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10a. Overview of Useful Information to Collect During Initiation Phase
10b. Example Focus Group Discussion Questions Supporting Initiation Phase Assessments
Introduction
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
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Needs Analysis, Gender Analysis
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 Potential Supporting PLA tools: T4 Daily Activity Schedule Potential Supporting Facilitator Resources: 10b. Example Focus Group Discussion Questions Supporting Initiation Phase Assessments |
| 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. | In depth focus group discussions, survey Potential Supporting Facilitator Resources: 10b. Example Focus Group Discussion Questions Supporting Initiation Phase Assessments |
| 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 Supporting PLA Tools: T5 Gender Roles and Responsibilities Supporting Facilitator Resources: 10b. Example Focus Group Discussion Questions Supporting Initiation Phase Assessments |
| 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 Potential Supporting Facilitator Resources: 10b. Example Focus Group Discussion Questions Supporting Initiation Phase Assessments |
| 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. | In depth focus group discussions Supporting PLA Tools: T1 Mapping, T3b Venn diagram – social network Potential Supporting Tools and Resources: 10b. Example Focus Group Discussion Questions Supporting Initiation Phase Assessments |
| Community Dynamics: what are different 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 understand intersectionality, 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. Supporting PLA Tools: T11a Changing Trend Analysis |
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?
Tool adapted from [128]