Abstract
Simple SummaryWith increasing frequency, animal welfare organisations are looking to operate in multiple countries. Apart from lessons learned by trial and error and personal experiences informally shared, little formal knowledge is available to support the challenging task of achieving success for the animal welfare movement beyond borders. Through gaining interview insights from leaders of some of the world’s biggest international animal welfare organisations, this study was able to conduct an analysis to find reoccurring themes and important concepts relating to both successful and unsuccessful initiatives, and investigate the reasons behind their success level. The prominent findings are presented and aim to be of use when looking to develop international animal welfare strategy.Animal welfare is an increasingly global initiative, which makes the intricate business of operating across borders of particular relevance to the movement. There is, however, a distinct absence of literature dedicated to investigating operational strategies that are more likely to result in the success of international animal welfare initiatives. In addition to this, opportunities exist to investigate the human aspects of animal welfare, parallel to the growing field of animal-based science. This study aimed to begin addressing these gaps by conducting semi structured interviews with 15 leaders of some of the largest international animal welfare charities. Leaders were asked to describe their experiences of successful and unsuccessful initiatives within the animal welfare movement. Thematic analysis was then conducted to identify recurring concepts and extrapolate potentially applicable information. Engaging stakeholders and communities in locally-led and culturally respectful ways were discussed, as was the importance of knowledge, moderation, flexibility, and mutual benefits. The dangers of attacking personal and cultural identity are also highlighted and discussed. Key quotes and examples are presented, supplemented with mind maps as a tool to more readily apply the findings of the study in strategy development.
Highlights
Following the path of commercial enterprise, not-for-profit social initiatives are increasingly seeing the globe through a lens of borderless possibility
This study aims to begin to understand the key tenets of successful international animal welfare initiatives, as shared by international animal welfare leaders across organisations and regions
Other comments included “it doesn’t benefit from international condemnation”, “people are very protective of their culture”, “I think we somehow presume that because we find something horrible, that everyone else should find it horrible, and not understanding that there is a fairly strong cultural identity”, and “I think a lot of people who are sitting on the fence would say ‘you don’t come into a country and tell us what to do, we‘re going to be on the side of the people who are carrying out this practice, even if we don’t agree with it”, thereby consolidating this theme
Summary
Following the path of commercial enterprise, not-for-profit social initiatives are increasingly seeing the globe through a lens of borderless possibility. ‘Animal Welfare’ is one of those issues, only with the added challenge of being a social cause not centered around humans This can be a particular challenge when considering projects run in lesser developed countries, by charities based in higher developed countries. Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs that required the lower levels to be satisfied (such as shelter, food, and water) before higher levels such as self actualisation and purpose. This conventional model has endured to become mainstream within psychology, Maslow later updated his pyramid to place ‘self-transcendence’ at the top; a motivation to look beyond the self, and to act in service of others and something bigger [5]. The ability to focus on charitable causes is a luxury
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