine.

Find out more by visiting the International Colloquium on Working Equids website