Module 2 | Part 4: Human Behaviour Change Learning Module | Behaviour Change Best Practices and Key Considerations

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helpful tips and recommended ethical principles for consideration throughout any community animal welfare intervention project
Example of Intersectionality in the Animal Welfare Context
QUIZ 6: Behaviour Change Best Practices

When seeking to support human behaviour change, the following helpful tips and recommended ethical principles have been adapted for consideration throughout any community animal welfare intervention project [20]:

1. Behaviour change needs to be owned

The key in facilitating behaviour change is recognizing that ultimately it is the decision of everyone to adopt desired behaviours, and thus is it important they take ownership of the change process for behaviour change to be adopted and sustained. It is the role of the community facilitator believe in communities’ innate potential to make changes, including the ability to analyse their situations and conditions that affect their lives and the lives of their animals. Designing the behaviour change process in a participatory and empowering manner is critical to supporting people’s motivation throughout the behaviour change process.

2. Respect People’s Right to Choose

Projects must always respect individuals’ right to choose (or not) to adopt a particular behaviour (unless it harms or endangers others) and must consider the risks early adopters may face (e.g. disapproval of others in their household/community, incurring initial financial or time-related costs).

3. Promote Ethical Change

Only seek to change existing behaviours if such change:

• Has benefits which are perceived by the targeted community members to outweigh the potential costs/losses caused by changing existing behaviours, customs, and traditions.
• Are proven to effectively address the problems faced by the targeted animal owning community.
• Are supported by the key stakeholders (such as civil society representatives, ministries)

4. Practices to Avoid

• Avoid changing a behaviour without trying to understand it first e.g., arriving at a community with a plan to change a given behaviour(s) without trying to first understand why people practice it, why they cannot/ do not change it.
• Avoid using excessive social pressure or victimizing e.g. coercing instead of motivating people; labelling individuals as a bad animal owners or carers/cruel people when they do not follow certain practices while not reflecting on their ability to do so.
• Avoid promising more than the behaviour can deliver e.g. exaggerating the real benefits that a behaviour can deliver or downplaying its costs (required time, effort, disapproval of others)
• Avoid promoting a behaviour with unproved effectiveness e.g. asking people to spend their time, effort, or resources on practicing a behaviour (i.e. certain animal husbandry and management practices) for which there is no strong evidence of effectiveness).
• Avoid Creating demand without adequate supply e.g. encouraging people to use animal related resources or services which are hard to access (i.e. due to costs, poor availability, distance etc.) without helping to improve access.
• Avoid ignoring the already present positive behaviours e.g. introducing new practices without assessing and taking advantage of the existing positive behaviours, beliefs, and know-how
• Avoid culturally insensitive interventions

5. Behaviour change is a process

behaviour change is not immediate, nor necessarily linear, but rather a process in which a person will go through a series of steps as their awareness, acceptance, and motivation to change and act is unlocked. It is important to be listening and gauging what stage of change people are in so you can tailor your engagement appropriately and effectively [25]. If for example someone is in pre-contemplation, and you try to work with them to solution the problem, they may withdraw or lose interest as they are not yet aware or may not believe there is a problem.

6. Define the animal welfare problem in specific human behaviour terms

A helpful tip for animal welfare improvement projects is to frame the animal welfare issue in terms of the human behaviour change desired. It is important to recognize that improving animal welfare may require changing the behaviours of more than just animal owning communities, but also those of others’ who either influence animal welfare directly, or influence animal owning communities’ adoption of desired behaviours such as animal health and resource providers. Crafting behaviour change statements using the following considerations is therefore important as it will ensure all parties are clear on who needs to change, and what change is desired, and help inform more effective planning and monitoring of change.

Behaviour change statements should identity:

• Whose behaviour needs to change
• What is the desired behaviour they will adopt (using a present tense action verb)
• Relevant details to achieving desired outcome of behaviour (e.g. frequency, quantity, duration, location, with whom etc.).

In addition, identified behaviours should be stated as specific as possible (non-divisible), and reflect the end-state behaviour desired [31].

• Non-divisible behaviours refer to actions which cannot be divided or broken down into further actions. For example, “prevent heat stress” is divisible because it could be further divided into a variety of behaviours such as providing shade, providing water, or providing periods of rest when animal is exposed to high temperature conditions at length. Because barriers to adoption are often behaviour specific, ensuring behaviours are non-divisible will enable you to investigate and target the appropriate barriers which support achievement of desired outcomes [32].
• End state behaviour refers to a behaviour that produces the desired outcome [31]. To determine whether a behaviour is end state, simply ask “will a person engaging in this behaviour produce the desired outcome, or do they need to do something else before the desired outcome can be achieved?” [31]. For example, “grow nutritional animal feed” is not an end state behaviour because doing this alone does not ensure animals are actually fed. An alternative end state behaviour would be “nutritional animal feed is provided in sufficient quantities to animals on a daily basis”.

7. Understand Behaviour within the Broader Context

People’s behaviour is shaped by their broader external environment (e.g. employment opportunities, culture, access and availability of resources and services, vulnerability to external shocks such as drought or pests etc.). These external factors can act as either an enabling factor/motivator or barrier to behaviour change. Without observing and seeking to understand the behaviour and variety of factors which influence it, it will be challenging to understand what needs to change for desired behaviours to be adopted and sustained.

8. Understand Intersectionality in the Context of Desired Behaviours

Intersectionality refers to the overlapping social categorisations and identities people hold which can combine to create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage for them e.g. gender, race, class, social status, migratory status etc. It is important to understand how these social categorisations and identities can place certain groups within animal owning communities at a greater disadvantage. Intersectionality affects people’s lived experiences, shapes the development of their frame of reference for understanding the world, and can influence their capability, opportunity, or motivation to change their behaviour to improve animal welfare. It is therefore important to use an intersectional lens when seeking to support behaviour change, as understanding what these overlapping social categorizations are, how they interact to motivate or constrain people’s behaviours can be critical to the success of any behaviour change project [33].

Link to References Cited

QUIZ 6: Behaviour Change Best Practices