3.1 Implement Community Engagement Strategy

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3.1.1 Implement action plans and support community members’ progress through stages of change
3.1.2 Expand Reach
Tools and resources helpful to supporting this step

3.1.1 Implement action plans and support community members’ progress through stages of change

During the implementation phase, CCAs are focused on implementing their personal action plans to support their peer groups and ensure proper safeguarding measures are in place to support CCAs and their peers in participating in planned activities.

Remember that change is a process, and that people can progress and relapse through the stages of change for any desired behaviour at any time. Thus, while CCA’s personal action plans provide a general roadmap for activity implementation, CCAs should always be working to gauge their target peers’ stage of change with every interaction by listening for change talk, asking open ended questions, using reflective listening, and tailoring their communications with their peers accordingly to support the change process throughout the implementation phase. Refer to the recommended facilitator resource Techniques for Supporting Progress through the Stages of Change for guidance.

At the start of the implementation stage, members of CCA’s peer group are likely to be in the contemplation or preparation stage of behaviour change given they have already agreed to engage with the project and were ideally involved in the identification of priority welfare issues and actions to address them. However, some targeted community members may still be in the pre-contemplation phase, especially if the project prioritized animal welfare issues and behavioural change priorities itself.

Motivating people to change is most difficult when they are in the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages of change and using motivational interviewing principles outlined in the recommended facilitator resources section is particularly useful during these stages.

In addition to using their core competencies related to the above-mentioned facilitator resources, other key considerations and recommendations to support CCAs in being successful as influencers in changing their peers’ mind-sets and behaviours include:

• Encourage peers to set small, incremental, and achievable goals for action in accordance with the frequency of CCA visits. It is more effective to set short term objectives for action that lead to results rather than setting objectives for achieving the results themselves [66].
• Communicate the vision for change in terms of what individuals’ value frequently and consistently to help erode resistance to change [66].

• Develop social networks amongst target peer groups as geography permits, or within or between households, by helping them see how their interests and needs are interconnected and encourage them to provide support and encouragement to each other. Identify early adopters and engage them in providing peer support and positive role modelling to their peers to increase the willingness of others to try the new behaviour. By putting peers in a position of being accountable for one another, they reinforce their own progress through helping others [66].
• Set up a system whereby target peers compete against a target achievement, and all those who achieve the target “win”. People are more likely to help one another win when they are competing against their own progress as opposed to competing against one another in a system where there is one “winner” which can generate a lack of cooperation [66]. For example, set a target for individuals to improve their individual animal welfare results in when the Animal welfare transect walk is repeated. Consider provide households with a monitoring results tracker which they can keep, ideally posted someplace they will see it, to provide them with feedback on the impact of their behaviours and enable them to track their progress over time and serve as a motivating reminder for them to continue making progress.
• Provide frequent encouraging feedback to let their target peers know how they are doing, ensuring people feel praised, supported, and encouraged throughout the course of the project.

• Elevate peers’ self-esteem by recognizing their attempts and celebrating their efforts to change even if unsuccessful, and ensure they are never made to feel less than or bad.
• Role model behaviours helps demonstrate what is possible to target peers and helps them to believe they can make the desired changes. In addition, it is helpful to gain commitments from early adopters to speak to other peers whenever feasible to harness social diffusion [31].

• Draw their attention to the benefits and positive impacts of the adoption of desired behaviours over the behaviours it replaces based on their direct experiences [66].
• Help peers to feel change in terms of intrinsic satisfaction by connecting changes with what individuals’ value [66].
• Help people connect with the consequences of their choices by telling meaningful stories. Consider using the Closed Ended Story Telling (T24a) tool to promote the adoption of desired behaviours.

3.1.2 Expand Reach

If results from ongoing monitoring (discussed in the following step) indicate that the adoption of desired behaviours and related animal welfare improvements have been achieved before the project’s time and resources have expired, consider expanding the project’s reach to harness the momentum of change, either in terms of one or both of the following:

1. Identify additional animal welfare improvements and associated behaviours to change amongst CCAs’ existing target peers who are likely to be motivated to build on their initial successes. Identify new priorities for change using the action planning process outlined in previous steps, reminding CCA’s and their peers that animals will experience greater welfare improvements when their welfare is improved.
2. Identify new target peers’ groups who are motivated to make changes because of having observed the successes of the initial target peer group. Consider holding broader community outreach activities to share targeted peers’ experiences, results, and perceived benefits of engaging with project to generate motivation and interest amongst other animal owning households to adopt desired behaviours and improve animal welfare.

Be sure to follow the process previously outlined and update the Behaviour Change Planning Table, monitoring indicators and sampling plan as appropriate. Recognizing behaviour change is a process, continued monitoring of initial target groups and indicators is recommended to assess whether changes in animal welfare and behaviour are maintained, and enable appropriate action to be taken should relapse occur.

Tools and resources helpful to supporting this step include:

PLA Tools
T24a Closed Ended Story Telling

Facilitator Resources
Techniques for Supporting Progress through the Stages of Change
Guidance on listening for change talk
Guidance on Facilitating Conversations for Change
Negotiated Behaviour Change: Guidance on Overcoming Resistance to Change
Essential Communication Skills for Promoting Behaviour Change
Behaviour Change Planning Table

Link to References Cited