Most communities are not accustomed to being asked for their expertise. Mapping is a great first tool to begin with because it gets the communication and discussion going between you and the community. Local people are rich in knowledge and understanding about their own environment and surroundings, as this is where their families have lived often for generations, so maps drawl by the local community are usually detailed, authentic and accurate.
This particular map is a visual representation of the important places, services and resources in the area, as seen and understood and perceived by the community at the present moment. The map will include houses, roads, basic infrastructure, working places, natural resources, and specific resource and service locations.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To understand which resources and services are most important to the community • To understand the power dynamics surrounding resources within the community – who owns/controls the resources • To identify gaps in available resources and services
2 hours per map
Materials needed:
Chart paper, note cards, markers or other locally available resources, like sticks, stones, straw, beans, seeds, coloured powders or saw dust, etc.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning
The map below illustrates the community’s own village and environment. It includes infrastructure, such as houses, roads, drinking water facilities, working places and natural resources, as well as resources related to working animals such as grazing land, resting, feeding, and watering areas. It identifies which places and people are important to the community, including those that affect the care of their animals, such as the location of feed sellers, veterinarians, agro vets, and clinics.
Figure T1A Resources & services map for a rural agricultural community
Once a village outline had been drawn, the group added the number of animals per household (black dots). Human and animal-related resources and service providers are shown in the legend and include the doctor, school, seed sellers (human); veterinarian, animal feed seller, agro-vet (animal); and borehole (both). In this map, the veterinarian and the borehole are both located on the outskirts of the community and this likely has implications for their daily activities.
Discussions during and after production of the map may focus on the availability, cost and quality of the resources and service providers available in the village.
Resources and Services Map
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of the exercise and ask participants to draw an outline of their community on the ground or a large piece of chart paper using local materials, including: • General infrastructure, such as roads and paths, water points, community feed storage • Households in the community, including details of each household’s family members • Important, well-known places, such as clinic, school, temple/mosque, and meeting places
Step 2
Ask participants to indicate households that have working animals. Show the types and numbers of animals using symbols or local materials. Add details such as whether the animals are male or female (e.g. blue for males, red for females) and the kinds of work they do.
Step 3
Ask participants to identify any animal-related resources or services that are available in the community and add them to the map: • Natural resources, such as animal water supplies, resting areas and grazing areas and/or land where feed is grown • Service providers, such as animal health service providers, animal equipment makers, feed sellers, livestock extension workers etc.
Step 4
Ask participants to identify any human-related resources and services that are available in the community and add them to the map: • Natural resources, such as agricultural land, communal land, forest areas, water sources, resting and social areas • Service providers, such as doctors, traditional healers, schools, shops, banks, money lenders, community-based organizations working on animal welfare Ask participants if there is anything else that they would like to show on the map that they think is important to any aspect of their lives or livelihoods.
Step 5
Encourage the group to analyse and discuss what is shown on the map. Consider using the following guiding questions: • Which resources and services are most important and/or used most frequently? Not at all? Why? • Availability and access to resources and services – which are most available, and which are lacking? Who has access and who doesn’t? Why? • Who owns and/or makes the main decisions about land, water and other important or communal resources? • Are there differences in access or availability of these important assets between men, women, youth, and different ethnic, religious or socioeconomic groups? • Quality and cost of available resources and services, noting different people’s views • Which resources degrade and which improve?
Step 6
If the map was drawn on the ground, document it by either transferring it to a piece of paper or take a photo (indicating which direction is north). A copy should be left with the community. Record the community’s analysis and responses in your project action tracker and follow up with the community later if/when you start action planning together.
Facilitator’s Notes
Mapping on the ground is easiest and allows for everyone can walk around it to see the map from different angles. This also allows a large crowd to view the map, contribute to it and easily make changes and corrections based on community discussions.
Consider asking men and women to draw the maps separately. Different participants may draw different maps of the same area and that is ok. It reflects their different views of the community and of the topic discussed. As well, have the two separate maps will validate the results and highlight aspects that are important for men and women.
Remember that you are not controlling the map. Give confidence to people by asking participants to draw the map and gradually take over the entire process themselves.
Intervene only when it is necessary to involve people who are left out. Encourage those who are not participating.
Maps can show how things looked in the past, how they look now and what people would like their community to look like in the future. Maps can also be drawn before and after an intervention to compare changes to available and accessible resources and services.
Next Steps
Mapping in the rapport building stage might follow on with one of the following activities:
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities to understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving, management and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour
T7 Historical Timeline to learn which major past events community members perceive to be significant to working animals and people
The maps produced in the initiation phase might be referred to during a both mid-term (monitoring) and final evaluations during to illustrate changes and improvements to working animal resources and services.
This map shows a visual representation of the welfare status of animals within a community and the effects on people and animals. Using this tool will begin to focus both you and the community on the human and animal welfare issues that need further investigation.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To understand community participants’ perceptions about their main animal welfare issues and gauge their level of awareness about good/bad animal welfare states • To identify the status of animals’ welfare in households in the community and generate their motivation to improve their animals’ welfare
2 hours
Materials needed:
Materials needed: Chart paper, note cards, markers or other locally available resources, like sticks, stones, straw, beans, seeds, coloured powders or saw dust, etc.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning, Motivation
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Needs Assessment
Specific Topics: Animal Husbandry and Management; Animal Welfare, Feelings and Needs
Animal welfare issues map
An animal welfare map (Figure T1b) shows the welfare status of animals in each household within the community, based on specific factors that the community find important. Maps will vary depending on how well the community understands animal welfare and perceives the welfare of its working animals at this early stage.
The map may contain a mixture of:
Animal-based observations, such as weak and healthy animals, lame animals, animals with wounds or injuries.
Owner-based observations related to the behaviour and management practices e.g. who overloads/beats their animal or who doesn’t keep their animal’s shelter clean.
Resource availability and access, such as who has sufficient space or access to grazing land for keeping animals and who does not.
This map can be used to analyse the current animal welfare situation in the community and to identify the initial welfare problems that come to mind. Displaying and discussing the welfare status of each person’s animal is the first step in creating peer pressure for change. The map may also be used as a visual baseline that communities can use to compare against their future progress. When repeated after a period of time, changes in extent of animals with poor welfare status and availability of resources to care for them can be observed by comparing maps.
Figure T1B Animal welfare map from an equine-owning community
This map shows the welfare status of the animals in each household. Once the households with either a female (F) or male (M) horse (black dot) or donkey (white dot) were identified, the group identified animals in good (✓) or bad (x) condition. They then added some specific indicators of negative animal welfare: presence of wounds, malnutrition (lack of food) and beating (whip), and good animal welfare: available shade (trees) or shelter.
Based on the map, the group identified who they considered to be the best owners. They discussed reasons for the observed welfare status of animals, including why there were wounds on the animal and how they could be prevented.
Animal Welfare Issues Map
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of the exercise and ask participants to draw an outline of their community on the ground or a large piece of chart paper using local materials, including: • General infrastructure, such as roads and paths, water points, community feed storage • Households in the community • Important, well-known places, such as clinic, school, temple/mosque, and meeting places
Step 2
Ask participants to indicate households that have animals. Show the types and numbers of animals using symbols or local materials. Add details such as whether the animals are male or female (e.g. blue for males, red for females) and the kinds of work they do.
Step 3
Ask participants to discuss and agree which animal is the best in the community. Mark it on the map using a symbol next to the house. (In figure 1B, ✓ = good, x = bad) Then ask if any other animals in the community are in a similarly good condition. Give these households the same symbol. Next, identify which animals are in a moderate condition, marking them on the map using a different symbol. Finally, show the animals which are in the worst condition.
Please note: You may wish to start the discussion with the worst animal and move up to the animals in moderate and best condition.
If households have more than one working animal, rank all animals within the household.
Step 4
While participants are deciding which animals are in a moderate or poor state, ask them about how they are making their decisions. What criteria are they using in their discussions? These may include the behaviour of their owners in caring for their animals, the facilities or resources being provided to animals, and observations relating to the animals themselves, such as wounds, injuries, or body condition.
Step 5
Using symbols, list the criteria participants used to categorize the welfare status of working animals and place symbols next to the animal or household. For example, if an animal is in poor condition due to beating, poor quality of feed and inadequate shade or shelter, put symbols for each of these next to the household.
Ask participants if there is anything else that they would like to show on the map that they think is important to any aspect of their lives or livelihoods.
Step 6
If the map was drawn on the ground, document it by either transferring it to a piece of paper or take a photo (indicating which direction is north). A copy should be left with the community. Record the community’s analysis and responses in your project action tracker and follow up with the community later if/when you start action planning together.
Facilitation Notes
Mapping on the ground is easiest and allows for everyone can walk around it to see the map from different angles. This also allows a large crowd to view the map and contribute to it.
Consider asking men and women to draw the maps separately. Different participants may draw different maps of the same area and that is ok. It reflects their different views of the community and of the topic discussed. As well, have the two separate maps will validate the results and highlight aspects that are important for men and women.
Remember that you are not controlling the map. Give confidence to people by asking participants to draw the map and gradually take over the entire process themselves.
Intervene only when it is necessary to involve people who are left out. Encourage those who are not participating.
Maps can show how things looked in the past, how they look now and what people would like their community to look like in the future. Maps can also be drawn before and after an intervention to compare changes to human and animal welfare, available and accessible resources and services and disease patterns.
Next Steps
Mapping in the rapport building stage might follow on with one of the following activities:
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities to understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour
T7 Historical Timeline to learn which major past events community members perceive to be significant to working animals and people
The maps produced in the initiation phase might be referred back to during a both mid-term (monitoring) and final evaluations during to illustrate changes and improvements to working animal resources and services.
Discuss the map while doing a T22 Animal Welfare Transect Walk later on to see if it represented the ground reality of the animal welfare situation
T1c: Mapping Animal Diseases
A disease map is a visual representation of disease patterns of animals within the community. Using this tool will begin to focus both you and the community on the human and animal welfare problems and issues related to disease that may need further investigation.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To identify major disease outbreaks for both animals and humans and possible linkages. • To understand disease route transmission and how outbreaks are handled. • To identify opportunities to prevent future outbreaks from spreading.
2 hours per map
Materials needed:
Materials needed: Chart paper, note cards, markers or other locally available resources, like sticks, stones, straw, beans, seeds, coloured powders or saw dust, etc.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Needs Assessment
Specific Topics: Animal Health and Services; Vulnerability and Resilience
Disease map (both humans & animals)
A disease map shows the animals and humans affected by disease. It may be used for both present and past disease problems in the village. This map may identify similarities between good and poor human and animal health and disease. Showing diseases on a map encourages analysis and further discussion of their symptoms, causes and routes or patterns of infection, as well as their effects on people, animals, owners and the community. The discussion can explore people’s concerns about their health, the health of their working animals and the things that they would like to change.
Figure T1C Animal disease map for influenza
The map above (figure T1C) was made by a community in a village where there was an epidemic of influenza. First the participants mapped their households and indicated where the animals were located. Then they showed which people and animals were affected by influenza and when, also indicating which people and animals had died. Using the dates of illness, the group mapped the source and route of transmission of influenza using arrows. Based on this, the owners developed an action plan for treatment of affected people and animals and prevention of further disease transmission.
Disease Map
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of the exercise and ask participants to draw an outline of their community on the ground or a large piece of chart paper using local materials, including: • General infrastructure, such as roads and paths, water points, community feed storage • Households in the community, including details of each household’s family members • Important, well-known places, such as clinic, school, temple/mosque, and meeting places
Ask participants to indicate households that have working animals. Show the types and numbers of animals using symbols or local materials. Add details such as whether the animals are male or female (e.g. blue for males, red for females) and the kinds of work they do.
Step 3
Ask participants if there are any people or animals suffering from sickness or disease right now, at this moment. Encourage them to show all the sick people and animals on the map, using a different symbol for each disease.
Step 4
Ask participants to show past cases of human and animal disease belonging to each household. Ask participants if there is anything else that they would like to show on the map which they think is important to any aspect of their life or livelihood.
Step 5
Encourage the group to analyse and discuss what is shown on the map. Consider using the following guiding questions: • What are the reasons for the diseases? • When did the diseases occur (seasonal, or related to work patterns?) • How are the diseases recognized? • What are the possible sources of infection and/or contamination? • How are they spread? (If known) • Where do they go for treatment or who do they go to? • What are the implications of working animals’ disease on their livelihoods and wellbeing? • What are the implications of human health issues on their working animals’ welfare?
Step 6
If the map was drawn on the ground, document it by either transferring it to a piece of paper or take a photo (indicating which direction is north). A copy should be left with the community. Record the community’s analysis and responses in your project action tracker and follow up with the community later if/when you start action planning together.
Facilitator’s Notes
Mapping on the ground is easiest and allows for everyone can walk around it to see the map from different angles. In this way, a large crowd to view the map and contribute to it.
Consider asking men and women to draw the maps separately. Different participants may draw different maps of the same area and that is ok. It reflects their different views of the community and of the topic discussed. As well, have the two separate maps will validate the results and highlight aspects that are important for men and women.
Remember that you are not controlling the map. Give confidence to people by asking participants to draw the map and gradually take over the entire process themselves.
Intervene only when it is necessary to involve people who are left out. Encourage those who are not participating.
Maps can show how things looked in the past, how they look now and what people would like their community to look like in the future. Maps can also be drawn before and after an intervention to compare changes to disease patterns.
Next steps
Mapping in the rapport stage might follow on with one of the following activities
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities to understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour
T6Seasonal Calendar to identify periods of scarcity and risk for the community
T7 Historical Timeline to learn which major past events community members perceive to be significant to working animals and people
The maps produced in the concept stage might be referred back to during a both mid-term (monitoring) and final evaluations during to illustrate changes and improvements to working animal resources and services.
A mobility map is a diagram showing the movement of people around their locality and their reasons for moving. This map has been adapted specifically to enable examine movement patterns of working animals, including where people go with their animals, why they go there, socially differentiated mobility and access to animal-related resources and services [48]. Mobility maps can begin analysis of the impact of movement on the welfare of working animals and implications of mobility patterns on people’s lives, in terms of labour burdens and livelihoods.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To understand where working animals and their owners, users and cares travel, distances travelled, travel time and frequency of visits • To understand the frequency that animal-related resources and services are accessed and potential physical barriers to accessing them • To identify potential mobility patterns negatively contributing to working animal welfare • To understand the implications of socially differentiated mobility on working animal welfare, and the associated livelihoods and labour burdens of animal owners, users and carers of both sexes when conducted and responses compared between different social groups.
1.5 hours per map
Materials needed:
Chart paper, note cards, markers, or other locally available resources, like sticks, stones, straw, beans, seeds, coloured powders or saw dust, etc.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning
Mobility maps usually highlight the accessibility/location and of availability of services and resources, movement of working animals to and from their places of work and other commonly visited destinations, and the related distances travelled to reach them and who uses them during these times/travels. This map can also capture the distances to various animal-related services and resources, the frequency of visits and the time required for a visit. For example a mobility map could detail the distance and associated time needed to travel for veterinary care, repair harnesses, collect animal feed, take animals to water or graze, and visit other destinations, such as animal fairs or markets.
Figure T2 Mobility map created by a community in Senegal
The mobility map was drawn by a group of working animal-owning farmers. It shows that most movements are made within Touba Devckovek, but Thies and K. Demra Ngoye are also visited. The double lines represent main roads. Thin lines with arrows represent the frequency of visits.
Mobility Mapping
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of the exercise and then ask participants about all the places they visit within and outside the community with their working animals. Ask the helper to record all the places and destinations travelled by community members with their working animals on cards or a sheet of paper using words or symbols.
Examples of places/destinations may include:
• Workplaces • Resource centres (e.g. equipment, tools, agricultural supply) • Markets (e.g. human and/or animal feed) • Water points (e.g. well, borehole) • Service providers (e.g. doctor, veterinarian etc.) • Religious places (e.g. mosque, church, synagogue) • Animal fairs or far-away trading destinations • Migratory workplaces • Places of social importance/gathering (e.g. visiting relatives, meeting places, places of significance for celebrations) • Other communities or towns
Step 2
Ask participants to then draw a map on the ground or on a large piece of chart paper with the community at the centre. Then have participants add the places and destinations identified in step 1 to the map relative to the communities and villages. Then have them draw major roads and access routes. Major roads are represented by a double line in the T2 example, with labels to inform the distances between each major community.
Ask the group to discuss the frequency of visits, reasons for travel, the distances and the time spent travelling. In the example (figure T2), places visited daily are represented by a line with five arrows on it, while those visited less frequently are represented by three arrows and those visited rarely are represented by one arrow.
Step 3
Encourage the group to analyse and discuss what is shown on the mobility map. Consider using the following guiding questions: • Which regularly visited destinations require the most time to reach and why? (e.g. road condition or distance) • Who does this burden of travel time commitment fall to? Is it shared equally between men and women owner, carers, and/or users? Why or why not? • Which routes or movements are perceived to negatively affect the animals’ welfare and why? For example, which routes are the heaviest loads carried, which routes put animals at the highest risk of injury? • Are there any potential physical or social constraints affecting people’s mobility (e.g. are certain places only accessible for certain groups e.g. men or women, variability in market times or availability of veterinary services)? • What are the implications of different people’s mobility on the lives of working animals and their own lives (e.g. livelihoods, time, or labour burdens)? What could be done to address any mobility issues identified to be impacting the lives of working animals and their own lives?
Step 4
Record any identified mobility patterns or issues which if addressed could improve working animal welfare to your project action tracker and follow up with the community later if/when you start action planning together.
Facilitator’s Notes
Ideally, mapping is carried out on the ground, so that everyone can walk around the map and see it from different angles. This will allow a large crowd to view the map and contribute to it.
Different participants may draw different maps of the same area, which may reflect their different views of the community and places/routes of importance. Consider asking men and women, and owners and carers of animals to participate in this activity. You may wish to use different colour markers, string, stones /beans/stickers to represent the different categories of participants. Alternatively, consider doing this activity separately amongst women and men, especially if it is not culturally appropriate for men and women to do the activity together. If conducted separately, try to have the two groups come together at the end of each exercise to compare the maps and discuss reasons for any differences as time and local context permits.
Remember that you are not controlling the map. Give confidence to people so that they gradually take over the entire process themselves and encourage those who are not participating.
If the facilitator notices that different social groups have identified different mobility patterns, it should be noted into your project action tracker.
Next Steps
Consider following this activity up with one or more of the following tools to build upon discussions resulting from this exercise:
T6 Seasonal Calendar to further understand seasonal patterns, activities, resource availability, and vulnerability risks.
T11a Changing Trend Analysis to reflect on changes to the lives of animals and animal-owning households over time and generate discussion and motivation to address causes of negative changes perceived.
A Venn diagram seeks to represent relationships between individuals, groups and/or other key actors or resources by representing them as “components” or “nodes”, and the associations between them as links or lines. Various attributes such as colour, size, distance between and other properties may be used to characterize different kinds of relationships. For example, Venn diagrams have the potential to visually represent the relative importance of different relationships or resources, the frequency of interaction between actors, and/or access to different actors or resources. For the purpose of animal welfare, the tool has been adapted to analyse relationships between animal owners, users and/or caregivers and animal-related resource and service providers, as well as assess the relationships between individuals, groups, and actors important to the lives of animal-owning communities and their animals. The process of visually mapping relationships can inform planning by enabling targeted strengthening and/or development of new relationships, for both the community and the organization.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To identify animal-related resource and service providers animal-owning communities rely on most and their level of satisfaction with each one. • To identify the community’s preferred resource and service providers to build or strengthen their capacity, or improve relationships with those less preferred. • To identify gaps in service provision, which if addressed, could better meet the needs of animals and people. • The activity may be repeated to assess changes and improvements that have resulted from any activities implemented by communities and/or the facilitating organization.
1.5 - 2 hours per diagram
Materials needed:
Chart paper, coloured sticker dots and/or coloured markers, coloured index cards or sticky notes, large circular cut-out of different colours and sizes.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation Phase, Planning Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Needs Assessment
Specific Topics: Animal Health and Services
Resource and service provider Venn diagram
This tool enables community members to identify all the animal-related resource and service providers on which they rely. Examples of resources include: water points, grazing land, fodder production or storage areas, grain grinders, animal shelters; while service providers may include: local animal health service providers, veterinarians, feed supply shops, working animals’ equipment shops and/or money lenders. This activity may build on information gathered in theT1 Mapping activity - related to the most important resources and services to the community - as it goes into more detail to understand usefulness, availability, frequency of use and satisfaction with each provider. Once identified, participants are able to analyze their relationships and usage of different resources and service providers, including their relative importance to the welfare of their working animals and people who depend on them.
Figure T3A Venn diagram of a community’s animal-related resources and service providers
In the example above, members of an animal-owning community created Venn diagram to represent the animal-related resources and service providers they rely on. The size of the circles represent the perceived relative importance and usefulness. Distances from the centre represent availability and arrows represent frequency of use. Discussions highlighted the following important information:
The government veterinarian is shown in a large circle because this service provider is perceived to be useful, and was placed far from centre circle due to their poor responsiveness/availability, with infrequent use indicated by two arrows.
The local animal health service provider was felt to be more useful, represented by a slightly larger circle; however, their services are similarly used infrequently, despite their higher responsiveness/availability.
Participants indicated satisfaction with the local animal health service provider due to their lower relative cost despite recognizing they provide lower quality care.
They also indicated they were unsatisfied (red dot) with the government veterinarian due to their higher cost and low responsiveness, despite acknowledging that they provide higher quality service.
Discussions also highlighted that participants only call the local animal health service provider if animals get very sick, identifying an absence of preventative animal health practices amongst animal-owning households.
Resources and Service Provider Venn diagram
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of the exercise and then ask participants to identify the resource and service providers that are important to them in terms of usefulness to their animals. Ask them to start by first identify the MOST useful resources and service providers and represent them on the LARGEST size pre-cut circle of paper with words or symbols. Alternatively, they may use local materials and place them on top of the paper circles.
Continue identifying the next most important/useful resources and service providers using the next smallest sized circle and so on, until all resources and service providers have been identified with the biggest circles representing the most useful resources and service providers, and the smallest circles representing the least useful. There is often a lot of debate and discussion while categorizing the usefulness of different resources and service providers.
Step 2
Next ask participants to draw a picture representing their animals (or their community) in the centre and place the different sized circles representing resources and service providers around it. Then ask participants to move the resource/service provider circles closer or further away from the centre according to their availability e.g. enough resources or service provider responsiveness available when needed.
Please note circle placement from the centre may be adapted to represent another variable.
Step 3
Once all circles have been placed around the central circle, ask the ask the group to indicate which resources and service providers they use most frequently by drawing arrowheads on the lines between the centre circle and each resource or service provider.
In the example above, a scale of 5 arrows was used to represent the following frequency parameters: • 4 arrows: weekly • 3 arrows: monthly • 2 arrows: every few months • 1 arrow: yearly
Allow participants to define frequency parameters in a way that makes sense to them.
Step 4
Next, ask participants to discuss their level of satisfaction with the resources or service providers. Symbols or objects may be placed on each circle representing the resource or service provider to indicate or score participants’ satisfaction (e.g. happy/sad face ☺/☹, or green/red dot 🟢/🔴, seeds or beans). There is often a lot of interesting discussion and insights generated while participants discuss resources and service providers they are satisfied or dissatisfied with. Additional dimensions may also be added to this Venn diagram exercise by asking participants to use beans, seeds, or stones to represent other variables. For example, participants can score the cost or quality of an animal-related resource or health service providers.
Step 5
Once complete, encourage participants to discuss what the Venn diagram shows. Use the following questions to guide the discussion: • If not already discussed through during the creation of the diagram, it may be helpful to ask: Why some resources or service providers considered useful? Why are participants satisfied or unsatisfied with certain resources or service providers? Why are some resources or service providers relied on more frequently/infrequently? • Are there any resources or service providers missing from diagram which, if existed, could better help meet the needs of your animal? Why are they missing and why are they needed? • What changes in animal-related resources and service providers could better serve you and your animals? • What have you learned because of participating in this activity?
Step 6
The diagram should be documented through photos or recreated on paper. Copies should be made and distributed to the group for their records, future reference and/or action planning. Add a copy to your project action tracker and note preferred resource and service providers.
Facilitation Notes: Resource and service provider Venn diagram
It is useful to examine perceptions of animal-related resources and service providers with different groups in a community as they may rely on or have different perceptions of resources and service providers. Consider asking both men and women from animal-owning households to participate in this activity; or if it is not feasible or appropriate to conduct this activity with both sexes together, consider conducting this activity separately.
Facilitators should not control or insert their ideas into the diagram, but rather facilitate the process so that people design it themselves. Probing questions may be used to encourage people to think about the general categories of individuals, groups and actors to include.
Facilitators are encouraged to adapt the parameters and symbols as needed to investigate topics of interest and/or simplify the activity.
Try representing each resource and service provider on different pieces of paper, as it allows participants to move cards around throughout the discussion. However, the activity may also be drawn directly on the ground using chalk, sticks or stones as needed.
If using paper circles, it is helpful to cut out a selection of different sizes ahead of time. Consider preparing at least 5 different sizes of circles to enable the relative importance of all identified resources and service providers to be effectively captured.
Next Steps
Information on resource and service provider gaps identified in the initiation phase may be useful for informing discussions during the community action planning phase.
Consider using T9 Matrix Ranking and Scoring to better understand the criteria informing animal-owning households’ preferences for different resources and/or service providers, explore their satisfaction/dissatisfaction in more detail and prioritize their preferences for community action planning.
Use preferred resource and service providers, identified dissatisfaction and gaps in use or knowledge to inform project planning.
T3b: Social Networking Venn diagram
The social network Venn diagram illustrates relationships between individuals, groups and/or other key actors or resources by representing them as “components” or “nodes”, and the associations between them as links or lines. Various attributes such as colour, size and distance between each may be used to characterize different types of relationships. For example, Venn diagrams have the potential to visually represent the relative importance of different relationships or resources, the frequency of interaction between actors, and/or access to different actors or resources. For the purpose of animal welfare, the tool has been adapted to analyse relationships between animal owners, users and/or carers and animal-related resource and service providers, as well as assess the relationships between individuals, groups, and actors important to the lives of animal-owning communities and their animals. The process of visually mapping relationships can inform planning by enabling targeted strengthening and/or development of new relationships, for both the community and the organization.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To identify individuals, groups and key actors perceived to be important to households and their animals (positively or negatively). • To understand the relative importance of different actors. • To understand differences between men and women’s access to individuals, groups and key actors within their social network. • To inform planning by identifying social network gaps that, if addressed, could better meet the needs of animals and people. • This tool may be useful for identifying potential collaborators or partners already working in the community.
2 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper or coloured dust, chalk, coloured sticker dots and/or coloured markers, coloured index cards or sticky notes, stones, sticks, seeds or beans.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation Phase, Planning Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach, Societal Outreach and Campaigns Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning, Opportunity
The social network Venn diagram can be used to analyse social networks within a community. The household or community could be the focal point for analysis.
Figure T3B Venn diagram of a social network in Kenya
In the example above, a men’s equine welfare group in Kenya created a simple social network map. The central circle represented their community and different coloured circles were used to represent individuals, groups and other key actors with whom participants had relationships that were perceived to have an impact on their lives and the lives of their animals. Lines were drawn from each social connection to the centre, with the length of line representing the perceived strength of each relationship. The size of each circle represented the perceived importance of each relationship to their lives of the lives of their animals. In Kenya, as village elders have provincial administration capacity they are considered and categorized under local government. KSPCA (Kenyan Society for the Protection and Care of Animals) is also a non-governmental organization that has a mandated protection that is directly linked with the government.
Social Network Venn Diagram
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of the exercise and ask participants to identify people, groups, and key actors that they perceive as significant to theirs and their animals’ lives. Use the following types of individuals, groups, andkey actors (not resources) as a guide for probing the community, whilst keeping the conversation animal related.
You can add more as contextually appropriate:
• Social groups (e.g. close friends, relatives, neighbours) • Community groups, local associations and organizations, local financial institutions (e.g. self-help group) • Local government staff (e.g. social service officers) • Non-governmental organization (NGO) and/or agency staff • Key service providers • Others e.g. employers, market buyers/sellers, financial service providers
Ask if there are any individuals, groups or organisations missing from the social network which, if existed, could better help meet household needs and/or the needs of your animal? Why are they missing and why are they needed?
Ask the helper to write responses on different note cards or pieces of paper, asking the group which ones are most important (large circles), important (medium circles) and least important (small circles) ensuring they are colour categorised as above, using words or symbols and place them on the ground for all to see.
Step 2
Ask the helper to draw a circle in the middle of the chart paper or on the ground and make a symbol representing their community in the centre. Organize all cards in large circle around the community circle.
Next, ask participants to move the cards around the centre circle as per the relative strength of the relationship with those actors. Those closest to the centre represent the strongest relationships, while those farthest away the weakest. The facilitator should clarify the criteria that makes a weak versus a strong relationship, such as accessibility, availability, and level of satisfaction and whether they have a positive or negative impact on theirs and their animals’ lives. Place a symbol (e.g. +/- OR happy/sad face OR green/red dot) on each actor’s card to indicate the nature of the relationship, making sure it reflects the impact on both humans and animals.
Step 3
Once all cards have been placed, ask participants which of the actors support their animals specifically. Mark the card with coloured dot or sticker representative of the animal. The more the dots or sticker representing the animal are placed on an actor, the more support the actor provides.
Step 4
Ask participants to identify which relationships are accessible by men, women, or both, by placing a different indicative mark on the card (either using pens or stickers, or bean types). If the relationship is accessible to both men and women, ask whether accessibility is equal for both sexes. You may wish to place a > / = / < in between the representative marks or objects to indicate which sex has greater access. If it is just one group (e.g. only men) then this step is not necessary.
Step 5
Once the social Venn diagram is complete, encourage participants to discuss what it shows (if not already identified through previous discussions).
Consider using the following questions as a guide:
• Why are some relationships perceived to be more or less important? • Why are certain actors more important for men or women? (If identified) • Are there differences between men, women and/or children within the household? • Why are some actors positively or negatively affecting people and their animals? • What changes in this network could improve yours and/or your animals’ lives? • What can you as an individual or group do to improve your relationships with these actors? • What have you learned because of participating in this activity?
Initiation Phase:
Step 6
The diagram should be documented through photos or recreated on paper. Copies should be made and distributed to the group for their records, future reference and/or action planning. Add a copy to your project action tracker.
Planning Phase:
Step 7
Have the community helper record any actions the group agrees to the community action plan. Record the community’s agreed actions and activities in your project action tracker and support the community by following up with any identified key stakeholders.
Facilitation notes: Social Network Mapping
Knowledgeable individuals can be consulted in advance to help identify key actors within the community, particularly governmental and NGO actors.
Use different coloured note cards or marker colours to represent the different categories of relationships listed above to facilitate diagram analysis upon completion.
Both men and women should be asked to participate, as they may have different relationships, value and access to/with actors. If it is not feasible or appropriate to conduct this activity with both men and women, conduct it separately.
Consider having a co-facilitator/note-taker for this activity so that important insights from discussions can be effectively captured.
The facilitator must focus the group on identifying primary types of individuals, groups, and key actors, rather than focus on actual names, as this will be different for every participant and will make it difficult for them to identify the relative importance or influence of these relationships in the next steps.
Facilitators should not control or insert their ideas into the diagram, but rather facilitate the process so that people design it themselves. Probing questions may be used to encourage people to think about the general categories of individuals, groups and actors to include.
Dominant personalities may take over during these discussions and the facilitator must make sure to involve people who are left out. Continue to seek out and encourage input from those who are not participating throughout the exercise. Ask if others agree with ideas of dominants, and consider assigning tasks to different persons throughout the exercise e.g. placement of cards, symbols etc.
Often community members do not know the names of key government or NGO actors. In this case, encourage participants to simply explain the nature of the relationship or activities undertaken by these actors and investigate them later.
Using paper cards or sticky notes is helpful as it allows participants to move cards around throughout the discussion. Consider using different colour papers or markers to represent different types of actors and create meaningful contrast and easier analysis upon completion of the activity.
In the rapport building phase, the community leaders and chiefs will likely be in attendance and, therefore, a clear and accurate picture of the social system may not be possible, as participants may not feel possible speaking freely. Once trust is established and the group size is smaller, the facilitator will come to understand the true social dynamics.
Next Steps
Plan to support the community to strengthen or develop relationships with key actors to support animal welfare improvements and address gaps in services.
Keep a list of key stakeholders identified as important to the lives of the participants. Arrange meetings with them to discuss collaborations or future implementation activities (e.g. service providers, government officials, NGOs).
Consider inviting identified relevant community leaders or active members of society to future meetings to help strengthen relationships and collaborations between the groups.
A daily activity schedule is a chart showing how animal-owning families spend their time, including the time of day that each activity takes place and the time it takes to complete each one. This exercise identifies important times of the day, for example times when people are busy working, when they spend time with their working animals, or when they are free to discuss their common problems. This activity can be used to initiate a discussion about the best times to plan animal welfare activities, to hold a community meeting or for you (the facilitator) to visit the community. Step-by-step guidance for conducting this activity is provided in relation to daily activity schedules for both people and animals.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To understand which activities, take up the most and least time • To identify the best time to meet with individuals and community members and times when they are not available. • To identify who cares for the animals in each household and in what capacity. • To identify times when individuals are overburdened and why. • To identify potential opportunities for sharing or shifting workloads of men, women, and other family members to improve the well-being of people and animals.
1.5-2 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper and markers or using sticks, stones, straw, local resources
Daily activity schedule of the animal-owning community
This chart (Figure T4A) explores and compares how animal owners, users and carers spend their work and leisure time. This exercise is a useful, non-threatening exercise that looks at real life experiences and helps people to understand the roles and responsibilities of different family members towards their animals. It can be used to analyse the factors that influence different people’s roles and activities, and to understand the problems and obstacles faced when dealing with animals.
Figure T4 Daily Activity Schedule of an animal-owning community
In this exercise (Figure T4a above), men, women and children listed all their activities between getting up at 5am and going to bed at 9pm.
Women start cleaning the animals’ shelter, preparing the morning meal and fetching water with the children between 5 and 7am.
Men and children pray between 5 and 7am.
Men take the animal out to work at 9am.
Women are involved in feeding, watering and cleaning up after animals several times a day, while men are involved with their animal only between 9am and 2pm and at 8pm for a final feed.
Children clean the animals’ shelter between 3 and 6pm.
Men are the main income generators and users of the animals, whilst women participate in alternative income generating activities at the market.
This initiated a discussion about the roles and responsibilities of family members in caring for the animals and how some responsibility might be shifted to men.
Daily Activity Schedule of the Animal-Owning Community
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of exercise to the participants and agree whose daily activities to chart first. This can be the animal owner/carer or members of the owner’s family. Agree whether to make a circular clock or a line chart to represent time. Decide whether to show time in hours or as parts of the day, such as morning, afternoon, and evening. The example above provides a numeric representation of time. Show daily activities using symbols placed at the appropriate time of day.
Step 2
Start a discussion about the activities that a person or a group of people normally do, from when they get up in the morning until they go to sleep. Ask participants to list the activities in ascending order from morning to night.
Key points might include:
• Free time and work time • Times when animals are fed, or the animal shelter is cleaned • When animals are taken for grazing • When animals are offered feed and water • When people groom or clean animals
Step 3
Ask when people have free time to take part in other activities, either individually or as a group. • How is other/spare time spent? Do they have spare time? • What are other income generating activities and how much time is spent on those? • What social activities should be included in the list?
Step 4
Once daily schedules are complete, discuss results with participants.
Consider these questions:
• How do participants feel about the way they use their time throughout the day? • Why are some people responsible for some tasks while others are responsible for others? • Which periods are busiest or most stressful? Why? • Which activities are most important for meeting the needs of the household? The animal? Why? • Are any activities felt to be very burdensome? Why? • Are there any ways in which some activities could be made easier?
If feasible, bring the two groups back together to discuss any differences in perceived division of daily activities of different people in the two charts.
Summarize the results of the activity and discussion and ask participants to reflect on what they learned through this activity.
Step 5
Once the activity is complete, take a photo or record of the chart on a piece of paper, ensuring the community has a copy for their records. A copy is retained by the facilitator for future reference or planning. Add any notes regarding when people are available (men, women, children, all) in your project action tracker.
Facilitator’s notes: Daily activity schedule – animal-owning community
Daily activity charts are best made by individuals and small groups, so divide up larger groups to make charts for different people, such as men, women and children.
Encourage men and women to create separate charts to enable comparison of perceptions of each other’s daily activities. This will help with identifying the best time to plan community visits with men, women and/or both.
Remember that you are not controlling the exercise. Give confidence to people so that they gradually take over the entire process themselves.
You might want to discuss how daily routines change depending on the time of the week or the season.
Next Steps
As part of rapport building stage in the initiation phase, the daily activity schedule might follow on with one of the following activities:
T1 Mapping to understand which resources and services are important to the community.
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities to understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour.
T6 Seasonal Calendar to identify periods of scarcity and risk for the community.
T7 Historical Timeline to learn which major past events community members perceive to be significant to working animals and people
As part of a community needs assessment and shared vision, the daily activity schedule for the animal-owning community might accompany one or more of the following tools to get a full picture of community dynamics and needs for project planning:
T1 Mapping to understand which resources and services are important to the community.
T2 Mobility Map to understand where people spend most of their time and how long it takes to get places
T3 Venn Diagram (T3b Social Networking Venn Diagram) to identify key individuals, groups and actors perceived to be most important to people and their animals.
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities to understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour.
The chart produced in this version of the daily activity schedule illustrates how working animals spend their time, during both work periods and rest periods. It looks at a daily routine from the animal’s point of view and identifies where improvements to welfare could be made, such as increasing the time available to animals for rest, play or grazing. The animal’s daily activity schedule differs from the community’s schedule as it looks in-depth at how only the animals’ time is spent during the day, rather than humans.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To understand animals’ daily activities and promote understanding of ways it supports meeting their needs in terms of the five domains of welfare • To identify opportunities for improving animal welfare through husbandry and management practices
1.5-2 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper and markers or using sticks, stones, straw, local resources
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning, Capability
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Needs Assessment
Specific Topics: Animal Husbandry and Management; Animal Welfare, Feelings and Needs
Daily activity schedule of the animal
Figure T4B Daily activity schedule of the working animal
This daily activity schedule for animals (Figure T4B, above) was used to initiate a discussion on animal welfare issues amongst rural workers, who use their equine animals to generate income by transporting goods and people to markets and tourist places. The animals’ day starts with their feeding trough being cleaned at 6am, followed by being fed at 6am. The animals are harnessed to carts at 8am and start their work at the market at 8:30am. Water is offered between 11:30am and midday, and again at 5pm when the animals return home. A second feeding is offered after finishing work 6pm From 7 to 8pm animals are provided free time to graze and roll. They are groomed between 8 and 9pm and the last feed is given between 9 and 10pm.
Daily Activity Schedule of the Animal
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of exercise and agree whether to make a circular clock or a line chart to represent time. Decide whether to show time in hours or as parts of the day, such as morning, afternoon, and evening.
Step 2
Start a discussion about the activities that animals are involved in from morning to night. Ask them to list all the activities in order, both with them and other users. Show daily activities using symbols placed at the appropriate time of day.
Step 3
Encourage participants to include some of the following activities in the animals’ daily activity schedule: • Resting and working time • When animals are taken for grazing • When animals are offered feed and water • When animals are groomed or cleaned • When animals can socialise with other animals • When animals can perform instinctive behaviours (e.g. rolling around)
Step 4
Once the animals’ activity schedule is complete, discuss results with participants.
Consider the following guiding questions:
• What do participants think their animals feel about the activities they do throughout the day? • When do you think animals feel most hungry/thirsty? • Do animals have time to satisfy and engage in natural behaviours? (In natural environment or with other animals e.g. rolling, grazing/roaming, socializing) • Which activities are most important for meeting the animals’ needs? Why? • Which periods are considered as heavy workload or strenuous? • Are there some activities that could be made easier/less strenuous for the animal?
Summarize the results of the activity and discussion and ask participants to reflect on what they learned through this activity.
Step 5
Once the activity is complete, take a photo or record of the chart on a piece of paper, ensuring the community has a copy for their records. A copy is retained by the facilitator for future reference or planning. Add any important notes to your project action tracker.
Facilitator’s notes: Daily activity schedule – animal-owning community
Animals at one place of work may have different work types, so divide groups by animals’ work type to produce the daily activity schedules.
Encourage men and women to create separate charts to enable comparison of perceptions of each other’s daily activities. This will help with identifying the best time to plan community visits with men, women and/or both.
Remember that you are not controlling the exercise. Give confidence to people so that they gradually take over the entire process themselves.
You might want to discuss how daily routines change depending on the time of the week or the season.
Next Steps
As part of rapport building stage in the initiation phase, the daily activity schedule might follow on with one of the following activities:
T1 Mapping to understand which resources and services are important to the community.
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities to understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour.
T6 Seasonal Calendar to identify periods of scarcity and risk for the community.
T7 Historical Timeline to learn which major past events community members perceive to be significant to working animals and people
As part of a community needs assessment and shared vision, the daily activity schedule for the animal-owning community might accompany one or more of the following tools to get a full picture of community dynamics and needs for project planning:
T1 Mapping to understand which resources and services are important to the community.
T2 Mobility Map to understand where people spend most of their time and how long it takes to get places
T3 Venn Diagram (T3b Social Networking Venn Diagram) to identify key individuals, groups and actors perceived to be most important to people and their animals.
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities to understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour.
Understand what behaviour is and examples of factors influencing it.
Understand what the COM-B model and the Behaviour change wheel are, and why they are useful to designing effective behaviour change projects.
Understand that behaviour change is a process and the implications of this on supporting others to change their behaviour change.
Understand the key ethical considerations for working with communities to change behaviours to improve animal welfare.
1.1 DEFINING BEHAVIOUR AND UNDERSTANDING WHAT SHAPES IT
Behaviour is defined as the way in which an animal or person acts or responds because of a particular situation or stimulus. As domestic animals’ welfare is dependent on people meeting their needs, improving animal welfare requires promoting human behaviours that support positive animal welfare states. However, how people behave with their animals is underpinned by their value and beliefs, which creates their frame of reference based on their environments and experiences within it [17]. This frame of reference shapes how people understand themselves, others, animals, and the world. For example, how people treat their animals may be the result of what they have been socialized to believe is normal. In addition, people’s external context can also shape their behaviours and resultant welfare of their animals.
Figure 22: Example of a personal frame of reference that can shape a person’s behaviour (Adapted from [18])
Case Study How Kenyan Donkey Owners Behaviour is Influenced by their Frame of Reference [19]
A Donkey welfare project in Kenya undertook behaviour change research to better understand why the project was struggling to stop donkey owners from whipping their animals.
The research uncovered that donkey owners believe donkeys are ‘lazy and stubborn’ and will only listen or move faster if a whip is used. This belief system further reinforced by social norms and related experiences which normalized the use of discipline to correct behaviour.
As a result of understanding that these beliefs and norms were shaping people’s acceptance of whipping to communicate with their donkeys, the project explored alternative strategies for stopping whipping beyond raising people’s awareness about animal welfare and feelings, training in humane handling, and encouraging them to stop whipping. Without properly understanding the beliefs and norms influencing people’s expressed behaviour, why people continued to whip their donkeys would have remained poorly understood, and it would have been challenging to identify strategies best suited to supporting their behavioural change. This exemplifies the importance of not making assumptions about what needs to change, as this often leads ineffective behaviour change projects, and wasted time and resources spent working on addressing assumed rather than known barriers and motivators to change.
Projects seeking to change people’s behaviours are most commonly unsuccessful because they are designed based on assumptions about what needs to change without first understanding why people do what they do, from that person or groups’ frame of reference, and what their barriers and motivators to adopting the desired change [20, 21].
As any given behaviour is determined by many factors, understanding which to address to achieve the desired change, and then determining the most appropriate strategy for addressing it, can be a challenge. However, evidence suggests that behaviour change interventions that are grounded in theory are more effective than those that are not, with potential for the success of the intervention to increase with the number of theories included [22, 23, 24]. This learning module focuses on introducing the following four models and frameworks for understanding behaviour and how to change it because they are they represent the most comprehensive and well evidenced synthesis of human behaviour change science, and are helpful to understand to affect desired behaviour change to improve animal welfare:
COM-B Model of Behaviour used assess and identify what needs to change for a behaviour change intervention to be effective [25]
Trans-theoretical Model (TTM) of Behaviour Change: used to understand how individuals and populations progress toward adopting and maintaining behaviour change and provides guidance on motivating successful progression through the change process [27].
1.2 UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOUR USING THE COM-B MODEL AND THEORETICAL DOMAINS FRAMEWORK (TDF)
As we have learned through the C4A learning modules, animal welfare issues arise because of human's actions/inactions, and these human behaviours can be challenging to change. The COM-B model or system of behaviour is the easiest and most widely used model for understanding behaviour. “The COM-B model conceptualises behaviour as a part of a system of interacting elements that also involves capability, opportunity and motivation. For any behaviour to occur at a given moment, there must be the capability and opportunity to engage in the behaviour, and the strength of motivation to engage in it must be greater than for any competing behaviours. Capability may be physical or psychological, opportunity may be social or physical and motivation may be ‘reflective’ or ‘automatic’” [25]. Capability, opportunity, and motivation are drivers of behaviour which influence each other, as well as collectively drive change in behaviour, as illustrated by the figure below.
Figure 23: COM-B Model/System of Behaviour (adapted from [21])
The COM-B model provides a simple and systems-based framework for investigating people’s existing behaviour, and the barriers and/or motivators to the adoption of new desired behaviour. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) can be thought of as a variant of the COM-B model, and similarly seeks to explain behavioural change by understanding the factors influencing behaviour. Through a synthesis of behaviour change theory, 14 domains, or determinants of behaviour were identified. The domains include knowledge; skills; memory; attention and decision process; behavioural regulation; social/professional role and identity; beliefs about capabilities; optimism; beliefs about consequences; intentions; goals; reinforcement; emotions; environmental context and resources; and social influences [28, 26]. These can be correlated with COM-B components, providing a further detailed understanding of the factors influencing behaviour related to each COM-B component. The definitions for each of these domains are reviewed in the book – ‘The Behaviour Change Wheel – A Guide to Designing Interventions’ [21].
The components of the COM-B model are defined below along with their relevance to the different TDF domains [25]:
CAPABILITY (C): Capability is defined as the individual’s psychological and physical capacity to engage in the activity concerned. It includes having the necessary knowledge and skills.
Physical Capability: refers to having physical strength and ability/or developed skill to carry out the behaviour. Examples: strength to carry water for animals, skill, and ability to pick up and clean hooves.
Relevant TDF domains:physical skills
Psychological Capability: refers to having the knowledge or understanding or emotional or cognitive or behavioural skill to practice the behaviour. Example: knowledge and skills in animal husbandry, ability to regulate emotions to promote positive human-animal interactions and compassionate handling.
Relevant TDF domains: knowledge; cognitive and interpersonal skills; memory, attention, and decision processes; behavioural regulation
OPPORTUNITY (O): all the factors that lie outside the individual that make the behaviour possible or prompt it can be defined as opportunity and includes both physical and social opportunity.
Physical Opportunity: is about factors in one’s environment that supporting the enactment of the behaviour through changing the physical environment.Examples: access and availability to animal related resources and services, financial resources, time etc.
Relevant TDF domains:environmental context and resources
Social Opportunity: is about whether animal owners/carers/users have social support from peers, family members or other service providers or community members in general to practice the desired behaviour change; or have a value/belief system that validates the desired behaviour change or condemns the problem behaviour.Examples: People who treat their animals well are held in high regard by others in their community; Animal health service providers acknowledge women as decision-makers and are responsive to their animal health needs.
Relevant TDF domains:social influences
MOTIVATION (M): Motivation is defined as all those brain processes that energize and direct behaviour, not just goals and conscious decision-making. It includes habitual processes, emotional responding, as well as analytical decision-making.
Reflective Motivation: refers to reflective processes involving plans (self-conscious intentions), evaluations, beliefs about what is good and bad, and understanding weighing benefits and consequences. Example: donkey owners believed their animals were stubborn and that they would only be motivated to work if they feared punishment.
Relevant TDF domains: professional role and identity; beliefs about capabilities; optimism; beliefs about consequences; intentions; and goals
Automatic Motivation: Automatic processes involving emotional reactions, desires (wants and needs), impulses, inhibitions, drive states and reflex responses. Includes habit formation, as habits are likely to form because of an established cue-response-reward loop [19].Example: Members of animal owning households have been conditioned to allow their animals to freely socialize with other animals because they feel a sense of happiness when they see their animals playing.
Relevant TDF domains: reinforcement (e.g. what incentivizes behaviour?); and emotions (e.g. positive, or negative emotional responses of behaviour?)
Changing behaviour will generally involve changing one or more of the COM-B factors relating to the behaviour itself, or to the behaviours that compete with or support it. Because the three components of COM-B can interact and influence one another and the resultant behaviour, it enables the user to identify the components within COM-B that need to change for the behaviour to change. For example, you conduct a COM-B diagnosis to identify what needs to change for donkey owners to adopt desired feeding practices and find: The person does not know what defines nutritious feed for their working donkey (capability); quality donkey feed is expensive and not available locally (opportunity), and owners believe their animals are property and don’t prioritize investing in their welfare (motivation). In this case, a project assuming improving people’s knowledge and skills about appropriate donkey feeding practices would unlikely be effective in changing them. This example demonstrates how understanding what needs to change in terms of COM-B can encourage innovative and strategic thinking when designing behaviour change projects and help avoid the common pitfall of unsuccessful behaviour change projects which is making assumptions about what needs to change [21].
TDF can be similarly helpful to understanding influencing factors acting as barriers or motivators to behaviour change. However, undertaking in depth behavioural analysis across the 14 domains is not always needed, feasible, or desired all project contexts or communities. In this way, COM-B is simpler and easier to use. However, considering the TDF domains when undertaking a COM-B diagnosis can support a more comprehensive analysis of factors influencing a target behaviour, as well as greater insight into potential intervention options. For example, consider using the TDF to inform the development of focus group discussion questions to explore behavioural barriers and motivators with communities. For further information on the use of the TDF, COM-B model, and BCW refer to the “The Behaviour Change Wheel – A Guide to Designing Interventions” [21].
T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities Resources and Services
This adapted gender roles and responsibilities activity explores the division of labour and workload between men, women, boys and girls related to animal care and use [49]. All family members are usually responsible for looking after the animals in the household, although different people are responsible for different tasks and use animals for different purposes. Sometimes animal welfare interventions unintentionally target only men or only women. However, to improve all aspects of animal welfare and promote gender equality, both men, women and children who play a role in the lives of animals should be invited to participate in this activity. It can be helpful to conduct T4 Daily Activity Schedule prior to undertaking this activity so you can contextualize gender roles and responsibilities related to animal care and use understand within men’s and women’s broader daily activities and associated time and labour commitments.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To understand men’s and women’s animal care-giving and use roles and responsibilities, and identify whether they desire changes in the division of labour. • To inform appropriate targeting of animal welfare extension messages, capacity building and training to relevant household members • As a useful entry point activity for involving men and women in an animal welfare improvement project and beginning to understand different opportunities and constraints men and women face in promoting animal welfare.
2 hours
Materials needed:
Markers, chart paper, post-it notes, cards or coloured powder/chalk, sticks, stones, beans or other locally available activities.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation, Planning, Evaluation and Exit
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach; Community Engagement; Social Outreach and Campaigns
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning, Opportunity
An animal-owning community in Halaba, Ethiopia, used this activity to explore differences in roles and responsibilities between men and women. The group of men and women started by identifying animal use and care activities together. The mixed group then divided into two smaller groups - one group of men and one group of women - to examine the distribution separately. The group used 10 pebbles to score the division of labour for each identified activity.
Figure T5A Animal-related men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities
Men and women viewed the differences in division of roles and responsibilities differently, as reflected in figure T5A. In many cases, men considered themselves to have more responsibility for caring for animals than women. For example, men claimed that they are the main seekers of service provision and health treatment (vaccinations) for animals. The main differences between men and women were:
Women have more responsibility for providing water and cleaning the animal’s shelter
Men have more responsibility for grooming, cleaning equipment, allowing the animals the play and roam freely
Men use animal’s more for incoming generating activities
Women came up with more animal use activities following the division of women’s and women’s groups
Once the mixed group of men and women were divided, women identified three more categories of animal usage (highlighted in red), which men were mostly responsible for, including transporting agriculture for household consumption (urban to rural), transporting agricultural inputs for household use and free transport of people around the community or to local events.
Participants discussed why some of the activities were only carried out by men or women and what effect this had on their animals. Men commented that women do more for the animals than they would have acknowledged before undertaking the activity and that there might be an opportunity for women to take on more responsibility. Women also expressed an interest in taking on more responsibility and suggested an opportunity for:
Men to share more of the water provision and shelter cleaning activities
Women to share more of the equipment cleaning and hoof care activities
Women to use the animals more for income-generating activities
Following the community activity, the facilitators examined the two charts side-by-side and identified an opportunity for training women on humane handling, which they had already provided to men and witnessed significant improvements. They noted this opportunity in the team action tracker and made a point of discussing interest with the group in the next community session.
Gender Roles and Responsibilities
Step 1
Ask the community helper to draw a large table, either on the ground or on chart paper. There should be three main columns: ‘activities’, ‘men’ and ‘women’. Please note: Additional columns can be added to include boys and girls (children) if desired.
Step 2
Ask participants about the activities and decisions men and women are responsible for related to the care and use of their animals. Have the community helper write them down on cards using words or drawings or use locally available materials representative of the activities identified. If this activity is being conducted about working animals, once all activities related to care have been identified, ask participants to identify any ways they use their animal, and have the community helper list these within the first column.
Include activities carried out on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis (e.g. seasonal, or periodic work such as festivals or special events), as well as key decisions important to the care and use of the animal
Step 3
Ask the group to indicate how the workload for each identified activity is divided or shared between men and women (and boys and girls if included), using up to ten seeds, stones, or marks/dots to score their relative contributions. You might start the conversation by asking the question: ‘Who is responsible for each activity?’
For example: A score of 10 = full responsibility; 0 = no responsibility. If men and women are both responsible for carrying out the activity, the pebbles would be divided equally (see figure T5A, in ‘care’ + ‘feeding’, men and women scored evenly).
Once the chart is complete, ask the community helper to circle the scores with large discrepancies between men’s and women’s responsibilities.
Step 4
Ask the community to discuss the results of the activity. The facilitator or supporting note taker should take notes on key insights that emerge from the discussion.
Consider using the following guiding questions to facilitate the discussion:
• Who is predominantly responsible for care? For use? How were these roles and responsibilities determined? • Referring to identified discrepancies circled in the chart, why are these activities predominantly done by men or women? • How would animal welfare improve if roles and responsibilities in animal care and usage were shared more between men and women within the household? • What would need to change to give them greater opportunities to share their roles and responsibilities in animal care and usage between men and women within the household?
If feasible, bring the two groups back together to discuss any differences in scoring of perceived roles and responsibilities of men and women in the two charts, along with any desired changes to roles and responsibilities identified by each group.
Summarize the results of the activity and discussion and ask participants to reflect on what they learned through this activity.
Step 5
Once the activity is complete, take a photo or record of the outputs on a piece of paper, ensuring the community has a copy for their records. A copy is retained by the facilitator for future reference or planning.
Take note of any of following identified during this activity within your project action tracker:
• Roles and responsibilities of men and women related to animal care and use – for tailoring communications and trainings as needed • Changes in gender roles and responsibilities identified by participants as having potential to improve animal welfare • Changes recommended by participants as necessary to creating greater opportunities for sharing roles in animal care and use to improve animal welfare. • Social and physical opportunities, capability, and/or motivational/self-belief drivers related to men’s and women’s animal care and use roles and responsibilities which you as a facilitator identified through discussions. • Key influencers/gatekeepers of gender roles and responsibilities mentioned by participants during discussions
As topics related to gender may be sensitive, facilitators are encouraged to gauge participant’s level of comfort to effectively facilitate group discussion.
The gender roles and responsibilities activity works best when carried out in small groups of men and women separately, with each group analysing the gendered division of labour/work for both male and female members of the household. Depending on what is culturally appropriate in the local context, the two groups may be brought back together at the end of the activity to review the results of each chart and discuss any differences if feasible.
This activity can highlight societal wide patriarchal assumptions and related social opportunities (e.g. social norms, peer support), physical opportunities (e.g. time, access to resources and services), as well as capability and motivational elements related to self-beliefs and societal values, which may either hamper or hinder certain animal care and use practices as a result of people’s gender. Listen for these within discussions and note them in the team action tracker if they emerge.
It is important to recognize that the interplay between social, economic, and/or other vulnerable statuses may result in members of the same gender group having different roles and responsibilities and levels of paid and unpaid, labour burdens (e.g. women of higher socioeconomic status may transfer their roles and responsibilities to women of lower socioeconomic status). It is important to enable these different experiences to be acknowledged and understood.
Discussions may identify potential (positive or negative) influencers or gate keepers that affect men and women’s roles and responsibilities related to animal care and use. Observe and listen to understand who influences gender roles and responsibilities (e.g. household member, social norms) and whether any changes in roles and responsibilities to improve animal welfare are desired. Take note of any identified key influencers for consideration in future involvement in the project as appropriate to supporting the desired changes in animal care and use roles and responsibilities. Key influencers may need to be engaged at the household level to influence household decisions, or to engaged to influence norms at the broader societal level.
Next Steps
As part of a community needs assessment and shared vision, the gender roles and responsibilities activity is useful to conduct when accompanied by one or more of the following tools to get a full picture of community dynamics for informing project planning:
T1 Mappingto understand which resources and services are important to the community.
T2 Mobility Mapto understand where people spend most of their time and how long it takes to get places.
T3 Venn Diagram (T3b Social Networking Venn Diagram) to identify key individuals, groups and actors perceived to be most important to people and their animals.
T4 Daily Activity Schedule (if not yet carried out) to understand broader labour burdens and the activities which are most time consuming.
T6 Seasonal Calendar to identify seasonal trends in resources, activities, and potential risks to animal owning communities.
To support development of effective, context appropriate behaviour change strategies, using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) linked with the COM-B model or TDF is recommended. The BCW provides a “systematic and theoretically guided method for identifying the types of interventions and supporting policies that would be expected to be effective for a given behaviour, context, and target individual, group or population” [21]. It was developed based on a synthesis of 19 behaviour change frameworks identified through systematic literature review, and consists of the following three layers [21]:
COM-B components: the six sub-components of COM-B comprise the inner circle, or hub of the wheel, including psychological and physical capability, physical and social opportunity, automatic and reflective motivation.
Intervention Functions: Intervention function refer to broad categories of means by which an intervention can change a behaviour. Nine intervention functions surround the hub and may be suggested depending on the COM-B component targeted for change, including: education, persuasion, incentivisation, coercion, training, restrictions, environmental restructuring, modelling and enablement.
Policy Categories: seven potential policy categories that can support the delivery of these intervention functions comprise the final outer layer, or the rim of the wheel. These include guidelines, environmental/social planning, communication/marketing, legislation, service provision, regulation, and fiscal measures. Policy categories help you identify the types of policy categories you may wish to consider to further influence the drivers of behaviours (COM-B). Recommended policy categories depend on the interventions functions selected. It should be noted that for the purpose of this C4A resource policy categories are not further discussed beyond this learning module because the focus on this resource is to provide guidance for working with communities to change behaviours to improve animal welfare and is not explicitly focused on changing policy.
Figure 24: Behaviour Change Wheel (adapted from [21])
The BCW, COM-B model and TDF are applicable at the level of individuals, groups, sub-populations, and populations, and together they enable users to [21]:
conduct a behavioural analysis of the animal welfare issue to define the issue in behavioural terms and identify desired target behaviour(s)
make a behavioural diagnosis of what needs to change/what to target in an intervention (in terms of COM-B or TDF)
identify the types of interventions most likely to bring about desired change
Once an issue is understood in terms of existing and desired behaviours, and COM-B diagnosis undertaken, the BCW can be used to identify the most appropriate intervention functions related to the COM-B sub-components targeted for change. Using the BCW in this way, enables users to strategically design behaviour change interventions appropriate to a given context using a theory informed, evidence-based method.
Table 1 outlines the linkages between the six COM-B determinants of behaviour and associated BCW intervention functions most likely to be effective in addressing them.
After identifying interventions functions, appropriate behaviour change techniques (BCT) and activities can be identified and may be relevant to more than one intervention function [21]. For example, an outreach campaign may be relevant to both education and persuasion intervention functions, depending on how messages are framed and communicated. Further guidance on this can be found in The Behaviour Change Wheel: Guide to Designing Interventions [21], and in the facilitator resource “Guidance on Identifying Effective Behaviour Change Strategies Based on COM-B Diagnosis.” You can refer to this online resource to learn more about Behaviour Change Techniques (BCT).
The table below provides a summary overview of the BCW intervention function definitions, along with animal welfare related examples, and associated policy categories [21].
Intervention Function (IF) Definition
Examples of Behaviour Change Activities Associated with Interventions Functions
Complimentary Policy Categories
Education Increase knowledge and understanding
• Raise awareness of animal husbandry practices that support positive welfare states • Providing information on animal welfare and disease prevention
Communication/Marketing, Guidelines, Regulation, Legislation, Service Provision
Persuasion Using communication to induce positive or negative feelings or simulate action
• Using influential imagery and/or respected messengers to promote activity
Communication/Marketing Guidelines, Regulation Legislation, Service Provision
Incentivisation Creating an expectation of reward
• Recognizing or rewarding owners of animals exhibiting good welfare states • Animal health service providers certification scheme improve demand and use of quality services
Communication/Marketing Guidelines, Fiscal, Regulation Legislation, Service Provision
Coercion Creating an expectation of punishment or cost
• An animal owning community-based organization adopted bylaws including consequences for members who mistreat their animals
Communication/Marketing, Guidelines, Fiscal Measures, Regulation, Legislation, Service Provision
Training Imparting skills
• Training owners in compassionate handling using positive reinforcement • Training people to make animal welfare friendly equipment using locally available (e.g. harness)
Guidelines, Fiscal Measures, Regulation Legislation, Service Provision
Restriction Using rules to reduce the opportunity to engage in the target behaviour/competing behaviours
• Government transport regulation restricts overloading or enforces using appropriate animal welfare friendly gear • Laws mandating health checks prior to animal sale or transit
Guideline, Regulation, Legislation
Environmental Restructuring Changing the physical or social context
• Post reminders to promote regular adherence to preventative treatment/vaccine schedules • Encouraging farmers cooperatives to create animal shelters at marketplaces to allow animals to rest comfortably after transporting good to market
Modelling Providing an example for people to aspire to or imitate
• Use respected community influencers to demonstrate and inspire adoption of desired behaviour. • Share experiences from successful adopters to others
Communication/Marketing Service Provision
Enablement Increasing means/reducing barriers to increase capability beyond education and training, or opportunity beyond environmental restructuring
• Improving availability of appropriate animal drug treatments • Self-help groups formed and purchase quality feed in bulk to reduce costs to members • Self-esteem building for women or men to care for their animals
Guidelines, Fiscal Measures, Regulation Legislation, Environmental/Social Planning, Service Provision
Table 2: Summary of Intervention Functions with Animal Welfare Related Behaviour Change Activity Examples and Associated Policy Categories
Once interventions functions have been identified, appropriate behaviour change techniques relevant to the intervention functions can be identified. It is not uncommon for behaviour change techniques/activities to be relevant to more than one intervention function. For example, a mass-media campaign be relevant to the intervention’s functions of education and persuasion, depending on how messages are framed and communicated to target audiences [21]. By helping users strategically consider a full range of options and choose the most appropriate based on theory and evidence, the BCW framework can inspire innovation in the strategic identification of behaviour change activities and help mitigate [21]. To support the strategic evaluation of the appropriateness of different interventions in each context, the BCW Guide suggests using the following APEASE criteria: Affordability, Practicability, Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness, Acceptability, Side-Effects/Safety, and Equity [21].
Authors of the BCW guide importantly note that using the COM-B model and BCW does provide “a detailed blueprint for identifying what works in any given context, but rather provide a theory informed, evidenced-based method for designing context appropriate interventions that are more likely to bring about desired change” [21]. To support development of appropriate behaviour change strategies, the COM-B model and BCW approach have similarly been integrated to the extent feasible within the approaches for working with communities outlined within this C4A guide. In addition to the detailed practical guidance provided in the book the “The Behaviour Change Wheel: Guide to Designing Interventions”, the following C4A facilitator resources provide guidance on using COM-B and the BCW framework to inform behaviour change planning for animal welfare improvement: Behaviour Change/COM-B Diagnosis Community Question Guide, Guidance on Identifying Effective Behaviour Change Strategies Based on COM-B Diagnosis,Behaviour Change Planning Table [21].
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].
Example of Intersectionality in the Animal Welfare Context
The social characteristics and attributes of animal owning community members may limit their access and availability of resources and services needed to meet the welfare needs of their animals’ when these characteristics cause them to be marginalized or discriminated against. For example, some groups’ ability to care for their animals may be hindered due to discrimination they face from animal service providers as a result of their social status. For example, equid owning communities of lower status castes in India report that animal health service providers and government officials do not prioritize their needs when it comes to addressing their animals' welfare issues, and are slow to respond to their requests for services. While this is a challenge for men in these communities, if the service seeker is also female, it can be more difficult for her to seek animal related services due to societal gender norms limiting women's income generation opportunities and household decision making power compared to men. In this example, a woman's caste and gender may intersect to decrease her ability to access services to meet her animals’ welfare needs in comparison with males in the same situation.
This tool analyses the household’s dependency on internal actors e.g., household or community, and external actors for resources and services, such as water, feed and/or grazing land, shelter, financial resources, equipment for working animals (e.g., harnesses, carts), grooming supplies, and services, such as animal health service providers. This exercise may also be adapted to assess dependency in contexts where key stakeholders are comprised of only a single group (e.g., women only).
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To increase community awareness of their dependencies on external resources and service provision actors and potential implications for promoting animal welfare. • To motivate participants to take action to reduce unnecessary dependency on external actors and improve their self-sufficiency. Activity discussions can motivate collective action and group formation. • To identify project support required to support animal-owning communities in reducing their dependency on external actors. • To monitor changes in reduced dependency on external actors and improvements in self-reliance, which can serve as a proxy indicator of improved resilience/reducing community vulnerability to vulnerable
2-3 hours
Materials needed:
Chalk, coloured dust, stick, stones, pebbles, cards or paper, pens and any other locally available resources to represent service or resources.
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning, Opportunity, Motivation
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Needs Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation
Specific Topics: Animal Health and Services, Vulnerability / Resilience, Group Formation / Strengthening
Dependency Analysis
An animal-owning community used this activity to explore their dependency on external actors.
Figure T12a Dependency analysis – blank template
Figure T12b Dependency analysis produced by an animal-owning community
The group identified twelve resource and service providers on whom they felt they had an external dependency. After scoring their level of dependency, they discussed the reasons for the dependencies:
Figure T12c Dependency analysis – reasons for external dependencies and challenges
The group identified opportunities for action to improve animal welfare:
The community requested support to learn how to make first aid kits for their animals, so they could stock basic medicines for treatment in their own village.
Women decided to use their collective savings from their self-help group to purchase a grinder to begin making their own grain and thereby decreasing their cost of animal feed.
Through these actions, the group was able to reduce their vulnerability and improve their self-sufficiency.
Dependency Analysis
Planning phase – Community action planning
Step 1
Start by asking the group to think of all the resources and services they use to care for their animals and have the helper write them down.
Step 2
Ask the community helper to draw a large table, either on the ground or on chart paper. There should be three main columns: ‘Resources & services’, ‘external dependency’ and ‘household/internal’ (See figure T12a).
Step 3
Start analysing external dependency versus household/internal control, by asking the question: do you depend on an outside source to be able to provide this resource or service to your animal? Provide examples as necessary, such as shopkeepers to buy equipment and materials, feed/fodder sellers to buy feed/fodder, farriers to trim hooves. Have the group score the listed resources and services using seeds or pebbles out of a total score of 10.
Please note: If a household needed veterinary treatment for an injured animal, the external control might be scored as 6/10, as they are dependent on the veterinarian to provide treatment. If they do not rely on anyone externally (e.g. they produce all the feed & fodder themselves), the external score is 0 and the household/internal score is 10.
Step 4
Ask participants to analyse their dependency on external actors based on the chart they have produced. Ask the community helper to record the responses or note them yourself. The following questions may be used to guide the discussion:
• Why do you depend on external actors for certain resources or services? (If not already identified through the exercise) - If externally dependent actors have not already been identified through discussions, ask participants to identify them. • How can you improve animal welfare by reducing your dependency on external actors? • Are there collective actions that the community could take to reduce external dependency?
Step 5
After this discussion, ask participants what actions they can take towards making these changes. Help the group to qualify short-term (~3 months) versus long-term actions (more than a year). If there is a long list of issues and associated actions, have the group prioritise just one or two to focus on before the next meeting.
Have the helper record the actions and linked activities in the community action plan. Make sure to include who will monitor it and a realistic timeline. Support the community by linking them to any necessary stakeholders.
Implementation phase - Participatory monitoring
Step 6
Repeat steps 1-3 (above) to assess the changes agreed by the community in step 4 within the community action plan, by comparing with the previous activity outputs (step 5).
Initiate a final discussion using the following questions as guidance:
• Why have changes occurred or not? What are the reasons for changes? • How have changes impacted on animal welfare and their own lives?
Comparing the past results to present situation can generate useful discussion about perceived improvements in animal welfare and related benefits to people’s livelihoods and well-being that have resulted from changes.
Facilitation Notes
Decide the group dynamics ahead of time and whether it would be best carried out with men and women (or other subgroups) separately or in a mixed group. This will depend on your rapport with the community, culture and local gender dynamics.
If conducted separately between men and women, consider bringing the two groups back together at the end of the activity to review the results of each chart and resolve any discrepancies if time allows.
An in-depth analysis of dependency on external actors (step 4) can take considerable time, so discuss this in advance with the group in preparation.
Next Steps
Record the community’s short and long-term actions and related activities to your project action tracker. Revisit the activities in the next meeting to monitor their progress and what further support is required.
T10 Gender Control Analysisis a useful tool for exploring the differences in internal control (within the household) between men and women.
T13 Income, Expenditure and Credit Analysis is a useful follow-up tool for analyzing dependency on external actors for financial resources and motivating participants to take collective action to reduce expenditures or increase access to savings and credit through the formation of self-help groups.
The initiation phase is about building rapport within the target community, understanding the local context, animal welfare issues and community interests and dynamics, as well as gauging interest and motivation in engaging with your animal welfare intervention project.
Purpose:
The purpose of this to provide the practitioners with the direction in terms of the information needed for the initiation phase; and where to collect the information. Including the tools that can assist with collecting the information.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Initiation Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach, Societal Outreach and Campaigns Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning
10a. Overview of Useful Information to Collect During Initiation Phase
The initiation phase is about building rapport within the target community, understanding the local context, animal welfare issues and community interests and dynamics, as well as gauging interest and motivation in engaging with your animal welfare intervention project. The following table provides an overview of key understandings you should seek through activities implemented during the initiation phase, as well as potential sources for obtaining relevant information.
Useful Information
Why Important
Sources of Information
Demographic Features: gender, age, literacy, income, social status, religion, population density
People’s circumstances can shape their behaviours, as well as inform which strategies may be most effective for engaging them.
Information collected during initial scoping phase
Daily Routines: where and when most animal owners, carers, and users (of working animals) spend their time during the days
How people spend their time can provide insights on what influences their behaviour and the welfare of their animals, as well as indicate their availability for engagement.
Observations, key Informant interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), survey
Common Desires/Priority Motivations: What are men and women’s common desires for their lives and the lives of their animals/what motivates them? Are there key concerns or issues which preoccupy their thinking? e.g. good income, health, having good community status, been seen as good according to their religion, or ensuring children’s education, having productive animals? And what benefits do they feel their animals contribute to their lives?
This can help us understand people's value, or issues they face, as these are likely to influence people’s motivations and behaviours [72]. Understanding this is useful to framing communications in ways that motivate and support behavioural change to improve animal welfare.
Existing Behaviour: What are men and women’s existing animal use, care, and management practices and what do they like/dislike about them? What animal related resources and services do men and women rely on? What are their priority challenges or concerns related to their animals, and animal related services and resources?
Understanding people’s current animal related practices/behaviours can help us understand what may be leading to observed animal welfare issues and who may be responsible. It is also helpful to understand what people appreciate and don’t about their current practices, so we can gauge perceived benefits and potential barriers to change. This is helpful to understanding whether and how the desired behaviours the project may promote could be perceived as more beneficial and worth practicing by target groups and enable communications to be framed accordingly where possible. In addition, understanding their priority animal welfare concerns, can help you gauge issues people may be more highly motivated to address and indicate potential useful starting points.
Observations, key Informant interviews, in depth focus group discussions, surveys
Animal Related Resources and Service Providers: What animal related resource and services providers exist within the community and what are the available resources and services they can provide?
Understanding what animal related resource and service providers exist within the community can be useful to understanding who you can potentially work with, what resources and services are available, and enable you to understand which may be underutilized based on insights from communities about those which they rely on. Understanding what animal related resources and services are available may be helpful to understanding possible solutions to animal welfare issues
Observations, key Informant interviews, in depth focus group discussions, survey
Influential People/Groups: what people influence men and women’s animal husbandry and management practices? Whose opinions and knowledge do they value and are likely to listen to generally, as well as in relation to their animals?
Helpful to identifying potential partners, groups, and individuals influential within the community who the project can engage as respected leaders or messengers or modellers of change, and/or whose support can be harnessed to promote change. May also help you to understand whose opinions or influence may pose a challenge to people’s adoption of desired changes.
Community Dynamics: what aredifferent members of the animal owning community’s expected social roles, how do they interact and collaborate or don’t amongst and between groups, who is perceived to hold power, and which individual or groups experience discrimination and/or greater opportunities or hardships because of their social status or other demographic characteristics,
Communities are not homogeneous, and it’s important to understand different members of the animal owning community in terms of their expected social roles, how they interact and collaborate, or don’t, amongst and between groups, who is perceived to hold power, and which individual or groups experience discrimination and greater opportunities or hardships because of their social status or other demographic characteristics. This will enable you to better understandintersectionality, and plan and design your project in ways that seeks to promote equality and mitigate the potential of your project to engage in exploitative practices which reinforce discrimination, as well as which may elicit mistrust in the project. This will also help your project allocate appropriate resources (human, financial, etc.) for your project in a strategic way.
Observations, key Informant interviews with organizations operating in the area or other knowledgeable stakeholders/potential change agents.
10b. Example Focus Group Discussion Questions Supporting Initiation Phase Assessments
A focus group discussion (or FGD) is a qualitative research method in the social sciences that employs the use of semi-structured interview led by a skilled moderator to elicit responses and generate discussion among the participants about a subject of interest within a given time.
Focus group discussions should be used when you need to understand an issue at a deeper level than you can access with a survey. They are helpful for adding meaning and understanding to existing knowledge or getting at the “why” and “how” of a topic.
Important guide to follow when designing your FGD questions.
Keep the number of questions reasonable (under 10, if possible). This prevents the participants from getting confused or worn out by a long discussion.
Keep the questions simple and short. FGD participants won’t get the chance to see the questions like in a survey.
Ensure that the wording on questions is clear. Otherwise, participants will end up discussing the question itself, rather than what the question was trying to ask.
Be careful that questions about sensitive issues or topics are asked carefully. Otherwise, the FGD will stop just because people are too embarrassed to answer.
Make sure that questions are worded in a way that cannot be answered with a simple “Yes” or “No” answer. Using words like “Why” and “How” will help elicit better responses from participants.
Question Types
There should be three types of questions in a focus group discussion:
Probe questions: these introduce participants to the discussion topic and make them feel more comfortable sharing their opinion with the group.
Follow-up questions: delve further into the discussion topic and the participants’ opinions.
Exit question: check to ensure that you didn’t miss anything.
Example
Say that you run two different animal welfare programs and you’d like to know why programme A sees better attendance than Program B. You could use the following questions to explore this issue:
Probe Questions:
How familiar are you with our programs?
How often do you attend our programs?
What is your favourite program?
Follow-Up Questions:
What is your favourite and least favourite aspects of Program A?
What is your favourite and least favourite aspects of Program B?
What influences whether you attend a program?
What influences whether your friends attend a program?
If we were to close a program, which one should we close and why?
Exit Question:
Is there anything else you’d like to say about our programs?
This Behaviour Change/Com-B Diagnosis Community Question Guide is recommended to be used as a framework to understand the COM-B components sufficiently to enable community facilitators rely on their own critical thinking and effective facilitation skills to identify what community members need in order to enact a target behaviour in terms of capability,motivation, and opportunities (COM-B). Overly adhering to these examples questions is not recommended. Facilitators are encouraged create their own contextually appropriate questions to ask to diagnose what needs to change when conducting a COM-B diagnosis in discussion with community members. Select or adapt example questions from this resource only as needed to support your exploration of barriers to change in consultation with communities.
The example questions relevant to the six subcomponents of COM-B outlined in the table below reflect the different Theoretical Domains associated with each COM-B subcomponent. These are just example questions and are not all necessary to ask during a COM-B analysis, as this would prove too time consuming. Rather, they reflect examples of questions that may be helpful to determining what someone may need in order to enact a desired target behaviour (in terms of COM-B). They are not prescriptive or exhaustive, but rather are intended to provide community facilitators with a sense of what each COM-B component means.
When conducting a COM-B diagnosis with communities, it is common for responses to questions to be relevant to more than one COM-B subcomponent. It is therefore helpful to take some time to carefully review responses after discussions are held, and organize or code them in terms of their relevance to the different COM-B subcomponents. Responses can not only help identify the COM-B barriers to behaviour change, they can also identify factors that could potentially enable or motivate desired behaviour change which may useful for projects to consider in their behaviour change planning.
The COM-B diagnosis of what needs to change for a desired behaviour to be adopted can then be used to identify the type of interventions and behaviour change techniques most likely to be effective in addressing the identified COM-B barriers to behaviour change. Using the Behaviour Change Wheel is recommended to support this process as it provides an evidence-based framework for identifying the types of interventions and behaviour change techniques evidenced within behaviour change science to be most effective in addressing different COM-B barriers to change [21]. Refer to the facilitator resource 13. Guidance on Identifying Effective Behaviour Change Strategies Based on COM-B Diagnosis for further guidance.
Table of Example Questions Supporting COM-B Diagnosis
COM-B Drivers
Example Questions Supporting COM-B Diagnosis Associated with the Theoretical Domains
Capability: Physical
Physical Skills: (Domain Definition: an ability or proficiency acquired through practice; skills, skills development, ability, interpersonal skills, practice, skills assessment)
• What skills do you think are required to be able to do [specify desired behaviour]? • Do you know how to [specify desired behaviour]? • How competent do you feel in doing [specify target behaviour]? • Have you practiced the [specify the desired behaviour]? • Can you think of any ways in which your own skills for doing [specify desired behaviour] could be improved? • Given your existing skills and (physical) strength, how easy or difficult would you find doing [specify desired behaviour]? • How/where can you receive training learn how to [specify the desired behaviour]? (responses may relate to psychological capability, and/or physical or social opportunity) • Do you have the skills to work with others as needed to undertake [specify target behaviour]?
Capability: Psychological
Knowledge (Domain Definition: an awareness of the existence of something; including knowledge of condition/scientific rationale, procedural knowledge, knowledge of task environment):
• How do you know/are you able recognize when [specify targeted animal welfare issue] is distressing the animal/needs to be addressed? • Can you tell me about what causes [specify targeted animal welfare issue]? • What does your animal need for [specify targeted animal welfare issue] to be improved/resolved? • What do you think about [specify desired behaviour] being recommended to address [specify targeted animal welfare issue]/Do you know why [specify desired behaviour] is recommended? • What do you know about/ How familiar are you with [specify desired behaviour required]? Do you feel you need any more knowledge in order to be able to address [specify animal welfare issue] or to adopt/practice [specify desired behaviour]? PROBE: what has prevented you from becoming knowledgeable in the ways you feel would be needed? Are there adequate opportunities to practice [specify desired behaviour] so you feel confident and competent in doing it?
Memory, Attention, and Decision Processes (Domain Definition: ability to retain information, focus selectively on aspects of the environment and choose between two or more alternatives, memory, attention, attention control, decision making, cognitive overload/tiredness):
• Is doing [specify desired behaviour] in the [specify context and desired timing/frequency of desired behaviour as applicable] something you would normally do? If no, why not? If yes, what helped you decide to do it? • Is doing [specify target behaviour] something you think you would likely often forget? • If you are likely to forget doing [specify target behaviour], what do you think would help you to remember? • What do you think will help you to stop doing [specify undesired behaviour]? (responses may be relevant to other domains) • What would stop you from doing [specify desired behaviour] in the [specify context and desired timing/frequency of desired behaviour as applicable]? (responses may be relevant to other domains) • How much attention do you think you will need invest/pay to do [specify target behaviour]? /How much cognitive power is needed to do [specify target behaviour]…is it affected by tiredness or other factors (please explain)? • What could influence your decision to do [specify target behaviour]? If no, why not? (responses may be related to other domains)
Behavioural Regulation (Domain Definition: anything aimed at managing or changing behaviour e.g. self-monitoring; breaking habit; action planning):
• Will doing [specify target behaviour] require breaking any well-formed habits? Please explain any existing habits by telling me more about what triggers you to initiate the current habitual behaviour (e.g. internal or external cues), and what you do in response to those cues (e.g. physical, mental and/or emotional responses to cues), and what reward or benefit you experience as a result which keeps you doing this habitual practice (e.g. why this habit/way of doing things is worth it)? • Are there things that would help to prompt you to do [specify desired behaviour]? • What would need to happen for you to do this [specify desired behaviour] as recommended to address the [specify targeted animal welfare issue]? • Are there particular groups of people for whom doing [specify desired behaviour] is more difficult? Please explain your response, what makes it more difficult for these groups in comparison to others? • To what extent do you feel that self-monitoring of your behaviours would be needed to do [specify target behaviour]?
Opportunity: Physical
Environmental Context and Resources (Domain Definition: Any circumstance of a person’s situation or environment that discourages or encourages a behaviour; includes: environmental stressors, resources, enabling culture/climate, salient events/critical incidents, interaction between person and their environment, barriers and facilitators):
• What materials or services are needed for you to be able to practice [specify desired behaviour] in [specify context behaviour occurs] [specify desired timing/frequency of behaviour]? • What things make it easy for you to practice [specify desired behaviour] in [specify context behaviour occurs] [specify desired timing/frequency of behaviour]? • What things make it difficult for you to practice [specify desired behaviour] in [specify context behaviour occurs] [specify desired timing/frequency of behaviour]? Prompt as needed e.g. access and availability of resources, finances, time? • How difficult is it to get/obtain [list any known resources/services/support needed for practicing the desired behaviour]? • Are there competing tasks and time constraints which may affect your ability to do [specify target behaviour]? Please specify. • To what extent does access or availability of any resources/services affect your ability to [specify target behaviour]? • Is doing or not doing [specify target behaviour] associated with or interrupted by critical incidences or events? • Are there accessibility factors or environmental influences that change the likelihood of [specify target behaviour]? • Are there other barriers and facilitators to doing [specify target behaviour]? (responses may be related to other domains)
Opportunity: Social
Social Influences(Domain Definition: interpersonal processes that can cause individuals to change their thoughts, feelings, or behaviours; includes: social pressure; social/cultural norms; group conformity, social comparisons, social support; power; intergroup conflict; group identity, and/or modelling):
• What pressures do you face from others to do or not do [specify target behaviour]? • Is there anyone that would disapprove of you or make it challenging for you to do [specify target behaviour]? Please describe how they, or your relationship with them, would make it difficult? • How important/not important do the people important to you think it is to do [specify desired behaviour]/address [specify target animal welfare issue]? Please explain why they may think this. • How would the people that you live and socialise with help you do [specify desired behaviour] in [specify context behaviour occurs] [specify desired timing/frequency of behaviour]? Prompt as needed: family, peers, social groups. • How do the people that you live and socialise with make it difficult for you to do [specify desired behaviour]? Prompt as needed: family, peers, social groups • Who do you see people around you doing [specify desired behaviour]; and if yes, how does this influence you? • Are there any cultural, traditional, or community beliefs or values which would make [specify target behaviour] less socially acceptable or challenging to adopt? • Are there any power dynamics or social norms within your community or household which would affect whether you can do [specify target behaviour]?
Motivation: Automatic
Reinforcement (Domain Definition: Increasing the probability of a response by arranging a dependent relationship, or contingency between the response and a given stimulus; includes: rewards, incentives; punishment, consequences, reinforcement, contingents, sanctions etc. which increase the probability of a particular behaviour):
• How easy or difficult do you think it would be to remember to [specify target behaviour] in [specify context behaviour occurs] every time you need to do it/ [specify desired timing/frequency of behaviour]? e.g., very difficult, somewhat difficult, or not difficult at all? Please explain your answer/why you feel this way. • What are the incentives for you to change from current practice to [specify desired behaviour], and how likely do you feel these benefits rewards are? • What evidence do you have that doing [specify target behaviour] would be a good thing? • What are the costs or consequences of not doing [specify target behaviour]? (Responses may also be relevant to Reflective Motivation/Beliefs about Consequences Domain) • What punishments or sanctions may be experienced/imposed for doing [specify target behaviour]?
Emotion(Domain Definition: positive or negative feelings which can encourage or discourage a particular behaviour; includes: fear, anxiety, stress, depression, positive/negative affect):
• When you can care for your animal and meet its needs, how does it make you feel? • When thinking about changing your practices to [specify target behaviour], how does this make you feel? Is this likely to cause you any anxiety, stress, burn out, or other any other positive or negative emotions? Please explain why you would feel this way?
Motivation: Reflective
Social/Professional Role and Identity (Domain Definition: coherent set of behaviours and displayed personal qualities of an individual in a social or work setting; includes: personal, social and group identify, professional identify, roles boundaries, and confidence, leadership/management/business clients):
• Is doing [specify desired behaviour] compatible or in conflict with [specify professional identity/standard]? • What do you feel about the credibility of the source of the recommendation/guidance about doing [specify target behaviour] to improve [specify animal welfare issue]? • Do you feel [specify target behaviour] is aligned with what others in their social or professional group/network are going (e.g. other households, animal owners/carers, animal breeders/producers, animal cart drivers etc.)? • To what extent do leaders/managers/clientele facilitate people’s adoption of [specify desired behaviour]? • To what extent are leaders/managers/clients willing to listen problems associated with [specify animal welfare issue] and [specify target behaviour] recommended to address it? (select the subject of question as appropriate to context of behaviour)
Belief About Capabilities(Domain Definition: self-confidence; perceived competence or ability which can; includes: perceived competence, self-efficacy, perceived behavioural control, beliefs, self-esteem, empowerment, confidence)
• How confident do you feel in your ability to [specify desired action] in [specify context behaviour occurs] and [specify desired timing/frequency of behaviour]? PROBE: - if confidence low: what would make you feel more confident? Is there anything that would increase your confidence? - if not doing it: how confident are you that you could change to doing [specify desired behaviour]? - if already doing it: how confident are you in maintaining or enhancing your existing practice? • How well equipped are you to do make this change and do [specify desired behaviour]? • Have you had (or do you envision) any problems/experienced any challenges trying do [specify desired behaviour]? / What makes it/would make it difficult for you to [specify target behaviour]? Why does this/do these make it difficult? What would make it easier? • Do you think you could carry on doing the [specify desired behaviour] in [specify context behaviour occurs] [specify timing/frequency of behaviour] if you started? Why or why not?
Optimism (Domain Definition: confidence things will happen for the best or that desired goals will be attained; includes; optimism, pessimism, unrealistic optimism, identify)
• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the outcome of [specify target behaviour]/resolving {specify welfare issue]? Please explain your rationale.
Intentions (Domain Definition: conscious decision to perform a behaviour/resolve to act; includes: stability/strength of intentions, stages of change)
• How much do you want to take action to resolve [specify targeted animal welfare issue] by adopting [specify desired behaviour]? • Do you intend to do {specify target behaviour] consistently over time? Please explain your rationale.
Goals(Domain Definition: Mental representations of outcomes an individual wants to achieve; includes: goals (distal/proximal), goal priority, goal/target setting. goals (autonomous/controlled), action planning implementation intention) • Are there goals set in the immediate or distant future related addressing [specify targeted animal welfare issue]? • How important are achieving goals associated with doing [specify target behaviour]/improving [specify target animal welfare issue]? • Are there other things that you want to achieve that could interfere with, or that you think are more important than doing the [specify desired behaviour]? • How much do you feel you need to do [specify target behaviour]? • Has a plan been put in action to do [specify target behaviour] to address [specify target animal welfare issue]?
Beliefs about Consequences (Domain Definition: beliefs; outcome expectancies; characteristics of outcome expectancies; anticipated regret; consequents; includes: beliefs, outcome expectancies, characteristics of outcome expectancies, anticipate regret, consequents)
• What do you think will happen if you do [specify desired behaviour] to address [specify targeted animal welfare issue]? • Do you believe doing [specify target behaviour] is useful? Please explain why or why not? (responses may be relevant to Automatic Motivation/Reinforcement Domain) • What do you think are the advantages or benefits of [specify desired behaviour] for a) you? and b) your animal? (responses may be relevant to Automatic Motivation/Reinforcement Domain) • What do you think are the costs or consequences of adopting [specify desired behaviour] for a) you and b) your animal? (responses may be relevant to Automatic Motivation/Reinforcement Domain) • In your opinion, do the benefits of adopting [specify target behaviour] outweigh the costs/consequences? (responses may be relevant to Automatic Motivation/Reinforcement Domain) Do you feel you may regret doing [specify target behaviour]? Please explain your rationale.
General
• Is there anything else that you would like to add about what may encourage or discourage someone from being able to do [specify desired behaviour]? • Are there any other factors that you think might be important to consider about [specify desired behaviour] or [specify animal welfare issue] that we haven’t covered?
Questions Examples Adapted from [108, 21, 109, 110]
Facilitation Notes
When developing/asking COM-B diagnosis questions, ensure you:
Frame questions to be open-ended (e.g. not yes/no)
Focus questions on the target behaviour;
Ask additional probing questions as needed to elicit details; and
Include questions on only the TDF domains that may be relevant to your target behaviour and project context.
It will be important to first ensure there is sufficient rapport with respondents before initiating in-depth questioning about the specific target behaviour. Discussions should begin with some general greetings and introduction, and/or initial engaging background questions rather than starting with the COM-B diagnosis questions.
The order/layout of the questions in the table above DO NOT represent the most logical order they should be asked but rather simply lay out examples of the types of questions which may be appropriate to ask to assess barriers and motivators to practicing the desired behaviour. It is the role of the facilitator to ensure questioning does not feel like an interrogation and gauge the order in which they should be asked which create a natural, and logical flow to the conversation. Facilitators are encouraged to lay out their selected questions in an order which they feel would be most natural and logical, and should remain flexible to adapting the order as responses when it makes sense to do so e.g. if certain questions would seem to be logical follow up questions to maintain the natural progression of the discussion.
It is essential facilitators do not solely follow a prescriptive line of pre-prepared questions, and are properly skilled to facilitate these discussions and ask follow up questions as needed to more deeply probe community members’ responses to gain clarity on the true nature of the barriers and motivators to the adoption of the desired target behaviour.
Not all domains and questions may be relevant to the target behaviour and context in which you are working. Adapt and create additional questions as needed to explore the general behavioural domains above as needed for the specific target behaviour. The questions you decide to ask/determine to be relevant to understanding what needs to change to support adoption of the target behaviour, and how you ask them, will depend on the desired target behaviour, who is being targeted to adopt it, your understanding of the local context and what is appropriate to ask and how best to frame the questions, as well as the nature of the welfare issue and characteristics of the target animal (e.g. species, age, size, use, activity level, and reproductive and health status)..
As there may be many identified domains of behaviour and associated questions to explore to understand barriers and motivators to behaviour change, you may need to schedule more than one session with targeted respondents before fully understanding the COM-B barriers and motivators to change.
While these questions are organized in terms of COM-B drivers and their associated theoretical domains, responses to questions associated with a particular driver/domain will often provide information relevant to other or multiple COM-B sub-components. It is the responsibility of the facilitator to assess the nature of responses and their intended meaning within a given context, and categorize it in accordance with the appropriate COM-B driver to them as you feel appropriate. For this reason,
It is recommended to use an audio recording device to record responses with the consent of participants, or to take detailed notes of discussions to enable you to refer to them for better understanding of participants’ insights.
Recording conversations enables you to focus on asking open ended questions, listening, and exploring different topics without having capture detailed responses in writing. Listening back to recordings helps ensure critical information is not missed from interviews and allows you take your time when organizing/coding responses in terms of their relevance to different COM-B subcomponents.
Consider creating a table or document template to help organize responses in terms of the six COM-B drivers pertinent barriers and motivators to change related to which can be used to identify what needs to change, and related intervention functions and behaviour change techniques using the Behaviour Change Wheel during behaviour change project planning.
When time and resources are constrained for conducting a COM-B diagnosis with communities, consider conducting the COM-B diagnosis with a few representative key informants or focus groups representative of target groups. Project teams can also use these questions to help ensure they have thought through the potential barriers to change when planning behaviour change interventions; however it always recommended that their assumptions be checked and any gaps in their knowledge explored in discussion with communities.
It is recommended to explore barriers and motivators to adoption of a desired behaviour through discussion with community members/groups targeted to adopt the desired behaviour, as well as with other key stakeholders with knowledge and experience of community members and their potential barriers and motivators to change e.g. service providers, change agents, spouses etc. This triangulation of data can be helpful to gaining a full understanding of the barriers to change, which may not necessarily become apparent from responses of only one group of people/perspective.
Depending on who is targeted to adopt a desired behaviour, consider conducting a COM-B diagnosis separately with different representative groups to ensure you understand potential differences in their perceived barriers to change e.g. men, women, urban vs. rural community members, marginalized groups. This is important because barriers to change may differ depending on the intersecting social characteristics and realities different groups face, and may require different interventions and behaviour change techniques be used to support different groups in adopting the same target behaviour.
While the example questions provided in this guide can be used to conduct a COM-B diagnosis, barriers and motivators to change informing COM-B diagnosis can also be identified through insights gathered through use of other participatory tools or community engagement activities.
The Behaviour Change Planning Table to helps you strategically think through and plot the theory of change for achieving desired behaviour change to inform your community animal welfare improvement project planning.
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach, Societal Outreach and Campaigns Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Documentation and Reporting
Complete the table by following Steps 1-6 in the table. A completed table is provided as an example, along with a blank template for you to complete for your project. The table reflects information related to one desired behaviour, and it is recommended you complete one for each behaviour, or desired result, the project desires to promote whenever feasible.
Example of Completed Behaviour Change Planning Table
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3 (*see instructions below)
STEP 4
STEP 5
What behaviour/ action is being promoted by the project and what are the animal welfare issue(s) it is expected to address?
Who is the target group (who is expected to adopt this change)?
What needs to change for target groups(s) to be able adopt desired behaviours/improve animal welfare? (e.g. in terms of COM-B/barriers to behaviour change)
What do project activities need to achieve to address what needs to change? (e.g. Increase/ decrease/ improve / reduce…. + …perception …ability (knowledge / skills) …availability of / access to…)
What activities will be undertaken by the project to achieve these desired changes?
EXAMPLE: Feed animals dry feed mixed with small amount of water to reduce dust inhalation to reduce the incidence of colic
EXAMPLE: 1. Women carers 2. Girls and boys who help with feeding
EXAMPLE: 1. Women, girls, and boys are not aware of the causes of colic (C-Ps) 2. Women, girls, and boys do not know how to prevent colic (C-ps) 3. Water is not available in the house to mix with feed in the mornings (only available after midday once retrieved from local water point by women) (O-ph)
EXAMPLE: 1. Increase women, boys, and girls understanding of the causes of colic 2. Increase women, boys, and girls’ ability to prevent colic that results from their husbandry and management practices
EXAMPLE: CCAs conduct home visits where:
STEP 6
EXAMPLE Impact Indicators: # Of incidents of colic reported by animal owning households Improved income generation from reduced number of days animal is unable to work
EXAMPLE Outcome Indicators: % women carers and girls and boys who feed animals dry feed mixed with small amount of water % Of women, girls, and boys aware of the causes of colic and how to prevent it % Of households reporting water is accessible in the house in the morning to mix feed
EXAMPLE Output Indicators: # Of training sessions held on causes and prevention of colic # Of women carers and girls and boys attended training on causes and prevention of colic
Example 1
Example of Completed Behaviour Change Planning Table
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3 (*see instructions below)
STEP 4
STEP 5
What behaviour/ action is being promoted by the project and what are the animal welfare issue(s) it is expected to address?
Who is the target group (who is expected to adopt this change)?
What needs to change for target groups(s) to be able adopt desired behaviours/improve animal welfare? (e.g. in terms of COM-B/barriers to behaviour change)
What do project activities need to achieve to address what needs to change? (e.g. Increase/ decrease/ improve / reduce…. + …perception …ability (knowledge / skills) …availability of / access to…)
What activities will be undertaken by the project to achieve these desired changes?
EXAMPLE: Owners’ guiding donkeys using verbal and body communication whenever donkeys are required to move.
EXAMPLE: Urban donkey cart drivers in Kenya
EXAMPLE: Urban donkey cart drivers not aware of alternative positive methods of communication with donkeys which does not involve a whipping (C-Ps).
Urban donkey cart drivers lack skills to effectively communicate with the donkeys using body language (C Ph).
EXAMPLE: Increase urban donkey owning cart driver’s awareness of alternative methods of communication which do not involve whipping.
Increase urban donkey owning cart driver’s ability to use verbal or body language to communicate with the donkeys and train donkeys to respond with desired behaviours without using a whip.
EXAMPLE: · Conduct awareness sessions for Urban donkey cart drivers · Animal welfare experts conduct alternative guiding methods training sessions · Coach and mentor owners to practice new guiding method skills they are trained on in classroom and in real life setting
STEP 6
EXAMPLE Outcome Indicators:
# Of Urban donkey cart drivers in Kenya reporting that they use alternative guiding (verbal and body communication)
% Donkeys in urban areas in Kenya with improved body score condition.
EXAMPLE Output Indicators:
# Of training/mentoring sessions held on alternative guiding communication with Urban donkey cart drivers
Example 2
* For STEP 3: List what needs to change for desired results of project in terms of the following COM-B components, labelling each need accordingly (e.g. C-ph, M-Au)
Physical capability (C-ph) – physical skills, strength, or stamina
Psychological capability (C-ps) – knowledge, cognitive and interpersonal skills, memory, attention, decision making processes, behavioural regulation
Physical opportunity (O-ph) – physical environment and resources
Social opportunity (O-so) – social influences
Reflective motivation (M-Re) – beliefs (e.g. about capabilities, consequences), optimism, intentions, social/professional roles and identify
![Figure 22: Example of a personal frame of reference that can shape a person’s behaviour
(Adapted from [18])](http://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A13-Window-Complete.png)
![Figure 23: COM-B Model/System of Behaviour (adapted from [21])](http://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A15-Model-Complete-4.png)
![Figure 24: Behaviour Change Wheel
(adapted from [21])](http://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A16-Focus-Wheel-Complete-1.png)
![Table 1: COM-B Components Linked to Behaviour Change Wheel Intervention Functions
(adapted from: [21, 25])](http://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/A17-Table-Complete.png)
