Considerations for Developing Training Materials for Communities with Donkeys and Mules PDF

**CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEVELOPING TRAINING MATERIALS FOR COMMUNITIES WITH DONKEYS AND MULES** **Asmamaw Kassaye \[ DVM, MAL\]** 1. **Introduction** Training of communities is key for the recognition of donkeys and mules as sentient beings. Animal welfare organizations like The Donkey Sanctuary are...

**CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEVELOPING TRAINING MATERIALS FOR COMMUNITIES WITH DONKEYS AND MULES** **Asmamaw Kassaye \[ DVM, MAL\]** 1. **Introduction** Training of communities is key for the recognition of donkeys and mules as sentient beings. Animal welfare organizations like The Donkey Sanctuary are increasingly recognizing the role of knowledge transfer and resulting human behavior change as a key approach for donkey and mule welfare improvement. In this essay, I will provide a short overview of the key areas that should be considered when developing training materials for communities where donkeys and mules work. 2. **Considerations while developing training materials for communities** 1. **The Donkey and Mule at the center of it all** Training material developers should place donkeys and mules at the center of the resources they develop. The interest of the donkeys should be protected in all learning activities. After all the purpose of the learning activities is to ensure good welfare of donkeys and mules. Do these communities recognize that donkeys and mules have emotional needs and feel pleasure and pain as humans do? Or are they perceived as instruments for delivering on human needs? Understanding where communities sit on this spectrum is critical for designing appropriate training materials as studies show a link to the provision of care and welfare of donkeys and mules (1, 2). 2. **The presence of a real need** Developers need to explore further to look for root causes underpinning the welfare problems and whether knowledge transfer is part of the intervention. However, caution should be taken not to try and solve everything through training. In some instances, communities may as well have the information or knowledge but they don't practice it. 3. **Understanding community contexts** Donkeys and mules have close relationships with humans in communities across the globe. However, they face poor welfare from negative experiences with humans. Limited knowledge about their nature, needs and care required to maintain good welfare or even lack of knowledge on how to deal with such problems are implicated as the main causes. This is further complicated when communities face challenges to meet their own needs due to poverty, and they fail in their duty of care for their donkeys and mules (3). 4. **The type of audience (learners)** How members of community learn and apply their learning may vary based on: being of urban or rural origin, age, education, experience with donkeys should be taken to consideration. Men and women interact with donkeys and mules differently. Cultural norms, religious views and beliefs strongly affect learners and should be handled carefully. Resource should be inclusive of vulnerable and marginalized people and those with special needs. Access to technology and confidence in using technology may affect whether a learning resource is to be virtual or physical. 5. **Quality of the message (content)** The content of the learning resource should be well scrutinized through scientific or experiential evidence. A priority here is to "Do no harm" to donkeys, mules and humans because of wrong information. Piloting and validation should be done when resources are translated into multiple languages. The message has to be need based, targeted, positive and simple. Complex subjects should be broken down to simple and should account for prior positive or negative learning. 6. **The delivery and presentation** The learning resources need to have a good mix of text description, illustrations, models or audiovisual resources based on the audience. The illustrations should be appealing, plain and simple to allow photocopying in resource poor situations. Using case studies and practical examples will raise the appetite of adult learners and make application of such learning easier. Learning resource need to consider the use for informal learning, encourage peer learning (4, 5). 7. **Measuring learning and human behavior change** Learning resources need to embed ways of assessing learning progression. This can start with a needs assessment and followed by continuous assessment. Changes in community practices and donkey welfare can also be measured. 3. **Conclusion** Training activities and learning resources learning resource developments have to be done with the need and interest of donkeys at the center. The community context and types of learners and should also be considered. The content should be sound and with clear message. The delivery should be well designed ahead of time with mixed resources and modes of delivery. Embedding ways of measuring learning progression and impact is also critical. **References** 1. Bukhari SSUH, McElligott AG, Rosanowski SM, Parkes RSV. 2023. Recognition of emotion and pain by owners benefits the welfare of donkeys in a challenging working environment. *PeerJ* 11:e15747  2. Emily Haddy, Faith Burden, Zoe Raw, João B. Rodrigues, Jaime Humberto Zappi Bello, Julia Brown, Juliane Kaminski & Leanne Proops (28 Jun 2023): Belief in Animal Sentience and Affective Owner Attitudes are linked to Positive Working Equid Welfare across Six Countries, *Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science*, 3. **Geiger, M., Hockenhull, J., Buller, H., Engida, G. T., Jemal Kedir, M., Goshu, L., Getachew, M., Banerjee†, A., Burden, F. A., & Whay, H. R. (2023). Being with Donkeys: Insights into the Valuing and Wellbeing of Donkeys in Central Ethiopia. *Society & Animals* (published online ahead of print 2023). ** 4. Mesfin, H., Tessema, Y. M., Tirivayi, N., & Nillesen, E. (2023). Effective Knowledge Transmission and Learning in Agriculture: Evidence from a Randomised Training Experiment in Ethiopia. *Africa Development / Afrique et Développement*, *48*(1), 213--244. 5. Pickering, Persephone, and Jo Hockenhull. (2020). \"Optimising the Efficacy of Equine Welfare Communications: Do Equine Stakeholders Differ in Their Information-Seeking Behaviour and Communication Preferences?\" *Animals* 10, no. 1: 21.