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
This facilitator resource provides example templates that community-based organisations can adapt to support their governance and promotion of minimum standards required for operating as community organisations.
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Documentation and Reporting
Specific Topics: Group Formation / Strengthening
15a: Components of Community-based Organization Constitution
The components of a community-based organisation (CBO) constitution you may wish to consider including are listed below. If seeking formal recognition of CBO designation my local authorities/governments, it is important to understand the legal requirements for CBO constitutions ensure any constitution developed meets these legal requirements.
Name of Community Based Organisation (CBO)
Purpose of the CBO Constitution
Objectives of the CBO
Area of Operation
Applicable Legislation to the CBO Constitution
Members of the CBO
Composition of the CBO
Annual General Meetings
General Meetings
Resolutions, Voting and Powers at Annual and General Meetings
Procedure to be followed at CBO Meetings
Finances of the CBO
Powers and Authorities of the CBO including the power to
Call General Meetings
Acquire property and Assets
Manage finances and Fundraising
Engage in contracts and Partnerships
Employ Staff
Duties and Obligations of the CBO
Indemnity - security or protection against a loss or other financial burden
CBO Discretion- Having the freedom to decide how things should be done
Signatures- the action of signing a document as a sign of agreement or being bound by what is in the document.
Legal Personality- In law, a legal person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter contracts, sue, and be sued, own property, and so on.
Amendment of the Constitution and Dissolution of the CBO
Dispute Resolution
Termination
Annex 1: List of Members of the CBO
Annex 2: Mandate from the Community (formal agreement from community authorities/members that CBO represents their community interests in the agreed upon area(s) of interest)
15b: Community-based Organization Group Maturation Checklist
The checklist below is an example checklist of common indicators a community-based group has reached maturation and is well-functioning. Community facilitators are encouraged to use or adapt this checklist to their local context and needs.
Group Maturation Indicator
Rating out of ten
1
Does the group hold regular meetings according to its constitution
2
Attendance of the group meetings (is it 70% and above)
3
Active participation of members in group activities (such as savings)
4
Does the group have a constitution (and is it fully, or partially implemented) Having a constitution (5 points), Full implementation (5 points)
5
Group governance structures are functional
6
The group keeps its records well, (both program-activity and financial records)
7
All decisions made by most group members in accordance with the constitution
8
All members share in the goals and objectives of the group
9
Group members undertake regular development (or skill upgrading programs)
10
Group members composition is sensitive to gender, and other marginalized groups
Total
100
15c: Community-based Organization Group Record Keeping Templates
Group Membership Register
The below is a sample of group memberships register (that can be adapted to accommodate different group’s needs). The template below is for purposes of providing an example only and should not be wholly adopted.
Date of registration
Full Name
Identification document number
Address
Remarks- Paid up membership
Community/Group Meeting Minute Template/Content
Meeting Minutes “Minutes are the notes taken whenever a group meets. The Secretary of the group is usually responsible for writing these minutes. The minutes should include:
The date of the meeting
The place for the meeting (for example, a health centre or school)
The title or purpose of the meeting or activities
The agenda of the meeting
The names of members present, as well as those absent
What was talked about
What decisions were taken, who will be responsible for carrying out the decision, and by what date
What will be done in the future as follow-up
Meeting Attendance Record Template
Date of the meeting.
Agenda of the meeting
List of attendances – as provided in the table below.
No
Name
Identification document number
Signature or thumb print
Meeting discussions.
Agenda
Deliberations
Action points (who, what when)
Group Financial Record Keeping Template Content
A sample financial record template is provided below; it is not exhaustive as several templates maybe required for group financial record keeping.
This is a simple community visit record template for change agents (or staff), to support them with documenting their work. The template captures key insights and observations, progress, challenges, and follow-up actions. The intention is to enable community change agents to easily record and track the projects. These templates are samples and they can be adapted to fit your context.
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach, Societal Outreach and Campaigns Approach
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Documentation and Reporting
Specific Topics: Community Change Agents
Community meeting discussion notes should include the following suggested report structure. This can be further adapted depending on the need. Depending on the literacy level of community change agents, these contents can also be captured in audio or audio visual mechanisms.
Introduction
Background
Objective of the meeting/visit
Name, number and Composition of participants (gender – males/females participants)
Name of Community change agent(s) or Staff member who visited
Date and venue of the visit
Was it a home to home visit or a group visit or event (The place of visit/engagement (for example, a health centre or school, etc.)?)
Process and Approach
Methods used to actively engage participants (ensuring men’s and women’s active participation)
Participatory/C4A Tools used (if any)
Key Discussion Points and Actions
Emerging themes from the conversations
What decisions were taken, who will be responsible for carrying out the decision, and by what date?
Future as follow-up actions
Summary Action points documented by visiting Community Change Agent or Staff member
Key discussion Points
Action points by community members
Action points by the change agent/Brooke (follow up)
Observations and key reflections by visiting Community change agent or staff member(s)
Did the place and time work well for the conversations? Why/why not?
What went well? What did not go so well? Why? How can this be improved?
Any notable story of change that require follow up or documentation by Brooke/Partner
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Engagement Approach
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Documentation and Reporting
Specific Topics: Community Change Agents
It is important for the community change agent to plan beforehand when going to the community. This provides them with the framework to effectively engage the community and document the process, while also indicating the action points for future follow ups. The table below is an example of a template that the community change agents can prepare beforehand when going to the community. One of the roles of the community change agents is to organize the community. The process of organizing the community entails.
Step 1: Mobilizing and orienting the community
Step 2: Building the relationships, trust, credibility, and a sense of ownership with the community through planning.
Step 3: Inviting the community to fully participate
Then, in step 4: Form the community action group (CAG).
The table matrix below can be used to plan for community mobilization by the community change agents.
Date
Venue
Activity
Objectives
Resources required
Responsible person
Indicators
After community mobilization, the change agents need to plan with the community orientation/engagement process. The table below can provide a guide on how the community change agents can plan for the community engagement/orientation process in advance.
Community planning
The goal of the community planning__________________
OBJECTIVES
BARRIERS/ OPPORTUNITIES
STRATEGIES
ACTIVITIES
PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE
RESOURCES
TIMELINE
INDICATORS OFSUCCESS
What do we want to achieve specifically related to the animal welfare issue
What challenge do we think we will face in trying to achieve this result?
How are we going to achieve our goal?
What are we going to do to achieve the result?(Activities)
Who is responsible for each activity (ADD HERE NAMES OF PERSON[S])
What resources do we need to achieve the result?
When? How long is needed for each activity?(From____ to_____)
How will we know when we have achieved the result?(Measurable, observable outcomes)
At a personal level, the community change agents can use the below template (adopt as necessary) to plan for their activities, either in the community or at the household level.
Project Phase: Planning Phase, Implementation Phase, Exit and Evaluation Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach
Stages of Behaviour Change: Preparation Stage, Action Stage, Maintenance Stage
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Documentation and Reporting
Specific Topics: Group Formation/Strengthening
The community will go through a process of identifying the different animal welfare issues, prioritizing them, and using the template provided below to document the results of their reflections and decisions.
Facilitation Notes:
The table can be filled after
· After communities identify and ranked them in order of importance, pick the prioritized animal welfare issue. Document the identified major root causes and let them discuss and identify the actions/behaviours or solutions. Such actions need to be owned by the community members to tackle them at community/group level or at each group member’s household level. Ensure appropriate participatory process of exploration, learning and reflection takes place before coming into agreement and developing/populating the community action plan. The developed action plan needs to be monitored, and members should be encouraged to be accountable and also express challenges they encountered.
It is important to note that some of the proposed actions may have been tried out previously by the equine owners with minimal or no success, hence the facilitator should probe further to ensure participants reflect through any previous actions and what was the gap and settle on the actions with greater chances of realising the changes anticipated.
· This document will serve as a living document to plan action as well as to continue to re-prioritize actions to be taken by the group on their own or in conjunction with other external stakeholders that will support them to execute the actions they have identified. It is thus important for facilitator’s to frequently remind community members to review developed action plans and report back or adapt them based on emerging needs and changes.
· *one prioritized issue can have more than one action; so add rows to identify and each action can be monitored by different stakeholders and have different success indicators
· * Actions – could include a specific behaviour/actions they agreed to take individually and/or collectively.
· *frequency could include community members checking/supporting each other as part of peer support to provide practical or/and emotional support to one another
· Timeline – when the identified action is done and when it needs to be reported
· *who is responsible is taking the action and they need to report back when the group meets again/in the group meetings; this could also be used as a behaviour change technique of monitoring each other’s practice of a desired behaviour
This resource includes three example trackers you may wish to use to support your work. These are designed for community engagement staff, as a way to record key discussions from community visits, track progress, and capture outcomes. Using trackers will help you to:
Be accountable to the communities you work with
Provide the support requested by communities during your visits
Keep track of actions and ensure that they are completed on time
Evidence progress and requests for further support from your organisation or potential partner organisations
Report to donors more easily
Each of these trackers are suggestions only, and should be adapted and used as is appropriate for your team and context. It may not be appropriate or required to use some of these trackers for all projects so you can pick and choose as is helpful for your work.
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach, Community Engagement Approach, Societal Outreach and Campaigns Approach
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Documentation and Reporting
1. Team Action Tracker
The Team Action Tracker keeps a record of actions to be taken by staff/partner staff teams to support identified animal welfare issues. The tracker is informed by PLA activities and directly supports the community action plan.
The tracker should be populated and updated by community engagement staff. It helps to track which animal welfare issues were identified, using which PLA tools, and captures the follow up actions to be taken by the team to both support the community action plan.
Invite a vet to sensitize on colic (1st priority) during next community meeting.
2. Project/Regional Action Tracker
The Project/Regional Action Tracker is designed to collate information from across communities to inform project/regional planning. Information included within the tracker is populated with information taken from PLA activities and community action plans from within the project/regional operational area. The Project/Regional Action Tracker can support with identifying the scale of different issues, tracking different actions/strategies planned, and recording ideas for actions to take/improvement which should be further explored. The goal is to help teams keep track of outcomes of activities with communities for greater strategic coordination and support for planning and development of projects. The utility of this resource will depend on the scale of the project/programme and may not be needed in all project contexts.
Animal Welfare Issue
Regions & communities where issues was identified as priority
Key actions / strategies to take
Person responsible
Timeline / Deadline
Additional actions / Ideas for improvement
Status / Update
Feeding
Halaba: 17 communities
Regional training on proper feeding practices scheduled for 30th May 2019
Drought (water shortage)
Dodola: 14 communities
· Speaking to WaterAid about opportunities to link communities with water savings programmes
3. Staff Action Tracker
The Staff Action Tracker is designed to support community engagement staff to document their community visits, activities, and action points for follow up.
Staff Name: Community/site:
Visit/ Meeting Date
Number of participants and equines targeted
Community engagement activities Key topics/issues discussed (incl. follow up on progress of action points/results identified in previous meeting/visit)
Identified action points and results expected to be achieved by community Persons responsible + expected achievement date
Identified actions for staff Person responsible + expected achievement date
Action point: 1. Sensitization on hoof care & possible handling for women 2. Follow up on how sharing of stable cleaning activities are going Staff responsible: Expected achievement date:
07/06/2019
# Participants: 10
# Equines:
T15 Cost-benefit analysis – not over-loading · Implementation costs · Cost on animal · Cost on HH if adopted or not · Benefits of mixed feed
Action point/result expected: 1. Reduce from 10 quantal/3 trips to 8 quantal/4 trips 2. Buy wheat bran in bulk to reduce cost (10 birr to 8.6 birr / kg) 3. Focus on balance loading Person responsible: Fanos & Azamach Expected achievement date: Meet to discuss in one week
Action point: 1. Check with animal welfare team that reduction in amount over more trips is good welfare 2. Make plan to collect money for bulk purchase of feed 3. Support selection of money managers 4. Provide support/training on cart balancing & feed mixing 5. Sensitizing shop keeper about over-loading 6. Identify feed sellers who are willing to sell in bulk for reduced cost 7. Revisit for support planning in 15 days Staff responsible: Expected achievement date:
07/06/2019
# Participants:
# Equines:
T14 Group inter-loaning
Action point/result expected: 1. Carry out activity in smaller groups
Action point: 1. Evaluate seed money strategy – focus seed money on direct equine-benefited activities
07/06/2019
# Participants: 10
# Equines?
T15 Cost-benefit analysis – not over-loading: · Implementation costs · Cost on animal · Cost on HH if adopted or not · Benefits of mixed feed
Action point/result expected: 4. Reduce from 10 quantal/3 trips to 8 quantal/4 trips 5. Buy wheat bran in bulk to reduce cost (10 birr to 8.6 birr / kg) 6. Focus on balance loading
Person responsible: Fanos & Azamach
Expected achievement date: Meet to discuss in one week
Action point: 1. Check with animal welfare technical support staff to evaluate potential welfare implications of community’s proposed action. 2. Revisit for support planning in 15 days
Staff responsible: TBD, consult with AHM and UK AW team
This community action planning tool supports communities in developing actions to address their priority animal welfare issues and has been adapted from Community conversation on animal welfare: A guide to facilitators [71]. This tool can be informed by outcomes from other tools such as:
Once animal welfare issues are prioritised, this tool can be used to facilitate discussions with community members to identify strategies and actions to address priority animal welfare issues, and help them identify knowledge, skills, and/or resource they required to enable them to take action to improve their animals’ welfare.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• Support community to reflect on their identified priority animals’ welfare issues and identify actions they can take to address them. • Identify the knowledge, skills and resources communities need to take action to improve their animals’ welfare.
1.5 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper, note cards, markers, or other locally available resources, pre-printed pictures, or visual aids of priority animal welfare issues (optional), pre-printed pictures or visual aids on improved animal welfare practices relevant to identified animal welfare issues (optional).
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Engagement Approach; Community Development Approach
Stages of Change: Preparation Stage, Action Stage
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Documentation and Reporting
Specific Topics: Animal Husbandry and Management; Animal Handling; Animal Welfare, Feelings and Needs; Animal Health and Services Community Change Agents
Community Animal Welfare Action Plan
Table T34 below shows an example of a community welfare action plan developed to address priority animal welfare issues identified through discussions using T33: Community Animal Welfare Needs Analysis.
Priority Animal Welfare Issues
Actions to be Taken (Household and / or community level)
ExpectedChanges /Indicators of Success
Resources / Support Required to implement planned actions
Who Monitors / When?
Feed shortage
Community grow fodder for donkeys
Owners then feed the donkeys the recommended portions as needed throughout the day (as donkeys do not feed a lot at once)
Improved donkey health indicators: • Increased feed volume available • Feed available in all seasons • Improved body score condition • Happy and productive animals
Fodder production requires seeds.
Training on fodder production and storage
Improved understanding of donkey feeding best practices e.g. what types of feed, when/frequency of feeding, and how much to feed
Owners do the monitoring monthly
Animal welfare team assessing body score condition quarterly
No access to veterinary services (for preventative treatment and prevention)
Community mobilization based on scheduled vaccination/ deworming programs.
Owners supported by each other to seek veterinary services whenever their donkeys are sick.
Owners vaccinate donkeys on recommended schedule
Improved Health Indicators: • Reduced incidence of donkey’s sickness • Reduced time lost by owners due to animals being unable to work
Animal health providers have access to vaccinations.
Information on how to identify illness in donkeys and when they should not be worked
Owners assessing how their animal is feeling if it is sick or not daily, while ensuring that the animals are vaccinated yearly
Donkeys have access to water
Owners provide their donkeys with water at regular intervals during the day
Improved donkeys’ health indicators: • Improve body score condition/ health • Improve hydration
Access to safe drinking water for donkeys
Daily monitoring of donkeys status, if its thirsty or okay by the owners.
Table T34a: Example of Completed Community Animal Welfare Action Plan
Work with the community to rank 2-3 of the most important issues one by one. T8 Pairwise Ranking and Scoringor T9 Matrix Ranking and Scoring can be used to support identification of priorities, or results from these activities may be used if previously conducted.
You can prompt the discussion with prep-prepared outreach materials if you have developed them to discuss possible actions for improvement and benefits of acting. An example is provided in figure T34(a) of how to go about manging wounds that you can refer to develop any other animal welfare issues you need to help the community to plan to address (refer to the steps for cleaning wounds in figure T34a as an example).
Step 2
Hand out the pre-prepared outreach materials (pictures or illustrations), illustrating the selected priority animal welfare issues, and ask community members to discuss them. Ask: what do you think about and what feelings do you have when you think about taking steps to improving these animal welfare issues? If communities struggle to answer this, you can use the steps below to prompt this conversation if helpful:
• Step 1 - Observe: Look at the animal shown and identify the welfare issue it is facing. (For example, the image illustrates an animal with wounds.) • Step 2 – Question: Ask yourself, what could an animal in that condition be feeling or experiencing? (E.g. Anxiety, confusion, struggle, pain, distress.) • Step 3 – Reflect: What do you think needs to be done to address the animal welfare issue shown? Do you currently have all the things you need to address the welfare issue? Do you need assistance in sourcing something to help address this animal welfare issue from somewhere else? • Step 4 – Discuss action: What could you try doing to address this animal welfare issue? (Such as cleaning the wounds using the available material within the household, such as salt and water). If these actions turn out to be successful – great. If they don’t – you will reflect and adjust the plan.
If you have prepared outreach materials on solutions to the animal welfare issues in advance, hand them out and discuss them for consideration (refer to the example on Figure T34a on wound management).
Step 3
Ask community members to share what they would do to manage the wound issues in step one in their animals. Or you can remind participants of the first prioritised animal welfare issue from the ranking exercise the community previously completed duringT33: Community Animal Welfare Needs Analysis .
Ask community members to share what they could do to address/respond to this priority animal welfare issue. Probing questions to guide this conversation include:
• Is there someone in the community who already responds to this animal welfare issue well? What do they do, to do this well? • What can be done at the household and community level to respond to this animal welfare issue? • What are the challenges that people face to solve this issue? • What are the benefits of acting on this animal welfare issue? • What are the potential costs or constraints to acting on this animal welfare issue?
Make notes of responses onto flipchart paper. Repeat Step 3 for each of the priority animal welfare issues previously identified by the community
Step 4
Use community reflections from Step 3 as prompts to facilitate completion of a community animal welfare action plan. Facilitate a discussion to identify the following key elements:
• Which prioritised animal welfare issues are community members committed to addressing at this point in time? (Not every animal welfare issue needs to make it onto the community action plan, if community members are not committed to addressing it yet). • What are the actions they realistically commit to taking (at both household and community level) to respond to the selected animal welfare issues? • What are the expected changes (indicators of success) that the community would like to see from their actions? • What resources and support do they require to implement these actions? • How/who will monitor whether these actions have been taken and when?
Document the plan into the community animal welfare action plan table (see example in Table T34a). Ensure that the community are left with copies of the plan in a language/format appropriate and requested by them. Finally, record the community discussions and their agreed actions into your Project Action Tracker
Facilitator's Notes
Ensure that as a minimum the following key elements of a community animal welfare plan are agreed by the community during this exercise, using participatory and gender aware facilitation:
What are the priority animal welfare issues community members are committed to addressing? E.g. some priority issues might have been identified, but there isn’t true commitment from the community yet for addressing these.
What are the actions that participants can realistically commit to taking (at both household level and community/group level) to address selected priority issues?
What are the expected changes/indicators of success of their actions?
What resources and support to they require to implement these actions?
How/who will monitor whether these actions have been taken and when? Be realistic.
Communities will likely require further support and input from you/other organisations in order to implement their action plans. It is vitally important that during the community action planning session you are clear with community participants about what it is realistic and appropriate for you and other organisations to provide, and that you ensure these provisions are sustainable. If a request doesn’t fit these requirements, explain this to the participants and help them to develop a more suitable request.
Next Steps
To support community members in implementing their action plans, it will be important to resources and support identified by community members as needed to implement their action plan are secured, and you may need to consider holding meetings with other relevant stakeholder e.g., local government officials, animal health and resource providers to secure their support as needed.
Community Score Card is a widely used citizen’s led accountability tool. It is a highly participatory tool that allows community members and the service providers or local government agents who have a duty to provide services to collaboratively assess the quality of service provision. There are various services animal owning communities may rely on to support them in meeting their animals’ welfare needs, including: animal health services, equipment makers, feed sellers, extension agents etc. This tool can be used to promote constructive dialogue and joint action amongst communities and respective service providers to improve services important to meeting animals’ welfare needs. The tool is designed to be used with a specific service provider and one issue at a time so as to enable meaningful discussion and action.
This tool can be used to further support discussions about animal service and resource providers including as a follow-up to activities such as: T1A: Mapping Resources and Services, T3A. Local Animal Service Provider Venn Diagram, and T9 Matrix ranking & scoring, or T9B Matrix Ranking and Scoring of Animal Service Providers. Through these activities, community members will have identified the local animal health or resource service providers they rely on, discussed their satisfaction or preferences, as well as identified criteria they use to judge their local service providers competence and/or satisfaction with services which can provide a useful foundation for informing use of this tool. In addition, if you conducted T5: Gender Roles and Responsibilities, referring to this may help you develop discussion questions and facilitate discussion amongst community members about different opportunities and constraints faced by men and women in their interaction with different local service providers.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• Identify gaps and levels of satisfaction in local animal service provision in terms service quality, availability, affordability, accessibility and adaptability • Promote shared understanding amongst community members and local service providers of common issues and solutions related to service provision and use • Improve accountability and motivation to improve animal service provision and use amongst local animal service providers and community members. • Support identification of indicators for assessing service quality and user satisfaction, and participatory monitoring of local animal health service quality and improvements. • Improve dialogue, feedback, and collaborative working between local animal service providers and communities,
2 hours for community scoring; 2 hours for local service providers self-evaluation scoring; 2 hours for a joint interface meeting. Time may be shortened to 4 hours if the community scoring and local service provider self-evaluation scoring is conducted simultaneously
Materials needed:
Chart paper, coloured sticker dots and/or coloured markers, coloured index cards or sticky notes, meeting halls to post papers for scoring.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Planning, Implementation, Exit and Evaluation
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Behaviour Change Diagnosis and Planning
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Monitoring and Evaluation, Documentation and Reporting
Specific Topics: Animal Health and Services
Community Scorecard Process
As this tool is about a service provider and the animal owning communities who are using such services, it is important to properly layout the process with adequate care to have a negotiated and empowering results both for animal owning communities and the service providers. Focusing on one service provider at a time removes confusion and to properly identify gaps and recommendations.
Some of these processes can be done simultaneously. The community scoring, the service providers own scoring and the joint interface meeting between the animal owning communities and respective service providers can each take 1.5 to 2hrs. It can be scheduled all in one day or can be done in consecutive days. If you have enough facilitators the animal owning scoring and the service providers scoring can be done simultaneously giving enough time for both facilitators to have a reflection time in between to help them frame the agenda and leading the interface meeting.
If you want to find the views of vulnerable members of the community, you can hold separate sessions with them. So you can make any number of animal owning communities scoring separately and bring the scores together for the interface meetings. (E.g. you can have a women only, youth only, or a specified community group members’ organization, etc.) The essence is to help you understand the perception and the real barriers for them in relation to their lived experience with the LSPs and the kind of services they provide including how they interact with them.
Figure T35: Community Score card processes adapted from [90]
Community Score Card Process
Step 1
Plan and Preparation The first step is to do the preparatory work to the community score card process for the identified service.
Input tracking and planning the process. This includes who gets to be part of this process (identifying key stakeholders from both community and service providers side) and make logistical arrangements like meeting halls, scoring materials, scheduling for the meeting; and allocating separate rooms if the community scoring and the service providers scorings are going to take simultaneously.
When identifying community members that will participate, organizers need to ensure that vulnerable community members understand the community score card process; and enable them to understand and encourage their participation. It is critical to take into consideration that different segments of the community participate and an enabling environment is created for them to share their views in a safe space whereby each of their individual views and scores are taken into consideration, and their experiences valued. At times, depending on the context and the culture as well as preference by the vulnerable groups, separate sessions could be organized for them to do the community scoring. If separate meeting halls or times need to be set up for women and men groups, ensure this is already planned and agreed with the community or have an additional conducive meeting hall/space for both meetings.
To ensure community participation, it is important to create an enabling space and demystify fears around participation for fear of retaliation by service providers and/or local government bodies.
Step 2
Mobilizing community, developing the performance scorecard and scoring
Start by explaining the purpose and process of the exercise and then ask participants (from the community members) to identify the parameters of good quality service (depending on the animal welfare local service identified to be focused on).
This must be an empowering process for communities. Therefore before the actual scoring, it is important to have preparatory sessions with communities by providing appropriate information about the purpose of undertaking community score card, their rights and expectations from the service providers; and the roles and responsibilities of the service provider that is in focus. The discussion needs to be focused on the connection between the service provision and why lack of or limitation in the identified service exacerbates the animal welfare issue; and what quality service looks like and how it will benefit them in addressing animal welfare problems/issues. This is to help them to be focused on the service provider and the quality of service that is relevant to address the animal welfare problem. It is important to have a properly facilitated session to enable them to share their expectation of the kind of quality, affordable service and their satisfaction as clients who own equines.
Limiting Indicators and Prioritizing among them: It helps to have a limited set of indicators that represent the different aspects of quality service. In case that more indicators are suggested, it is important to try to categorize them and create an understanding on the amended indicator. If coming to amending them is not possible, then it might be good to prioritize which criteria to use depending on the issue at hand. Either way, it is important to note the discussions generated during such discussions.
As the literacy level of community members could be mixed, it is important that you be prepared to provide support to them by reading it for them and reminding them what the scoring rates are (whether using smiley faces, or using rating scales in a way they can understand). The scoring should be properly explained and repeated to community members when each of them come to do the scoring so that there is a clear understanding on that among all. Facilitators need to have locally made scoring materials (beads, beans, etc.) or cut out some sticky materials (e.g. dots, etc.) - enough for all participants to score per each identified scoring criteria, and with clear scoring definitions. If such materials are not available or if writing on flipchart is easier, then it is important to do each of the members' scoring and write it down immediately.
Once the individual scoring by each community member is done, discuss among them the potential reasons/justifications for such scoring. Based on the scoring and the discussion, prioritize issues that are pertinent to them, and the kind of solutions they are proposing. The prioritization will help if and when the scoring by the service providers list is different and if the need to narrow down to a maximum of 10 indicators are going to be the focus for the joint action planning, then it will help you to easily identify and take the first top 5 issues for the joint meeting. Include these proposed recommendations for each of the issues, or put them in a separate sheet whereby you will be able to easily refer to/use them during the interface meeting.
Step 3
Developing and scoring the self-evaluation scorecard by respective service provider
It is best practice to focus on a single service provider to make the discussion and scoring more focused. Start by explaining the purpose and process of the exercise and then ask participants who are service providers to identify the parameters of good quality service (depending on the animal welfare local service you have identified to focus on). It is ideal if the facilitator knows and has overall understanding regarding the role of the service providers regarding equine welfare needs, the legal/policy and implementation frameworks that guide the kinds of service the service provider need to provide and the equine owning community’s main concerns regarding the service.
Before jumping into indicator selection by the service provider participants, it is good to brainstorm first on their overall roles and responsibilities to shape the discussion and the indicator selection to focus on their type and quality of service provision. (E.g. is it only to do treatment or are they mandated to provide education or follow up etc. as part of their role, etc.) Such discussion will help to make the discussion and the scoring comprehensive as much as possible.
It is ideal if the facilitator that leads this process needs to have an overall understanding of the service providers’ roles in the animal welfare improvement and the kind of services they provide,
It is good to create an understanding with the service providers (whether they are public/government or private service providers) on the reason for doing and process of community score card. It is good to reiterate that it is to create a smooth interaction for joint action and monitoring of progress with their stakeholders, who are equine owning communities. The discussion should not result in making them feel cornered or be defensive; rather this process needs to also be empowering for the individual service providers. If there are female service providers, ensure that their views and challenges in discharging their roles to provide quality service is also captured during the indicator identification, scoring and recommendation generation.
Depending on the literacy levels of the service providers, it is suggested that facilitators have alternative scoring materials available to accommodate literacy levels as needed (beads, beans, etc.), or have some stickers or similar materials (e.g. dots, sticky notes etc.) in sufficient quantities to support scoring of all identified criteria by all participants. Facilitator may need to read the scoring criteria out loud during the scoring process depending on participant literacy levels.
Once the individual scoring by each community member is done, discuss among them the potential reasons/justifications for such scoring. Based on the scoring and the discussion, prioritize issues that are pertinent to them, and the kind of solutions they are proposing. Include these proposed recommendations for each of the issues, or put them in a separate sheet whereby you will be able to easily refer to/use during the interface meeting.
Step 4
Interface meeting to develop action plan
Ensure that you have ample space to accommodate both community and service providers, and that it is a safe place for all to be. Facilitator(s) need to go through the indicators and scorings, with the commonality and the unique indicators identified by respective groups, the level of score, the prioritized issues and the recommendations before the meeting to structure the meeting with a feedforward mentality.
Start the discussion by reiterating the purpose of doing the score card and the need for this interface meeting. As one of the purposes is to create a shared understanding among community and service providers for a consultative dialogue to generate joint recommendations and action plans, set the meeting tone with that. Display the scoring of both groups so that each of them see the indicators they have identified and the scores they have provided.
Start with a brainstorming session and explore and focus on the common themes to start the discussion. The spirit of the discussion is to get to a common understanding and focus on what can be done in the future. Hence, ensure that both groups present their findings and why they think the issues they have identified are critical. Through the discussions, ensure there is no blame game rather an understanding on the constraints both communities and service providers face, and frame the issues for them to tackle together.
Next write down the prioritized and consensus reached issues/problems to be tackled jointly or separately but will be monitored together. If consensus cannot be reached, it is good to give individual participants a chance to identify what is a priority for them through scoring on the key issue that is important for them. Ensure that illiterate participants’ interests are catered for as stated in step 2 and 3 above.
Once the issues are prioritized, use the below template/table to document the discussion. As much as possible ensure that the issues identified by equine owning communities and the service providers are captured and joint solutions are sought for them. Indicate who the responsible groups are to champion/lead on prioritized issues to be tackled and try to outline clear steps/actions and when that can be delivered.
Step 5
Implementation and Monitoring of Recommended Actions
Once an agreed action plan is drawn, it is good to show commitment to follow up on the agreed action points. As some of the action plans might need the two groups to work within their own constituencies (e.g. equine owning communities might need to work in their groups, or service providers might need to do an internal budgeting/planning, customer service training to their service provider members, etc.), try to ensure that they follow through their respective action plans as well as help them monitor their joint and constituency-based action plans progress together as a joint taskforce. The purpose of this step is to ensure that agreed joint action plans are implemented and monitored together to improve the service provision as well as bridge the understanding/expectations of equine owners’ on the quality of service.
As part of monitoring, once the agreed action plans have been undertaken, it is possible to do another round of scoring to assess the progress from the initial scoring. Following this is equally important to this is also to celebrate successes as well as organize a similar process of community score card if issues identified are addressed and/or if there are still constraints that need to be further dealt with. The initial and the follow up scorings need to be documented to show progress, stagnation or regress on the quality of service. Moreover, the plenary reflections and the action plans notes need to also be captured and distributed to the equine owning community/groups, the service providers and the joint taskforce (if a separate entity is formed) for their records, future reference and/or action planning. Add a copy to your Project Action Tracker and Community Action Plan Template note on quality of service provision and the services rendered by service providers.
Facilitator's Notes
It is your responsibility as a facilitator to ensure adequate understanding is created among all involved stakeholders about the purpose, process and spirit of this tool in advance. (It is to facilitate conversations rather than shifting blame and pointing fingers)..
It is recommended this activity be administered by a trained community facilitator to ensure discussions result in agreement on joint action plans.
This tool is not only about capturing results, but rather is a process orientated approach that empowers communities, facilitates conversations and dialogue between communities and service providers.
It is important to ensure vulnerable and excluded members of the community are aware of the process and how it will help them to voice their concerns when it comes to being able to access, afford and enjoy quality service provision without explicit or tacit discrimination.
Depending on the issue at hand and the time and convenience of setting the meetings, discussion with the community and discussion among service providers can take place simultaneously before the joint session. However, if the community, service providers are done separately it is recommended there be a time gap in scheduling before reconvening for the joint session. This will enable facilitators to summarize points and identify potential sticky and tricky areas for joint reflection and recommendations for potential actions for consideration during the joint session.
It is useful to examine perceptions of animal-related resource 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 could ask probing questions when indicators are identified by animal owning communities as well as during the local service providers own self-scoring to encourage people to think about how the identified indicator relates to the local service provider and animal welfare.
Facilitators should not control or insert their ideas into the community or service provider assessment or scoring process, but rather facilitate the process so that people feel free to do their individual scoring. In contexts with participant illiteracy or where assistance is required, facilitators can provide support by reiterating the assessment criteria to use when it is time for them to do their scoring.
Next Steps
Information on resource and service provider gaps identified using this tool if conducted during the initiation or planning phase of a project, can be helpful to refer to during community action planning discussions.
