Social behaviour change can help modernise pastoralism
By Editorial.Team, July 19, 2022Social Behaviour Change (SBC) tactics have successfully reduced maternal and child deaths in Kenya. Historically, pregnant women relied on traditional birth attendants and ignored calls for prenatal clinic visits, resulting in high maternal and child mortality blamed on preventable causes such as severe bleeding during birth. As a tested approach based on data, SBC promoted a change in knowledge, attitude, norms and beliefs in the health sector that ultimately led to positive behavioural change. There has been increased uptake of maternal and newborn care, immunisation, family planning and HIV testing services.
As an approach that analyses a problem to determine barriers and motivators to behavioural change, SBC’s success has lured thematic areas outside the realm of health to embrace it. Promoting sustainable livelihoods and food security is one of the areas in the humanitarian world that is warming up to this approach. The livestock sector, for instance, is one such area where the adoption of social behaviour change campaign will be key.
The livestock sector contributes 12 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 42 per cent of the agricultural GDP. Seventy per cent of beef produced in the country comes from the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) region’s pastoralists, hence the urgent call to equip them with the necessary skills for better livestock-keeping practices.
In Northern Kenya, pastoralists need to adopt modern animal husbandry practices for higher yields to avert animal losses witnessed during dry spells and disease outbreaks. Against that backdrop, pastoralists in ASALs have long engaged in livestock farming for cultural reasons and not for commercial sustenance.
Secondly, despite being the primary source of beef and other livestock products, ASALs have lagged in terms of economic contribution due to the dominant influence of cultural and social values over the need for sustainable economic gains. It partly explains why they continue to experience abject poverty and significant economic loss, during droughts.
While donor-funded projects have dwelt majorly on imparting technical expertise and strengthening systems of the county governments in ASAL regions, the efforts have not changed the fortunes of the livestock sector in ASAL areas sufficiently. The main reason is the failure to address the socio-cultural issues that potentially improve the well-being of pastoralists.
Between January and July, the Feed the Future Kenya Livestock Market System Activity (LMS), through the support of the USAid, undertook SBC communication campaign in Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, Wajir and Turkana, which vouched for the adoption of animal health services such as the use of vaccination and veterinary drugs, using high-quality feeds like hay, feeds, and mineral salts and marketing livestock and livestock products through aggregation channels such as producer groups. Others included handling, processing and preserving livestock products and consuming animal source foods by pastoralists in the five counties.
With only six months of campaign implementation, a wind of change is blowing on the ground. Over 100 county technical officers have undergone various SBC training techniques for reinforcing key messages from media campaigns at the community and household levels. The officials and local change agents will be instrumental in sensitising the community disease reporters who link the county and the pastoralists. The campaign also served as a learning opportunity for implementing SBC health programmes. Social norms affect every facet of society, and livestock keeping and pastoralism are at the core of community beliefs, practices and attitudes.
Addressing the core problems averse to change is the beginning of a lasting change among beneficiaries of livestock and livelihood-related projects such as the LMS. Further, the campaign revealed structural and administrative barriers to adopting the desired behaviour changes that had not been previously explored. The barrier analysis research revealed key insights entrenched in poor policies that impede the adoption of the behaviours. Counties have prioritised ‘livestock’ SBC calling for sound advocacy and policy change to support lasting behavioural change among pastoralists.
Better animal husbandry means healthier cattle and livestock products that will serve the local markets and meet international market standards. It will lead to secure livelihoods through increased income for pastoralists, especially at the household level, increased foreign exchange, and, most importantly, improved food security.
— The writer is Senior Market Systems Specialist, Kenya Livestock Market Systems