Dataset Information

Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

ABSTRACT: Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins')-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations.The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants.Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40-70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively.Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke's new global strategy, a revised organisational structure and redefinition of roles and responsibilities to streamline ways to approach hard-wins in the complex environments and socio-economic contexts in which working equids are found.

SUBMITTER: Pritchard J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5800664 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

Pritchard Joy J Upjohn Melissa M Hirson Tamsin T

PloS one 20180206 2

<h4>Purpose</h4>Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins')-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations.<h4>Methods</h4>The Delphi-type consultation process had three ...[more]

PMID: 29408887

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Dataset Information

Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

Publications

Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

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