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.
A credit analysis examines existing sources of income, expenditure and credit. This motivational tool is primarily used during planning to generate interest in establishing a self-help or savings group to promote collective action. If group savings is not appropriate or part of the local culture, this tool is great for promoting the benefits of collective action to reduce common expenditures, such as animal feed or veterinary treatments.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To generate interest in establishing a self-help group through collective regular savings and loaning activities. • To identify the coping strategies undertaken to meet household and animal needs. • To understand the advantages and disadvantages of credit sources and their impacts on animal welfare and people’s livelihoods. • To identify opportunities for collective action to reduce common community-wide expenditures. • To support a gender analysis during a participatory needs assessment to identify perceived differences in income, expenditure and credit between men and women.
1.5 - 2 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper, cards & pens, or coloured chalk and other local resources that represent each source of income, expenditure and credit.
Specific Topics: Livelihoods, Group Formation / Strengthening
Income, expenditure & credit analysis
Figure T13 Analysis of income, expenditure and credit by animal owners
The figure above (T13) shows an income, expenditure and credit analysis carried out by members of animal-owning households in a community. In this example, participants were asked to allocate an estimated annual amount per household for each source of income and expenditure. They also identified where they were able to find credit when income is less than expenditure.
The diagram illustrates:
Most animal owners earn their main income through work with their animals using plough and traction ($800).
Additional income comes from agricultural labour ($500), selling animals ($400), manual labour ($100) and selling eggs ($50).
The major household expenditures are household medical treatment and health care ($700), animal feed and fodder ($600), human food ($500) and animal health treatments ($500).
Other household expenses include children’s education ($400), and animal’s equipment ($200) and alcohol and cigarettes ($150).
Many animal owners are dependent on credit from employers, the local money lender, relatives or the egg buyer.
The discussion during this exercise led the group to start their own savings fund in order to support their animal-related and household needs and reduce their dependency on high interest loans from money lenders.
Income, Expenditure and Credit Analysis
Step 1
Start by explaining the purpose of the activity and ask a community helper to draw a large triangle, either on the ground or on a large piece of chart paper. Label the left side ‘income’ and the right side ‘expenditure’. Draw arrows facing into the triangle for income and out of the triangle for expenditure (see figure T13).
Step 2
Ask participants about their various sources of annual household income. Encourage them to describe all the types, not only cash, but payments in kind (such as food, handmade goods, or other resources). Urge participants to recall both regular (daily, weekly, monthly) and seasonal income. If this activity is conducted by men and women separately, make sure that they include income from all family members. Have the helper write each source of income on individual cards using words or symbols and have participants align the cards along the outer left-hand side of the triangle.
Step 3
Have the group discuss and agree on their common major household expenditures, including animal-related expenditures. Remind them to include big items that might not be regular expenditures, such as household construction and renovations, gifts for family members and wedding expenses. Have the community helper write each source of expenditure on individual cards using words or symbols and ask participants to place the cards along the right-hand side of the triangle.
Step 4
Ask the participants to provide an estimated average annual amount for each source of income and have the helper add the amount to each card. Then, ask the group to provide an estimated average annual amount for each household expenditure and have the helper add the amount to each card.
Step 5
Total the average annual income with the participants and have the helper write it on the triangle in the bottom left-hand corner (below all the income source cards).
Total the average annual expenditure with the participants and have the helper write it on the triangle in the bottom right-hand corner (below all the expenditure cards) (see figure T13).
Step 6
Once income and expenditure have been totalled, compare the total average income with total average expenditure. If expenditures appear to be more than income, ask the participants what they do to cover the costs of expenditures that income does not cover. What do you do during a period of emergency or when unexpected costs arise (health care, gifts, ceremonies, etc.) to meet the needs of your households and animals? (Coping strategies)
Step 7
Ask participants to describe and list their various sources of credit. Have the helper write the credit sources on cards and place them along the bottom of the triangle (see figure T13).
Participants may identify reasons for selecting specific sources of credit, such as:
• ease of access • interest payments • loan repayment terms • threats and pressure (from family/friends) • the need for a guarantor • collateral and mortgage terms
Step 8
Once the triangle is complete, ask the group:
• How can you reduce common expenditures? • What are some potential collective action activities? • Why do you prefer one source of credit over another? • What are the negative implications of continuous borrowing on your own lives and your animals’? • Are there alternative options that would have less consequences or impacts?
Step 9
Record any actions the group agrees (e.g. establishing a self-help group, starting their own savings group, opportunities to take collective action to reduce expenditures) to the community action plan. For those interested in setting up a savings and/or self-help group, set a date and time to meet soon to ensure that interest is not lost.
Record actions to be taken by the team in your project action tracker and support the community by linking them to any necessary stakeholders.
Facilitator’s notes: Income, expenditure and credit analysis
The primary purpose of this tool is to generate interest in group formation. If you know that a savings/self-help group already exists, it might be more appropriate to use another tool such as T9 Matrix Ranking and Scoring (T9c credit matrix ranking and scoring) for group strengthening or T15 cost-benefit analysisto initiate collective action.
For some groups this might be a sensitive discussion. Trust is important between community members before they will have an open discussion on income, expenditure and credit, thus, it is essential to have a good understanding of the trust between participants before conducting this activity.
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 differences if time allows.
If it is not appropriate to conduct this activity with men and women together in the local context, or if it could prohibit participation and freedom of discussion, consider conducting this activity separately.
This tool may support gender analysis when conducted separately with men and women, by enabling communities to identify and compare differences in perceptions of sources of income, expenditure and credit, total estimated amounts of each and the advantages and disadvantages of each source of credit. The facilitator job is to help participants explore whythese differences exist, how they help or hinder them from meeting their own and their animals’ needs and identify actions to address the differences.
Next Steps
This tool is predominantly used for action planning. Consider following this activity up with another credit analysis tool, such as T9 Matrix Ranking and Scoring (T9c credit matrix ranking and scoring) for group strengthening or T15 Cost-Benefit Analysisto initiate collective action.
Once the group has identified potential for alternative credit options, follow up with them to see if they any require further support. This might include linking the group to other programmes, or guiding them to the appropriate organisations, agencies, schemes etc.
If the group has shown interest in forming a self-help or savings group for collective action, follow this activity up with a session on forming and sustaining a group. Do not let much time pass between this activity and the next meeting or else the community might lose the momentum and enthusiasm for forming a group.
If the community has only come up with sources of income, this might be an opportunity to explore other income generation activities with the group if there is interest.
This activity provides a visual representation of a savings and loaning groups’ overall status, including the reasons for lending or borrowing money between members of a savings and loaning group. The group’s savings fund or common contributions are lent (inter-loaned) for various purposes, such as buying animal feed, paying for service provision, equipment repair and maintenance, purchase of additional animals and other household needs. Reasons for taking loans may have been identified previously through tools such as T13 income, expenditure and credit analysis and may be reviewed in their community action plan if necessary.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To support a community savings group to understand their financial strength, status and potential for long-term sustainability of group savings and loaning activities. • To assess and/or monitor how group savings and loans are being used to improve animal welfare and the lives of animal-owning households. • To give an indication of loan repayments and promote accountability amongst members. • To identify opportunities for additional and/or collective income-generating activities. • To compare changes in how loans are being used (base line to end line).
2 hours
Materials needed:
Materials needed: Chart paper and markers, post-its, cards or any other local materials
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools, Monitoring and Evaluation
Specific Topics: Vulnerability / Resilience, Livelihoods, Group Formation / Strengthening
Group inter-loaning analysis
This exercise is used to assess the present status of group members’ loan repayments, thereby providing a social accountability mechanism which encourages group members to repay their loans to the group fund as originally agreed between group members.
Information gained from this activity can help participants decide where collective spending might save them money and therefore reduce their need to borrow from the fund. For example, if many group members are borrowing money to buy animal feed, a common fund could be used to buy animal feed in bulk. The group may wish to arrange vaccinations for all community animals at the same time for a reduced fee or buy resources together in bulk.
Figure T14a Group inter-loaning analysis (template)
Figure T14b Group inter-loaning analysis (sectioned)
Figure T14c Group inter-loaning analysis completed by a community
A savings group analysed the use of money lent from their common savings fund. All members of the group had taken a loan at some point. The circle rings represents:
Name of group members: Individual names of people who have an outstanding loan
Purpose of loan: The reason for taking the loan
Loan amount: Original loan amount and the repayment terms (months to repay)
Status: the amount still owing and number of months left to repay
In this savings group, most loans were taken by group members to buy animal feed. This exercise helped the group discuss where they could take action collectively for their animals, such as buying feed in bulk at a discounted price.
Group Inter-Loaning Analysis
Step 1
Take time at the beginning of the exercise to have an in-depth discussion on the group’s general activities and different projects that they work on together. This will act like an icebreaker and help participants feel more comfortable and willing to share freely before beginning any type of discussion on money or finances.
Slowly transition the discussion to focus on financial activities and on inter-loaning.
Step 2
Ask the community helper to draw a small centre in the middle of a piece of chart paper that will represent the group and label it with the group name. Then, have the helper draw four big circles around the centre circle (see figure T14a).
Ask the group generally for what purpose they take loans from the savings group.
Please note: From here, the conversation will move to the individual level, so ask the group if they feel comfortable with this and give consent to sharing individually. Assure them that the discussion will be kept confidential and that it is for the purpose group learning. Also, advise them that they are not obligated to participate if they do not feel comfortable. You can also mention that this tool has potential to be used to monitor individual progress over time, or to improve or strengthen group loaning activities.
Ask members with active loans who would like to volunteer to participate in the activity. Try to have between 6-10 participants. Remind them that this is not an individual analysis, but a group analysis. The facilitator should try to ensure that there is diversity amongst the loan purposes.
Step 3
Ask participants to write their names on separate cards or to identify themselves using different symbols. Put a card on the outside circle labelled ‘name’. Arrange the cards representing each person who has taken a loan around the outside edge of the circle. Then, have the community helper divide the circle into segments according to how many participant names are along the outer circle (e.g. 11 segments for 11 participants) (see figure T14b).
Ask participants about the purpose of their loan and have the helper write the purpose on a card. Put a card on the second outer ring labelled ‘purpose’. Add the card representing the purpose in line with the person’s name.
Ask participants about the loan amounts taken and repayment periods. Have participants write the amount and period (e.g. 2,000 / 24 months) on a card. Have the community helper put a post-it on the third outer circle labelled ‘amount & period’. Add the cards representing the amount & period in line with each participant’s segment.
Finally, ask participants about the loan balances and remaining repayment periods. Have participants write the loan balance and remaining repayment period (e.g. 500 / 2 months) on a card. Have the community helper place the card on the remaining circle labelled ‘loan statuses. Add the cards representing the loan status in line with each participant’s segment.
Step 4
Once the chart is complete, ask the group about their general observations of the final chart.
Depending on their responses, you might probe further into the terms and conditions or rules and regulations of the savings group.
Guiding questions might include:
• What are the criteria for a group member qualifying for loans? (rules & regulations governing group loans) • If defaulting has been identified, ask: what are the reasons for defaulting on loan payments? Ask for a few personal examples. • If defaulting has not been identified, ask participants whether any members have ever defaulted and why? • Are they comfortable with the rules and the terms? If no, what changes are possible? • Has there been a time when a group member needed a loan, and the group was unable to provide it? If yes, why? - What did they do about it individually or as a group? • What strategies are the group currently undertaking to increase their savings and loaning capacity? - What could they do to increase the amounts available for loaning as a group?
Step 5
At the end of the exercise, ask the group to summarise their findings:
• Highlight how animals have benefited from the group’s inter-loaning activities. For example, loans taken for: - Animal treatments and health care - Purchasing feed and fodder - Seeking health or welfare service - Materials to build a shelter
• How animals could benefit from inter-loaning activities. • How members have benefited from initiating income-generating activities individually or as a group.
After this discussion, ask participants what actions they can take from the analysis. Have the community helper record the actions and any specific 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. Add the outputs of this activity to your project action tracker and any action points to follow up on.
Facilitation Notes
This exercise is ideal for a community-based group of animal owners that has been operating for at least one year, with members making regular contributions to a common savings fund and accessing group loans.
Consider removing the individual names from the outside of the circle and replacing them with symbols or numbers to make those who volunteered feel more comfortable and willing to share during the analysis.
It is best to do this exercise without referring to the group’s register or ledger of savings and loans. If any queries arise, look at the register together at the end of the exercise and make changes to the chart then if needed.
Encourage each group member to tell you about their loan amounts themselves. Discourage one particular member or group leader from leading the exercise and talking about or for the other members.
Next Steps
Revisit the actions and activities in your project action tracker in the next meeting to monitor their progress and what further support is required.
Repeat the inter-loaning analysis annually to assess changes and promote accountability amongst members.
If conducted in the exit and evaluation phase and results of the activity have shown that the savings and loaning group is well-functioning, consider carrying out a sustainability mapping exercise to help the group determine whether they can continue without help from the facilitating organization.
This PLA may be conducted to explore the potential benefits, risks and affordability of different practices to enable participants to thoroughly examine the implications of their choices for more informed decision-making. This tool includes step-by-step guidance for three different versions, including:
This tool explores the potential benefits, risks, and affordability of adopting different animal welfare-related practices to both people and their animals, thereby enabling participants to thoroughly examine the implications of their choices for more informed decision making. By promoting understanding of the benefits of changing their behaviours or practices to improve animal welfare, along with the costs and effects of existing practices, this exercise promotes animal welfare improvements by generating motivation and commitment to change, and identifies opportunities for reducing costs through collective action.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To promote understanding of the potential effects/costs and benefits of improving animal welfare practices for both animals and people. • To motivate participants to adopt new practices, either independently or collectively, to improve the welfare of their animals. • To identify ways to reduce costs of adopting new practices to improve animal welfare through collective group action.
2 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper, index cards or sticky notes, pens/markers, chalk and/or locally available materials
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools
Specific Topics: Animal Husbandry and Management Practices, Livelihoods, Group Formation / Strengthening
Cost-benefit analysis of animal welfare practices
This exercise facilitates assessment of the costs and benefits of adopting different animal husbandry and management practices such as: feeding and watering, sheltering, humane handling, freedom of movement/no hobbling, allowing animals to socialize together, grooming, using welfare friendly equipment etc.
In the example below, animal-owning participants assessed the costs and benefits of adopting animal welfare practices that were previously identified as gaps during the T21 Animal Welfare Practice Gap Analysis.
T15a Cost-benefit analysis of improved animal welfare practices
The above example was produced by a group of animal-owners in a brick kiln community in Pakistan who identified lack of provision of balanced feed as an animal welfare practice gap.
Through discussions, the group identified the following as key learnings:
A balanced ration can be purchased by spending only Rs 50 more per day individually
Keeping the animal healthy is not only important for the health and wellbeing of the animal, but also for the family
Through discussions, the group identified the following possible solutions:
A few people decided that they would add maize to their regular feed ration
The group agreed to explore purchasing feed in bulk because it will save time and they can purchase it collectively at a reduced cost
Cost-benefit Analysis of Animal Welfare Practices
Step 1
Before undertaking this activity, identify key behaviours necessary for improving animal welfare that have been difficult to change amongst the community. For this exercise, have the community select only one hard to change behaviour for analysis at a time, where low motivation and/or high costs have been identified as hindering adoption.
Step 2
Start by drawing a matrix and write the difficult behaviour selected in step 1 in the top row. Ask a community helper to assist in creating the matrix if time and capacity permits.
Step 3
Start the discussion by asking the group to identify the perceived costs of adopting the practice, in terms of money, time and labour. Allow the community to identify the costs important to them without leading them and have the community helper write the costs on cards using words or symbols and place them in the matrix.
Step 4
Once the costs of adopting the new practice is identified, ask participants to specify the benefits to the animal. After the benefits to the animal are identified, ask participants to identify the benefits to the household and have the community helper write the benefits on cards using words or symbols and place them in the matrix.
Step 5
Once the matrix is complete for adopting the new practice, ask participants to identify the effects/costs on the animal if the new practice is not adopted. After these effects/costs to the animal are identified, ask them to identify any effects/costs on the household. Have the community helper write the effects/costs on cards using words or symbols and place them in the matrix.
Step 6
Once the matrix is complete, review it with participants to assess the costs and benefits of adopting the new practice. The following guiding questions may be used to facilitate the discussion:
• What have you learned from this exercise? • What are possible solutions to reduce the negative impacts to animal welfare and your household, while also mitigating the potential costs to your household of adopting the new practice? (Either at household or group level) • Who needs to do what differently and how often?
Have the community helper document the key learnings and possible solutions from the discussions. Based on the discussion, prompt the group to decide on what actions they wish to take, any support needed and who will monitor. Add them to the community action plan.
Step 7
The matrix should be left with the community. A copy should be made for reference for future discussions and action planning. Add a copy to your project action tracker along with any identified needs for support or actions that need to be taken by the project. Make sure to add identified gaps in knowledge or understanding to your action tracker, as well as any plans to further sensitize animal-owning households in these areas.
Facilitator’s notes: Cost-benefit analysis of animal welfare practices
This tool is best conducted with participants who have already been introduced to concepts of animal welfare, understand animals’ needs and best practices. Consider using any or all of the following tools before undertaking a cost-benefit analysis. T19, T21, and T22 are particularly recommended, as reviewing their findings prior to this activity can help to identify the hard to change behaviours.
Make sure that participants consider more than just the financial costs when deciding whether to adopt any new practices.
It may be useful for professionals, such as vets or community animal health workers, to be present for this activity to advise on the animal welfare implications of any identified solutions. This will promote understanding of costs and benefits to animals and resolve any misconceptions about animal welfare issues and best practices.
Consider using any combination of writing, drawings, symbols or number scoring and/or locally available materials to represent costs and benefits identified to enable participants to understand and discuss the matrix once finalized.
When participants’ are considering the effects on the animal, encourage them to think about the physical, behavioural, mental/emotional state of the animal.
In contexts where male and female household members have different animal-related roles and responsibilities (e.g. ownership, care, use, financial decision making), conduct this activity with all household members who have key roles and responsibilities associated with the specific animal welfare practices being assessed and for which change is desired.
When new practices or behaviours are relatively easy to adopt with little risk or cost (e.g. grooming), it may be possible to assess more than a few behaviours in one session without overwhelming participants.
As changes in existing practices are achieved, and/or new priorities emerge, consider conducting this activity again to generate motivation for change in other animal welfare and management practices.
Next Steps
The following tools are recommended for use as a reflective learning exercise to understand whether any of the originally perceived costs and benefits were realized as a result of changes adopted to practices:
Participants may monitor animal-based welfare indicators to assess changes in animal welfare resulting from their changes in practice. Consider using animal-based welfare indicators developed in the following exercises:
T15b: Cost-Benefit Analysis - Prevention and Treatment of Animal Health Issues
This tool explores the potential benefits, risks, and affordability of preventing and treating animal health issues to both the animal and their owners, users and carers thereby enabling participants to thoroughly examine the implications of their choices for more informed decision making. By promoting understanding of the benefits of changing their behaviours or practices to improve animal welfare, along with the costs of inaction, this exercise can support animal welfare improvements by generating motivation and commitment to change, and identify opportunities for reducing costs through collective action.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• Promote understanding of the potential costs and benefits of preventing and/or treating animal health issues and effects of inaction for both animals and people. • To motivate participants to take action, either independently or collectively, to improve the health their animals. • Identify ways to reduce costs of adopting new practices to improve animal health through collective group action.
2-3 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper, index cards or sticky notes, pens/markers, chalk, stones, pebbles, local materials (leaves, seeds, etc.)
Stages of Behaviour Change: Contemplation, Preparation Stage
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools
Specific Topics: Animal Health and Services, Livelihoods, Group Formation / Strengthening
Cost-benefit analysis of prevention and treatment of animal health issues
This version of the cost-benefit analysis promotes prevention and treatment of animal diseases or illnesses by assessing the costs and benefits of each to humans and animals, and potential effects if no action is taken. This activity can identify opportunities for collective action to reduce the costs associated with preventing and treating some animal health issues e.g. reduced rate group vaccinations.
In the example below, a cost-benefit analysis was conducted with an animal-owning group when prevention and treatment of animal illnesses were identified as a gaps in their welfare practices using the T21 animal welfare practice gap analysisexercise. The costs and benefits of prevention and treatment were assessed for the two highest priority illnesses previously identified by the community using the T8 pairwise ranking and scoring.
T15b Cost-benefit analysis of preventing and treating tetanus and colic
Cost-benefit analysis of prevention and treatment of animal health issues
Step 1
Before undertaking this activity, identify a priority disease or illness which has been difficult to encourage the community to adopt prevention or treatment measure. Consider reviewing findings from T1c Mapping - disease, T8 pairwise ranking and scoring or T9 matrix ranking and scoring to identify priority illnesses or diseases to analyse with the group. For this exercise, select only one disease to analyse at a time.
Step 2
Start by asking the community helper to draw a matrix and list ‘prevention’ and ‘treatment’ along top of the matrix.
Step 3
Ask participants about the main factors they consider when weighing the costs and benefits of preventing or treating the animal disease/illness being assessed. The group may add as many factors as they feel necessary.
The facilitator may probe the participants to consider the following factors if not initially identified, however factors should only be included which the participants use to inform their decision making:
• Cost of treatment/prevention • Disease/illness frequency • Severity • Prevention/treatment cost • Effectiveness • Loss of work/income due to animal illness (for working animals)
Ask the community helper to list identified factors in the first column of the matrix.
As a facilitator, ensure that the benefits to both animals and people are well represented by adding ‘benefits/effects on animal’ and ‘benefits/effects on household’ to the matrix once participants have identified the factors they consider when deciding whether to take preventative measures for illness/disease being assessed. Facilitate the group to fill in the matrix.
Step 4
Once the matrix is complete, review with participants.
Use the following guiding questions to facilitate the discussion:
• What have you learned from this exercise? • What are the benefits to both animal and household of taking preventative measures rather than seeking treatment? • What are possible solutions for reducing this disease/illness that reduce the costs for households? • Are there opportunities to take collective action to reduce the costs? • What steps would you take to put these solutions into practice?
Based on the discussion, prompt the group to decide on what actions they wish to take, any support needed, responsible parties and add them to the community action plan.
Step 5
The matrix should be documented, either through photos or recreated on paper. Copies should be made and distributed to the group for their records and for reference for future discussions and action planning. Add a copy to your project action tracker along with any identified needs for support or actions that need to be taken by the project.
Facilitator’s Notes: Cost-benefit analysis
As this exercise may take some time to complete, limit the number of assessed diseases/illnesses to the main 2-3 priorities. More can be added as time permits or the activity can be conducted again in the future to assess other illnesses/diseases. This is important to reducing the likelihood that participants’ become overwhelmed and/or demotivated to change as a result of the number of changes they are being asked to consider.
As changes in existing practices are achieved and/or new priorities emerge, consider conducting this activity again to generate motivation for change in other animal welfare and management practices.
This tool is best conducted with participants’ who have already been introduced to concepts of animal welfare, understand animals’ needs and best practices. Consider using any or all of the following tools before undertaking a cost benefit analysis:
In contexts where male and female household members have different animal-related roles and responsibilities (e.g. ownership, care, use, financial decision making), conduct this activity with all household members who have key roles and responsibilities associated with the specific animal welfare practices being assessed, and for which change is desired.
If literacy amongst participants is low, consider filling in the matrix using symbols, drawings, or number scoring rather than written text to represent general concepts (e.g. +/-, ?/?/☹). The facilitator is responsible for asking questions and facilitating discussions about representations in the matrix to promote understanding and engagement of all participants. See example in animal feed cost-benefit analysis.
It is common for participants to start by analysing the financial costs and benefits of alternative animal welfare practices and naturally seek out the cheapest options. Your role as a facilitator is to ensure that animal welfare costs and benefits are included in the discussions, along with their related implications on animal-owning households.
Next Steps
Address any misconceptions or gaps in knowledge or understanding that were added to your project action tracker (plans for additional outreach, trainings, or experiential learning activities to further sensitize animal-owning households within their own action plan).
The following tools are recommended for use as a reflective learning exercise to understand whether any of the originally perceived costs and benefits of action were realized as a result of changes adopted to practices.
Participants may monitor animal-based welfare indicators to assess changes in animal welfare resulting from their changes in practice. Consider using animal-based welfare indicators developed in the following exercises:
This tool explores the potential benefits, risks and affordability of adopting different animal feeding practices to both the animal and their owners, users and carers thereby enabling participants to thoroughly examine the implications of their choices for more informed decision making. By promoting understanding of the benefits of changing their current feeding practices to improve animal welfare, along with the costs of maintaining the current situation, this exercise can support animal welfare improvements by generating motivation and commitment to change, and identify opportunities for reducing costs through collective action.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• To promote understanding of the potential costs and benefits of improving animal feeding practices and effects of inaction for both animals and people • To motivate participants to take action, either independently or collectively, to improve the welfare their animals • To identify ways to reduce costs of adopting new feeding practices to improve animal welfare through collective group action.
2-3 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper, index cards or sticky notes, pens/markers, chalk, stones, pebbles, local materials (leaves, seeds, etc.)
Stages of Behaviour Change: Contemplation, Preparation Stage
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools
Specific Topics: Animal Husbandry and Management, Group Formation / Strengthening
Feeding practice analysis
In our experience, many working animals are thin and community groups identify feeding as one of their main concerns. Root cause analyses often highlight difficulties in finding enough good quality food of high nutritional value and the high cost is often considered a barrier. The feeding practice analysis explores whether changes in animal feeding practices will lead to better animal welfare outcomes whilst remaining affordable. It can assess current feeding practices, the nutritional content of different feeds and/or general effect on the animal, and the best formulation of feed at low cost. Finally, this tool can identify opportunities to improve the affordability of feeds through collective action.
T15c Cost-benefit analysis of animal feeding practices in Halaba, Ethiopia
Cost-benefit Analysis of Feeding Practices
Step 1
Start by asking participants to discuss different types of feed available throughout the year, not just those which are currently available. Ask the community helper to draw a matrix on the ground or a large piece of chart paper, list the difference types of feed down the first column using words, symbols, pictures, or locally available materials to represent the different feed types.
Step 2
Ask participants to list the factors they consider when weighing the costs and benefits of using the different feeds. The group may add as many factors as they feel necessary.
The facilitator may probe the participants to consider the following factors if not initially identified, however factors should only be included which the participants use to inform their decision making:
• Cost • Availability (seasonal/annual) • Access (ease of obtaining) • Nutritional value for promoting animal health and productivity • Discounts for buying in bulk
Ask the community helper to list identified factors along the top row of the matrix.
Please note: As a facilitator, ensure that the nutritional value for promoting animal health and productivity is included in the matrix if not already identified by participants so that the assessment of costs and benefits of different feed types do not solely consider factors important to households.
Step 3
Facilitate the group to fill in the matrix. Consider using any combination of writing, drawings, symbols, number scoring (e.g. 🙂/😐/☹️, +/-) and/or locally available materials to complete the matrix so participants can understand and discuss it.
Step 4
Review the matrix with participants to assess the costs and benefits associated with changing feeding practices to improve animal welfare.
Use the following guiding questions to facilitate the discussion:
• Which of these feeds do you currently use? • What is the cost of the feed currently being provided (allow participants to specify in terms that are relevant to them e.g. daily/weekly cost)? • Do you think it would be better to use a different formulation of feed than you currently use given each type of feed has a different potential benefit for your animals? • What feeds/formulations would have the highest nutritional content and greatest benefit for animals at lowest cost for households? • Are there opportunities to adopt these improved formulations of feed through collective action/purchase to get a reduced group rate? • What steps would you take to put these solutions into practice?
Based on the discussion, prompt the group to decide on what actions they wish to take, any support needed, and responsible parties, and add them to the community action plan.
Step 5
The matrix should be documented, either through photos or recreated on paper. Copies should be made and distributed to the group for their records and for reference for future discussions and action planning. Add a copy to your project action tracker, along with any identified needs for support or actions that need to be taken by the project.
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.
Facilitator’s Notes: Cost-benefit analysis
Participants should be sensitized to the nutritional value of different feed types available in their locality and the benefits to promoting animal welfare using easily understood local language. Ideally, this would happen shortly before this activity is conducted.
It is useful for professionals, such as vets or community animal health workers, to be present for this activity to advise on the nutritional content of different feeds to promote understanding and accurate accounting of potential costs and benefits to animals of different feeds and support development of a locally appropriate feeding plan.
Make sure that participants consider more than just the financial costs when deciding whether to change feeding practices. Ensure that planned changes do not reduce household costs at the expense of animal welfare.
This tool is best conducted with participants’ who have already been introduced to concepts of animal welfare, understand animals’ needs and best practices. Consider using any or all of the following tools before undertaking a cost benefit analysis:
In contexts where male and female household members have different animal-related roles and responsibilities (e.g. ownership, care, use, financial decision making), conduct this activity with all household members who have key roles and responsibilities associated with the specific animal welfare practices being assessed, and for which change is desired.
If literacy amongst participants is low, consider filling in the matrix using symbols, drawings, or number scoring rather than written text to represent general concepts (e.g. 🙂/😐/☹️, +/-). The facilitator is responsible for asking questions and facilitating discussions about representations in the matrix to promote understanding and engagement of all participants. See example in animal feed cost-benefit analysis.
It is common for participants to start by analyzing the financial costs and benefits of alternative animal welfare practices and naturally seek out the cheapest options. Your role as a facilitator is to ensure that animal welfare costs and benefits are included in the discussions, along with their related implications on animal-owning households.
Focus on assessing only a few top priority animal welfare practices at a time to reduce the likelihood that participants’ become overwhelmed and/or demotivated to change as a result of the number of changes they are being asked to consider. This is important if the changes are perceived as challenging or high risk to adopt. However, when new practices or behaviours are relatively easy to adopt with little risk or cost (e.g. grooming), it may be possible to assess more than a few without overwhelming participants.
As changes in existing practices are achieved and/or new priorities emerge, consider repeating this activity with other animal welfare and management practices.
Next Steps
Add identified misconceptions or gaps in knowledge/understanding to your project action tracker, along with any of the community’s plans for outreach, trainings or experiential sensitization/learning activities.
Use the following tools as reflective learning exercises to understand whether any of the originally perceived costs and benefits were realized as a result of adopted changes:
Participants may monitor animal-based welfare indicators to assess changes in animal welfare resulting from their changes in practice. Consider using animal-based welfare indicators developed in the following exercises:
This resource outlines key information for community facilitators to support effective group formation and management including the process of group formation, key characteristics of successful community groups and factors influencing community group success, as well as common challenges and any advice for mitigating them.
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach
Project Support: Facilitator Resources, Training
Specific Topics: Group Formation/Strengthening
14a. Overview of Group Formation Process
The process of group formation begins with community mobilization. This entails engaging the community to come together to support a common shared interest and achieve a particular goal or objective.
The process of group formation was first outlined by psychologist Bruce Tuckman and describes how teams (or small groups) move through stages which are further defined below and include: forming, storming, norming, and performing, and adjourning (or mourning). The figure below illustrates Tuckman’s team development model, where each of the five stages of team development represent a step on the team-building ladder. As the group members climb the ladder, they move from a random assembly of strangers into a high-performing team or group capable of working towards a common goal.
Fig 14a: Process of Group Formation (Adapted from [70, 111])
The five stages of small group development are further defined below.
Forming: At this stage, the individuals or community group members begin to know each other, understand the purpose of the team or group, and looking for direction from the group leader.
Storming: At this stage, people start to push against the established boundaries. Conflict or friction can also arise between team members as their true characters – and their preferred ways of working surface and clash with other people
Norming: People start to resolve their differences, appreciate one another's strengths, and respect the authority of their leader.
Performing: The group is in flow and performing to its full potential. With hard work and structured processes, the team is likely to achieve its goals efficiently.
Adjourning (or Mourning): Many groups reach this stage naturally. For example, projects come to an end, or permanent groups are disbanded, and people redeployed.
It should be noted this model and stages are not a one-way street. Groups may go back and forth between stages. For example, when a new group member joins a group it can disrupt the group dynamic, or when it decided to undertake a new collective action it may regress and need to re-evaluate the groups’ goals and members’ roles and responsibilities. Thus, when a group arrives at the performing stage, it is important to continue observing the groups progress and assess whether there is any regression which may need to be addressed.
Follow the steps below to support facilitation of a group’s progress through the stages of group formation and strengthening:
Identify the stage that your group is at from the descriptions above.
Consider what you/the group’s members and/or leadership can do to support the group’s progress to the next stage
Schedule regular reviews of group progress and adjust behaviours and leadership approach accordingly.
14b. Factors Influencing Community Group Success
Factors influencing group success are outlined below [88] [112]:
Similarities of Attitudes and Values: One of the strongest sources of group cohesiveness is the similarity in attitudes and values among group members. This plays a key role when focusing on a particular goal that the whole group believe in. Having a clearly defined group vision is therefore critical to group success.
Size of the Group: Small groups are effective. The larger the size of the group, the less cohesive the group is. The main reasons for this are: i. When the group is small, its members have constant face to face contacts. Thus, there will be high degree of interaction and communication with each other. In large groups, the possibility of interaction among members is less. ii. As group size increases, it becomes more difficult to get the group to agree on common goals and activities and expression of disagreement and dissatisfaction increases. iii. Another problem with large size groups is that there is a likelihood of forming small groups within the large groups. This would result in the dilution of the common group goal thus increasing the extent of power politics play. This tends to decrease the overall cohesiveness. iv. Studies have shown that if all the members of the group are of the same sex, then small groups have better cohesion than large ones. But when the groups were made up of both males and females, the large groups have better cohesion.
Time: It is quite natural that the more time people spend with one another, the more they will get to know each other and more tendency there will be to get closer to each other, thus, strengthening the degree of cohesiveness.
Location: Location of the group plays an important role in determining the cohesiveness. Where members of a group are located close together separated from other groups, they will develop greater cohesiveness because of constant face to face interaction. Where there is no dividing line between one group and another, cohesion is more difficult to achieve because a chain of interactions develops.
Difficulty in Entry: The more difficult it is to get in a group, the more cohesive that group becomes. The reasons are that in exclusive and elite groups the members are selected based on certain characteristics and these characteristics being common to all add to the degree of liking and attraction towards each other. The more exclusive the group the more is the closeness among members. As the groups are not easy to join, the selected members feel a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Inter Dependency: When each member of a group has independent activities, the cohesiveness among the members of such group will be less as compared to the group whose members are doing the operations which are dependent upon each other, thus, mutual dependency leads to greater cohesiveness.
Group Leadership Behaviour: The behaviour of the group leadership has a direct influence on the degree of cohesiveness that exists within a group. The leader can make close relations difficult by creating unhealthy competition among members. On the other hand, he can build solidarity by rewarding cooperative behaviour. The cohesive group can help attain the group goals more effectively, if the group members are properly inspired by their leader. A stable and accepted leadership structure. Comprised of honest individuals who demonstrate dedication and sufficient expertise/competency is therefore important to a group’s success.
Member Turnover: To make a group more cohesive, there is need for some degree of stable relationships among members. The higher the degree of member turnover, the less cohesive a group becomes. this is because the more frequently members leave a particular group, the more time it will take for new and old members to get to know each other and re-establish trust and a willingness to cooperate.
Threat: Common threats or challenges are a very powerful force which can unify community members and support group formation, particularly when: i. The perceived threat comes from outside the group ii. Cooperation can help over-come the threat/challenge, and iii. There is little or no change to evade experiencing the threat For example, when there is a perceived threat of poor leadership within a community, community members can become motivated to come together as united front to ensure the threatening party has less chance to succeed and take advantage of the community.
Shared Goals and Previous Successes: When a group achieves a meaningful goal, the cohesiveness of the group increases because the success is shared by all the members and each one feels responsible for the achievement. If the group agrees on the purpose and direction of its activities, this serves to bind the group together. Having a common purpose/shared interest and well defined and agreed upon goals objectives is critical for group success. Regular review of vision, mission, and objectives is also helpful to promoting group success.
Cooperation: Sometimes the general atmosphere of group enhances cohesiveness.
In addition to effective leadership, factors which are important to promoting a positive group atmosphere and group cooperation include:
• A comprehensive constitution and by-laws agreed by all members, where rules are in use/enforced • Having clear mechanisms for the sharing benefits and liabilities amongst members • Effective participation of group members, which can be supported by having clearly defined tasks, and membership responsibilities which are shared. • Effective participation of group members with equal representation of all members. • Strong interpersonal skills for team building • Effective and timely internal conflict resolution mechanisms. • Members respect each other. • Having regular meetings. • Having well established and agreed communication channels within the group, as well as for communication with non-members.
Other general group characteristics contributing to group success include [88] [112]:
Enhance welfare of other members.
Group resources are managed as agreed by group members.
Leaders are democratically elected at specified intervals.
All members are afforded an equal chance/opportunity of being elected leaders.
Group membership is clearly defined.
There is proper record keeping and documentation.
Transparency and accountability.
Continuous acquisition of new skills
In contrast, factors which can contribute to group failure include [88] [112]:
Poor leadership
Unclear vision/ objectives
Poor interpersonal relationship
Poor communication
Undefined tasks
A weak constitution /by laws
Non-adherence to constitution
Lack of mechanisms on sharing benefits
Poor participation
Weak conflict resolution and transformation mechanism
Unwillingness to acquire new skills
Weak interpersonal skills for team building
14c. Common Challenges in Community-based Organization Governance and Recommendations for Addressing Them
Examples of common challenges faced by community-based organizations are outlines below [88]:
Ineffective leadership by political, community and/or religious leaders
Inadequate political good-will from the leaders who are currently in office and out of office
Conflicts, infighting and splinters within groups
Conflict of interest by leaders, government officers, donor agencies, development partners and other stakeholders
External interference from technical officers, local and political leaders
Mismanagement and misappropriation of community project resources
Inadequate resources
Dependency syndrome
Inadequate organizational and management capacity
Poor governance
Low level of community participation and contributions
Poverty
Retrogressive culture
Hostile natural factors
Poor policy framework
Clannism/nepotism/tribalism
Illiteracy
Language barrier
Top – down approach to development
Differences in socio economic status
Dominance by influential community leaders (pioneer syndrome)
Differences based on gender and discrimination
In addition, the following challenges have been identified related to facilitating group formation and strengthening [112]:
May take long time.
If not managed well, might polarise/benefit a specific section of the community.
Misrepresentation of the group.
Conflicts may delay progress.
Might not address individual expectations.
Excluded members may sabotage.
Some individuals might dominate or have adverse roles.
Guidance for addressing some of these common challenges facing community based organization success are outlined below [88]:
Lack of trust
Trust is crucial to teamwork, and it starts with people knowing each other. Group members need to be acquainted, both professionally and personally, particularly in projects where tensions will run high at some point. Otherwise, members won’t understand each other, they won’t want to engage because they haven’t made that human connection and they won’t fully trust each other.
Conflict and tension
Conflict or a difference of opinion can be healthy and, if carefully managed, can trigger useful debates. It can make people think differently, expanding knowledge and insight; innovation can happen and results flourish. Different opinions within a group should not be seen as a bad thing. The group should put in place a mechanism to handle conflict whenever it arises.
Not sharing information
Knowledge is not power – unless it’s shared. Group members all bring a unique set of skills, knowledge, experience, and wisdom to the table. Effective groups fearlessly share regularly and generously for the benefit of everyone and for the benefit of the project’s success. This makes the capability of the whole group grow and gives the group more power. Leadership should strive to ensure that information is freely shared among members.
Low engagement
Group engagement is crucial to the group success. If engaged, group members will be interested in what they do, committed to the group mission and willing to go the extra mile. They are there in body as well as mentally and emotionally. The key to engagement is involvement – by involving others you make it impossible to stay detached.
Lack of transparency
Without transparency, trust will suffer – both within the group and outside. Transparency is becoming the presumed norm in project and programme management and expectations are growing. It starts at the top: the more senior you are, the more responsibility you must be a role model for this. Group members will follow the leader’s behaviours, good or bad. When this is done well, it can have a positive cascade effect throughout the organisation.
No long-term thinking
Group leaders must get beyond day-to-day urgencies, see the big picture, and consider how all parts fit together. For group members, this means being able to think beyond your own area, about how you fit into the wider group and how you impact the groups’ business. This is about group sustainability and long-term success. Everyone is busy, but just being busy is not enough. Long-term group success requires long-term thinking.
Badly perceived, not delivering
A group has a brand, an image and a reputation created by the actions and behaviours of the group members. A large part of the perception is driven by how well the group delivers on expectations and promises made. Community facilitators and group leaders need to make sure that everyone understands and takes responsibility for their roles in creating the perception of the group. This includes both what is delivered by the group and how it is delivered.
Poor change management
Change is constant and unless carefully managed, it can be detrimental to the group progress and results. Change starts and ends with communication. Whenever you think you’ve communicated enough, you need to communicate some more – and it needs to be interactive: listen, talk, and involve. Be aware of the change curve, or the four predictable stages of change: denial/resistance, emotional, hopeful, commitment. Each stage is needed, but how long someone stays at each stage can be managed and kept to a minimum.
Working in silos
Silo working is a reality for many groups. Group members may sit side by side but not really work together. A great group can be like the three musketeers – all for one and one for all. So, if you are in a group, you may as well really be in it. Working together in earnest is about making the most of the fact that you are a team. Honour your time and efforts by seeing yourself as a full-time member of the group, not just an individual contributor.
Not going in the same direction
To walk in the same direction, a group needs to know where it is going or what it is contributing to (vision) and why (purpose). Spend time on this with your group. This clarity provides a framework and ‘reason to be’ that can rally any given group to work together. Keep in mind that visions need to be compelling and purposes meaningful. People respond to the importance of both.
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.
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
The purpose of the implementation phase is to help community members either build on existing community-based organizations (CBOs) or start to build their own CBOs to implement their community action plan, monitor it regularly and reflect on their findings and experiences together.
3.1.1 Community Based Organisation Formation and strengthening
At this point you will have found several people with shared interests in improving their animals’ welfare who have taken part in activities together. Ideally it is easier to facilitate and encourage already functioning CBOs as they have already developed their own systems of working together towards the achievement of a shared goal, and their relationships and procedures will already be in place. Group stabilisation and strengthening is an ongoing process using the resources 14. Overview of community group formation process, and common challenges and factors influencing group success, and 15. Templates for supporting community group governance can aid development of community groups as they contain useful templates and checklists for guidance. The use of facilitation resource T28 Group sustainability mapping can be used to support group strengthening.
It is recommended that CBOs show the following:
Fair leadership
Good governance
Are inclusive both in terms of promoting gender equality, and not discriminating against marginalised community groups
If CBOs exist which do not meet the above criteria, you may wish to explore opportunities for strengthening these groups to address any identified gaps. If no functioning CBOs exist amongst the community members you are working with, you will need to facilitate the formation of new CBOs, this a crucial step, which needs your support and experience. The CBO can be composed of men, women and children, or separate groups may be formed as appropriate.
Following the four-stage plan for CBO formation will aid the group development process, as outlined in Figure 40 below:
Figure 40: Stages of Group Development [70]
Key Characteristics of Community-based Organizations:
A CBO is not just any collection of community members. It is those who come together with commitment to improving animal welfare, with shared objectives, goals or purpose and a plan.
Members work together to design plans for collective action to improve welfare.
Communication between members is open, supportive and all voices are heard.
All members are aware about the membership criteria, the rules, procedures, rights, and responsibilities of members.
Regular meetings are held with active participation from members.
The size of the CBO allows all members to participate actively, small enough to not overwhelm and large enough to ensure effectiveness of any collective actions and sustainability of the group. As a rule of thumb, 15-30 members should be considered the maximum membership range for group functioning.
All members understand the reason for the CBO and have a shared sense of responsibility.
There is identified leadership, the members recognise the leadership and the leader/s lead actively.
Leadership is accountable, transparent and is on a rotational or election process.
Promote representativeness (including the leadership) of different CBOs to ensure they are not gender blind/gender exploitative and are inclusive of all people within the community, including those known to be marginalised. The groups must not promote existing systems of discrimination and must uphold safeguarding protection by ensuring they do not promote or engage in any forms of harm to people or the environment. Safeguarding needs to be considered by the project in terms of how they organize meetings and to ensure safety and security of members. Any activities must do no harm, it is essential to ensure there is due diligence so that when encouraging participation and empowering members they are not put at risk. Initial steps may involve working to promote equality and acceptance to mitigate harm that could be caused by sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment and bullying because of their work with the project. Sometimes it can be difficult to initiate collective action by some genders or social groups, in which case organizing CBOs with the opposite gender or other social groups may be easier, as other CBOs will often come together after seeing the success of the first. In some cases, it might be necessary to meet with the men or community leaders before forming CBOs with women or other traditionally marginalized groups, to be sensitive to cultural protocols, and explain the benefits that working with such groups can bring to families and/or the community.
If the experiences or interests of interested members are very mixed, they may not form a strong CBO. In this case, forming smaller groups of similar people) may be more effective than larger mixed groups. These smaller groups can then decide how to associate and network with others to form a larger organization, when they wish to manage broader issues of common interest.
Ask CBO members to select individuals to be ‘animal welfare advocates’ and encourage them to ensure representation of marginalized and vulnerable groups within these key leadership roles, potentially through the adoption of gender quotas as needed to ensure women’s’ representation in leadership roles. ‘Animal welfare advocates can then form a link between the CBO and service providers such as local animal health or resource service providers and may also be trained through the project as change agents, promoting understanding of animal welfare best practices amongst the broader community, and/or to provide basic animal first aid as appropriate. They can also stimulate enthusiasm and action by the group and lead processes such as participatory welfare needs assessments. As time goes on, ‘animal friends can take over some of the roles of the facilitator, which makes the process of withdrawal easier.
This community-led collective action will enable the CBO to sustain animal welfare interventions over long periods of time. A well-organized CBO will continue to function even after the withdrawal of your supporting agency and will provide a strong, stable institutional base from which to meet the requirements of the community and its animals.
Encourage the CBO to frame and review their own set of norms, rules, or by-laws. We find that these usually include:
Membership: who may join the CBO, what the CBO size should be and what happens when a member leaves or their membership is terminated.
CBO structure: how will the CBO be arranged such as chairperson, vice-chairperson, committee and their accountability level, general assembly, board and chairperson accountability and transparency levels.
Meetings: what is a quorum for the CBO, what happens if people are absent from meetings or turn up late to meetings.
Representatives: who represents the CBO, how representatives are chosen, whether they are rotated periodically and if so, how often this occurs?
Sanctions: what sanctions are needed for violation of the rules, and when exceptions may be made?
Common contribution: if membership of the CBO involves a common contribution or savings fund, what is the minimum amount to be contributed, whether withdrawal of savings is permitted, whether and how interest is paid on savings?
Loans: if loans can be taken from the CBO savings fund, how these are prioritised, what interest rate is charged, how the use of loans is monitored, and how defaulters are penalised for overdue loans.
Formalization of the group: when feasible it is recommended as formalization or legal registration of a CBO can enable it to advocate for its rights and needs, and potentially improve access to resources and/or services for the benefit their CBO or members.
It will take several meetings over a period of two or three months for the CBO to have a definite membership and up to a year for a strong and stable group to be established. By sticking to the agreed rules or norms, making collective decisions on a common action plan, and carrying out these actions either individually or together, the CBO becomes increasingly strong and effective.
3.1.2 Empower community based organisations to improve their capability, motivation and opportunity (COM-B) to achieve their vision of improved animal welfare
You should support CBOs to develop their capability, motivation, and opportunity (COM-B) to improve animal welfare. Your role as the facilitator is to contribute to the creation of an enthusiastic atmosphere and enabling environment where the CBO members can help each other with their agreed actions.
This includes:
Regular meetings to review individual and collective activities against the community action plan.
Generation of the resources needed to support their actions, for example through regular contribution of money to a common fund, or by creating links with other agencies, resource providers and government support schemes.
Generation of other external forms of support to implement their activities, if needed
Maintenance of a record or register by the group in which they record all their decisions. At the beginning you might need to initiate this process of recording and gradually hand it over to the group representatives. Where none of the group members are literate, they may decide to ask for help from a literate person or from school children in the village.
It is important to remember that change is a process, and that people can progress and relapse through the stages of change for any desired behaviour at any time. As a facilitator you will need to gauge the CBO’s stage of change with every interaction by listening for change talk, asking open ended questions, using reflective listening, and supporting the change process throughout the implementation phase. Refer to the recommended facilitator resource 6. Techniques for Supporting Progress through the Stages of Change for guidance.
Figure 41: Mechanisms for Supporting Behaviour Change
Harness Commitment to Change
Encourage CBOs to set small, incremental, and achievable goals for action. It is more effective to set short term objectives for action that lead to results rather than setting objectives for achieving the results themselves [71].
Communicate the vision for change in terms of what the community members’ value frequently and consistently to help erode resistance to change [71].
Provide Positive Reinforcement
Develop social networks amongst stakeholder groups as geography permits, or within or between households, by helping them see how their interests and needs are interconnected and encourage them to provide support and encouragement to each other. By putting peers in a position of being accountable for one another, they reinforce their own progress through helping others [71].
Set up a system whereby members compete against a target achievement, and all those who achieve the target “win”. People are more likely to help one another win when they are competing against their own progress as opposed to competing against one another in a system where there is one “winner”, which can generate a lack of cooperation [71]. For example, set a target for individuals to improve their individual animal welfare results when the Animal Welfare Transect Walk (T22) is repeated. Consider providing households with a monitoring results tracker that they can keep, ideally posted someplace they will see it, to provide them with feedback on the impact of their behaviours and enable them to track their progress over time and serve as a motivating reminder for them to continue making progress.
Provide frequent, encouraging feedback to let the CBO members know how they are doing, ensuring people feel praised, supported, and encouraged.
Promote Self-efficacy
Elevate self-esteem by recognizing their attempts and celebrating their efforts to change even if unsuccessful, and ensure they are never made to feel less than or bad.
Role model behaviours helps demonstrate what is possible and helps them to believe they can make the desired changes. In addition, it is helpful to get members to encourage and support each other to harness social diffusion [31].
Draw Attention to the Feeling of Change
Draw their attention to the benefits and positive impacts of the adoption of desired behaviours over the behaviours it replaces based on their direct experiences [71]. Consider using the before and now analysis (T11b) tool to support this process.
Help members to feel change in terms of intrinsic satisfaction by connecting changes with what individuals’ value [71].
Help people connect with the consequences of their choices by telling meaningful stories. Consider using the Closed Ended Story Telling (T24a) tool to promote the adoption of desired behaviours.
It is important to remember that in almost all successful change efforts, emotions rather than facts are the most effective agents of change [20]. It is therefore important that reflection and learning opportunities are created to enable group members to feel something about the changes they are making and experience the benefits that the adoption of desired behaviours brings to their lives and the lives of their animals [20]. We recommend using the adult learning cycle whenever feasible as it focuses on facilitating processes for reflection and learning by focusing on:
Direct Experiences: drawing on participants personal experiences related to animal welfare improvements and behaviour change, and/or by conducting participatory learning and action activities, participatory demonstrations or presentations through which participants experience/feel new information for discussion and learning.
Facilitating Reflection: helping participants think about how experiences make them feel, analyse new information, and develop their own ideas about the specific topic or issue.
Generating Conclusions: encouraging participants to generalize lessons learned to draw broad conclusions for themselves about their experiences.
Promoting Application: enabling participants to visualize how they may apply their experience/new knowledge in their own lives in the future.
Figure 42: Reflection and Learning Process [7]
Incorporating reflection and learning through periodic meetings with the group/s to discuss and reflect on progress and monitoring results is useful for the following reasons:
Promotes accountability and improves community members’ commitment to adopting desired changes. Specifically, seeking voluntary commitments in these public forums and/or seeking group commitments can improve adoption of desired behaviours [31].
Generates peer pressure and peer motivation to influence individual actions, as well as opportunities for building social networks amongst peers to support change.
Generates increased knowledge about actions that work or don’t work in their action plans, leading to corrective action or improvement.
Better understand the barriers and motivators to adopting desired behaviours, and identify additional resources, support, and/or capacity building needs to address them.
Creates a sense of shared responsibility for dealing with challenges.
Promotes greater understanding of their animals’ welfare and their related behaviours that support or hinder its improvement.
3.1.3 Facilitate tiered organization of community groups to support collective action where appropriate
Depending on the number of CBOs, consider facilitating the formation of associations from amongst multiple community groups. This can be particularly helpful to supporting larger collective action, enabling better access to resources and resource providers, greater sustainability of change, and the ability of animal owning communities to advocate for their needs and rights more effectively through a broader unified voice. In some circumstances, a further level of organization may be helpful, with the formation of federations formed from amongst several associations. However, associations and larger federations are only effective when there is sufficient motivation and need to address collective issues of concern, otherwise they can become directionless and inactive and perceived to be a waste of time due to lack of utility.
Brooke Pakistan partners Sindh Rural Support Organization model of group organizing uses a tiered approach to social mobilization around human development priorities. In this approach “Local Support Organization” (LSO) acts much like a federation comprised of smaller “Village Organizations” (VO), which act as associations comprised of smaller Community Organizations (CO) acting as self-help groups. They are effective as they seek to address priority issues of communities, which is not always the case in the context of focusing on animal welfare issues.
Figure 43: Example of Sindh Rural Support Organizations Three Tiered Social Mobilization Approach
In a project in South-East Asia, a community identified that a key reason why their pony carts kept losing wheels, which in turn caused animal welfare issues, was that a key road through their community developed dangerous potholes after each rainy season. A group formed to work together to address this issue. The group organised their members, and others in the community, to each fill the holes in the road outside their dwellings so that all together the road was repaired. This group is convened after each rainy season to coordinate the road repair activities.
There are many examples worldwide where groups of people who give tourists rides in horses and carts have formed groups. Examples of activities of such groups include working together to negotiate the authorities to provide amenities such as shelter for their animals while waiting for customers and water points to allow their animals to drink; and working together to create rules that promote fair competition regarding attracting customers, for example, a queuing system.
In Kenya, Brooke East Africa (BEA), works with partners to engage the community. At the community level, BEA support the communities to form animal welfare groups. The community animal welfare groups then elect a representative to a county/or sub county umbrella group. Kenya is currently divided into 47 administrative areas (called counties). The county umbrella groups engage the county government to ensure county by laws support animal welfare, and resources are also allocated at the county level for improving animal welfare. From the county umbrella groups each county elects a representative to a national coalition (from the 47 counties), which is referred to as the Association of Donkey Owners of Kenya (ADOK). ADOK is responsible for engaging national government, including successfully petitioning the national government to ban donkey slaughter in Kenya.
Creating associations of groups of animals owning community members at levels beyond their immediate locale is an important method of sustaining momentum after you (the facilitator), your organization, or other external forms of support are withdrawn. However, it is important not to wait until the exit phase to begin work in establishing such associations as they will require time and capacity building to establish and are most sustainable when they are linked to supporting prioritized collective action or benefits for all.
3.2.1 Participatory monitoring of animal welfare and human behaviour change
Getting communities to monitor their progress is important to show tangible results for their efforts which in turn will encourage further support and effort for future improvements. This process helps indicate whether a community has all the resources it needs, how effectively the group/s are working together and whether they have something important they should share with other communities to disseminate information learned.
It is important to understand all the stages of change, anticipating that groups may be in pre-contemplation regarding some issues, and are likely to be in contemplation and preparation stages of change early on, developing into action and maintenance at the later stages of this process. Be aware though that behaviour can relapse backwards at any stage so refer to the facilitator resource 6. Techniques for Supporting Progress through the Stages of Change for support with this.
Participatory monitoring of animal welfare and behaviour change enables group members to feel proud and good about themselves, therefore more likely to maintain the changes they’ve adopted. Repeating the Animal welfare transect walk (T22), at intervals of one, two or three months, enables the group to monitor changes in the welfare of their animals. Their scores for each animal welfare issue are recorded on the same monitoring chart each time.
Group members then sit together again to reflect on their findings, both positive and negative. Improvement in scores shows the effect of the actions they have taken to improve management of their animals and to prevent welfare problems from occurring. If there is no improvement, or if scores decrease, possible reasons for this need to be discussed. They may identify gaps in their current practices, decide if further actions or closer monitoring are needed and record all relevant details to refer to as they progress.
3.2.2 Participatory review and reflection on monitoring results, community action plans, and lessons learned, adapting as needed
It is essential for the group to critically appraise the performance of both the individual members and the group collectively, for the animal welfare interventions to succeed. These positive, constructive appraisals translate action into learning which in turn translates into further action. The depth of reflection has a major effect on the quality of the action that follows.
Periodic tracking of progress can help group members to:
Build their interest in the intervention and their commitment to making it work.
Assess the roles of different stakeholders.
Understand the changing dynamics in their environment.
Generate increasing knowledge about actions that work or that are not effective in their community action plan, leading to corrective action or improvement.
Share responsibility for dealing with challenges.
Bring peer pressure and peer motivation to influence individual actions.
Trigger greater understanding, sensitivity, and care for their animals.
This will also enable you and your project to understand their situations and constraints more clearly. Two types of participatory monitoring are essential for the success of the action and reflection process:
Monitoring of group activities to check that group members and other stakeholders are doing what they agreed to do in their action plan. It is recommended this be a regular activity conducted every group meeting.
Monitoring of changes in animal welfare and related husbandry and management practices, which can be achieved by repeating the Animal welfare transect walk (T22).
During this process:
Organize regular group meetings to review individual and collective efforts towards welfare improvement.
Check and record the activities agreed in the community action plan to ensure that they are carried out.
Generate resources needed for implementation of the plan, through collective contribution and by forming links with other resource providers.
Initiate support for implementation of those activities that need external support.
Analyse the results of the Animal welfare transect walk recording chart.
Take corrective action to keep the plan on track and/ or to develop new action points.
We have found when refinement of community action plans occurs, it commonly occurs in two ways. First, as the group increases its sensitivity towards its animals, the members choose to use a longer list of welfare changes that they want to measure, and they create more detailed scoring systems for these. They will do these themselves in time. If they do not, you should not introduce more complexity because it is important that the community decides what they feel is useful to measure. Both the animal-based indicators and those relating to resources or management practices increase in number and complexity. Second, group members start to come up with more root causes and the associated welfare-promoting actions that need to be encouraged, and they include these in their community action plan and recording system.
Holding meetings for reflection and learning, lead the group in collectively looking at their activities, to find out whether they were carried out as agreed and whether they led to the desired change in a welfare issue. Have group members sit together to reflect on findings from their participatory monitoring, both positive and negative. The group will find that some issues can be resolved quickly (e.g. within three months), while others take longer, and some will not change despite the group’s action. This stimulates further discussion, which can be further supported through root cause analysis on these specific issues, using the Problem animal tool (T25) or Animal welfare cause and effect analysis (T26). This second level of root cause analysis is an essential step in the process of solving the more difficult or long-term welfare problems facing animals. In addition, the Animal Welfare Practice Gap Analysis (T21) may be useful to use here as it can enable the group to assess its’ progress against initial results of activity if previously conducted, explore the extent to which they have been able to change their animal care practices to meet their animals’ needs, and highlight potential constraints they may be facing in adopting these new practices.
If improving the quality of animal health service providers was an issue the group prioritized to address, implementing the Community Score Card (T35) activity anew and comparing results can help inform the group’s reflection and learning as it will enable them to evaluate changes from initial results. To aid reflection and learning and development of collective actions the following facilitator resources are useful: Dependency Analysis (T12), Income, expenditure, and credit analysis (T13), Group inter-loaning analysis (T14). In addition, the Cost Benefit analysis (T15) can generate motivation to act by enabling communities to weigh the costs and benefits of action vs inaction for both animals and people.
In addition, it can also be useful to the group’s reflection and learning to ask the group to look back further, comparing the situation before they started to implement their community action plan with the situation now. Using the Before and Now Analysis (T11b) tool can support this process. The group analyses which actions have been most effective and which less effective and the reasons why. This helps participants to learn, to change their interventions if necessary and to plan for continuing action. Matrix ranking (T9) can be used to compare the relative success of the activities taken up. During this part of the analysis, it is also useful to discuss the achievements and difficulties faced while working together as a group, with reasons for these, and how any difficulties were overcome. The resource 14. Overview of Community Group Formation Process, Challenges, and Factors Influencing Group Success has a section on Common Challenges and Solutions Related to Community-based Organizations/ Governance which can support this process. When groups are faced with complex problems, they have yet to be able to solution, consider using Open Ended Story Telling (T24c) to help them to brainstorm possible solutions to the complex issue they are facing.
Community groups will go through an iterative planning process adapting their action plans throughout the course of the project. Upon achievement of desired results, encourage the group to decide whether to initiate community action planning to address new priorities or issues. In this case, support the group to identify new priorities and enable all participants to progress through the stages of change for any new behaviours they decide they wish to adopt to improve welfare issues. This is one of the key measures that can show that a group has become successful in institutionalizing behaviour change and taking collective and individual actions to see improvement in animal welfare in their communities/members. When groups add new issues and behaviours to their plan this is also an indicator of a successful group.
You are likely to find that in the early stages the animal-owning group needs a lot of support and capacity-building, which relies heavily on your skill as a facilitator. As the group becomes more familiar with animal welfare issues and confident in solving them, they will drive this action-reflection-action cycle themselves. This is a sure sign of the success of your work. This is also the stage where you start to discuss how long they will need your support as a facilitator and over what period you should withdraw from the group. Planning for your eventual withdrawal is essential to support the growth of a self-reliant group and not increase its dependency on you. In our experience it takes the group 12 months to reach this stage, and a further 12 to 18 months of strengthening until you finally withdraw.
Throughout these discussions, record any key insights in your Project Action Tracker for use in reflecting and adapting your own project plans and strategies as needed to support the group’s continued progress. Update your Behaviour Change Planning Table and refer to Guidance on Identifying Effective Behaviour Change Strategies as appropriate to supporting your adaptive management process based on lessons learned from these monitoring, learning and reflection processes.
A group sustainability map is a tool for visually representing the cornerstones for successfully achieving sustainable animal welfare improvements. It enables a community group to visualise the key ‘results areas’ that need to be in place to achieve a long-lasting improvement in their animals’ welfare. It is recommended this activity be conducted in the planning or implementation phase of the project, and then its outcomes referred to during monitoring and reflection and learning processes throughout the project, as well as the exit and evaluation phase. In this way, the tool supports assessment of the extent to which the group can sustain its animal welfare improvements independently and help inform the determination of the group’s readiness for withdrawal of external support.
Sustainability mapping is slightly different from vision or dream mapping which involved visualizing broad goals, with vision statements often drawn by participants in the form of pictures [79]. Sustainability mapping on the other hand, focuses on identifying specific results areas needed to achieve sustainability, then breaking down each results area into the specific activities to deliver them, thereby enabling participants to formulate a concrete action plan for achieving lasting change.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• Enable community group members to identify specific results areas that will support their achievement of lasting animal welfare improvements without external support. • Support community action planning by identifying activities community groups need to undertake to deliver each result area and achieve lasting animal welfare improvements. • Support evaluation of group readiness for withdraw of project support.
2 hours
Materials needed:
Chart paper, coloured cards, markers, or other locally available resources, like sticks, stones, straw, beans, seeds, coloured powders or saw dust, etc.
Keyword Search Tags
Project Phase: Planning Phase, Implementation, Exit and Evaluation Phase
Approaches for Working With Communities: Community Development Approach
Behavioural Drivers (COM-B): Opportunity
Stages of Behaviour Change: Preparation Stage
Project Support: Participatory Learning and Action Tools
Specific Topics: Group formation/strengthening
Group Sustainability Map
An example group sustainability map is provided in figure T28 below. The map illustrates the results areas identified as needing to be in place for a community group to achieve lasting animal welfare improvements.
Figure T28 Group Sustainability map
The following activities were then identified to support achievement of each results area, followed by discussions about opportunities for carrying them out:
Animal owners, carers, and users with the motivation, knowledge, and skills to meet their animals’ welfare needs
Advocate for and secure training for group members on animal husbandry and management best practices from extension service providers
Raise awareness of animal husbandry and management best practices to others in the community
Provide guidance to those who need it on preventing/addressing animal welfare issues as needed
Model best practices in animal husbandry and management and share experiences with other community members to encourage their uptake
Effective and functioning community group governance structures andsavings and loansystem
Group develops and approves constitution with clear vision and purpose to improve animal welfare
Group elects governing body members regularly as per the governance constitution including ensuring women’s and other vulnerable groups genuine participation and leadership
Group has financial system (e.g. records, audit reports, minutes of decisions, etc.) and strong management to ensure efficiency, financial stability and sustainability
All members contribute to group savings as per constitutionally agreed requirements
Group action plan is regularly revisited and adapted as needed based on monitoring results
Secure training for group members in community group governance from extension service providers
Mechanisms for monitoring animals’ welfare needs within the community
Agree on observable indicators of animal welfare within their group and the community at large that the group can monitor
Conduct animal welfare transect walks at regularly agreed intervals
Securing access/availability to/of quality and affordable resources and services necessary to sustaining their animal’s welfare
Establish good working relationships with key animal resource and health service providers to support the community in meeting animals’ welfare needs through quality service provision.
Facilitate collective bargaining and purchases from animal resource and service providers at reduced cost to support group members and others in the community in meeting their animals’ welfare needs
Advocate for and secure water point maintenance training for group members from extension service providers
Establish, maintain or provide support to a water point management committee to maintain water points or other community-led natural resource management important to the community and their animals
Group Sustainability Mapping
Step 1
Invite community group members to identify what they need to put/have in place (sometimes called results areas) in order to maintain good working animal welfare on their own to sustain lasting improvements in their animal’s welfare without external support. Give the participants coloured cards and ask them to draw or write down their thoughts. Some areas to consider are suggested under Step 2.
It is important to ensure that different community members are invited and have a safe enabling space for them to share their views on what sustainability looks like from their point of view.
Step 2
Next, ask participants to analyse what is on each card and sort them into categories, facilitating their debate until they come to a consensus on the ‘results areas’ which they believe need to be in place for them to achieve a long-lasting improvement in their/their community’s animals’ welfare. Once results areas are agreed and paste the cards comprising each area onto a big piece of chart paper and ask participants to develop a results statement on each area.
Some examples of possible results are provided below for reference: • Animal owners, carers, and users with the motivation, knowledge, and skills to meet their animals’ welfare needs • Effective and functioning community group governance structures and savings and loan system • Mechanisms for monitoring animals’ welfare needs within the community • Securing access/availability to/of key resources and services necessary to sustaining their animal’s welfare
Step 3
Once results statements have been created, ask group members to identify activities which they would need to undertake to achieve each result statement. Ask them to draw or write each activity on the chart under the result area which it contributes to, and discuss the opportunities for carrying out these activities. Once completed, encourage the group to incorporate their identified activities within their community action plan.
Step 4
Document results by either transferring it to a piece of paper or by taking a photo of the completed outputs. Ensure a copy of the sustainability map produced is retained by the community. Record any relevant insights from the community’s analysis in your project action tracker. Follow up with the community to further support their action planning and implementation of identified activities as needed.
Facilitation Notes
Note what different sustainability aspects are identified as priorities by different community members considering their lived experiences.
It is also important to identify what form of group formation and structure is relevant for the intended group sustainability.
This tool can be used to assess the extent to which community (or other) groups and organisations’ decision making and management practices align with good governance principles.
Tool purpose:
Time needed:
• Support the identification and analysis of who makes decisions and how. • To identify and promote understanding of the principles of good governance • To assess the extent to which existing group decision making and management practices meet good governance principles • Help identify and/or negotiate group governance improvement measures as needed and aide in strengthening the adaptive capacity of community groups • To improve organisational/group practices to be inclusive from the perspective of different groups of people, and help promote more equitable participation in decision making and benefit sharing amongst community group members, especially of vulnerable groups,
2 hours
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,
Specific Topics: Group Formation/Strengthening
Table T29: Example Community Group Governance Assessment Score Card
1
0
-1
Participation and Non-discrimination
The group’s governing body (e.g., executive committee, council, board) is representative of all group members and is not dominated by any individual/s or sub-group/s or does not discriminate against people who are excluded/marginalized groups and vulnerable.
At least 30% of office bearers (e.g., chair, secretary, treasurer) are women
Other members of the community that are marginalized, excluded or who are vulnerable in that community have a seat in the governing body
There is regular dialogue with, and active involvement of, all members in the community group’s discussions and activities
Equity (Fairness)
Respect and attention are given to all group members’ views and all views weight equal weight unless provided in the Group’s governance constitution
There is no personal bias in decisions made by the community group
Consideration is given to the distribution of costs and benefits (of decisions and actions) between group members
Transparency
All group members are aware of the community group’s rules and regulations and division of roles among members and governing bodies, and among governing body members
All group members are aware of how and why decisions are made by the group governance body
There is clear communication with all group members, including on all financial transactions and decision-made including record keeping
Accountability and Integrity
There is a clear system for the allocation and acceptance of responsibility amongst group members
There is a process of planning, monitoring and reporting to ensure that agreed actions are effectively implemented and reported
There is mechanism or process in place for resolving conflicts or grievances which is accessible by all group members
The group has audit group or gets to be audited to ensure financial accountability and financial health
Group Governance Self-assessment
Step 1
The first stage in the group governance assessment is ‘setting the scene’ by sharing experiences and perspectives of good governance.
To ‘set the scene’ invite community group members to recount an event or change in their community that was because of (or was followed by) decisions made by one or more local groups/organisations. The local group/organization used as an example could be community group itself, or another local group or organisation such as a community council, school board, or church.
It is advisable to carry out this exercise by breaking the community into smaller groups of 2-3 and present back (as a story or role play, if appropriate), or alternatively you can conduct this as a group discussion. Questions to guide the discussion can include the following:
• How, where, when, and by whom were decisions made? • How were they communicated to others? • What possibilities were there to debate decisions? • Was there consensus around the decisions made? How and among whom was the consensus achieved? • Who had most influence over decision making processes? Why? • Who had the least influence over decision making processes? Why? • What was good about the decision-making process? • How could decision making have been improved?
Through this discussion, elicit participants’ perspectives on what constitutes good governance. Then principles of good governance, against which the organisation/group will be assessed, can then be presented, and discussed. Although values are strongly influenced by the local cultural context, there are some universal norms that apply across cultural boundaries. Some principles of good governance include:
• Participation and Non-Discrimination - All stakeholders participate in decision making that affects their lives, including representatives of people from marginalised and disempowered groups. Decisions rendered does not negatively impact in discriminating against women and other vulnerable groups. • Equity - Costs and benefits are shared fairly and impartial judgement is available in case of conflict. • Accountability - Lines of responsibility are clear and those in positions of responsibility are answerable to all stakeholders. • Transparency - All relevant information and records are available, in an appropriate form, to all stakeholders.
Step 2
Prepare an assessment score card table (refer to example in Table T29) to enable the group to score itself against good governance principles using the key indicators identified. Then identify a scoring system. An example scoring system that has proven useful is using a scale of -1, 0, +1, with good = +1, moderate = 0, and poor = -1. The process of discussing good governance practices is more important than reaching a consensus in one session. If there are differences of opinion these should be noted, and the discussion moved on.
Step 3
Encourage individual participants to prepare their own scoring followed by a group analysis and discussion of the patterns that emerge. In this case, it may be appropriate to make the statements as shown in the table (Figure T29) more personal e.g. I feel that respect and attention is given to my views, or I am aware of the organisation’s rules and regulations.
Step 4
Discuss and analyse the results as a group, focusing on why and how the score was allocated to each principle. Any differences of opinion should be discussed. Revisit the table either during or following the discussion to adjust the scores as needed.
Step 5
If time permits and if appropriate, participants can discuss the scores they would like to see in the future and begin to explore the steps needed to improve the group’s governance practices. Consider adding a column to include any actions or steps identified as needed to improve scores or keep track of the key discussion points.
Step 6
If the Table was drawn on a chart on the ground, document it by either transferring it to a piece of paper or take a photo. 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
The focus of this exercise is about who makes decisions and how those decisions are made within community groups (i.e., governance) rather than the technical or financial capacity of local groups and organisations.
Consideration should be given to whether the exercise is to be carried out with group members or wider ‘community’ who may not be members, but who may support the community group in other ways, including stakeholders who may affect or be affected by the group’s actions. This similar exercise can also be carried out amongst elected governing body members.
The emphasis here is on the principles of good governance, some of which may threaten existing power imbalances in decision making, the facilitators must be aware of how the different principles promote good governance and be able to explain this with examples, as well as awareness on how power imbalances can lead to organisations being destabilized.
The facilitator must also be aware of the group composition, in terms of gender, power, social relationships with the community and how political or social relationships might inhibit group discussion, and the fact that stakeholders may be unwilling to share their true thoughts, this can be addressed through having different group meetings.
This can also be used when an elected governing body is facing governance issues and need to have a facilitated dialogue to ensure governing bodies solve issues using self-assessment tool.
Local participants should be encouraged to build as much of the diagram as possible without interruption and to suggest anything else that should be recorded.
![Fig 14a: Process of Group Formation
(Adapted from [70, 111])](http://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-3.png)
![Figure 40: Stages of Group Development [70]](http://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image-4.png)
![Figure 42: Reflection and Learning Process [7]](http://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Picture-1-1.png)
