R7483. Displaced Person Domestic Energy –
Demonstration Phase
This
document reports on the results of a two year research intervention in Northern
Ghana.
The
purpose of the project was to validate the
effectiveness of the rapid assessment method demonstrated in R6849 (adoption
barriers for efficient domestic energy in refugee sites) by measuring the
impact of using the outcomes of R6849.
The indicator for this was set as a percentage increase in use of
(improved) domestic stoves and/or an uptake of sustainable live wood use. The target was 20% increase for stove use –
the project has achieved a 51% increase.
There has been a measurable change of attitude and behaviour regarding
stoves. The pressure on wood sources
has increased and so the results show that while attitude and behaviour towards
wood collection have improved (in those receiving extension education attached
to the project), the wider, general trend is still towards unsustainable use. The project has clearly demonstrated the
effectiveness of the targeted messages.
Research
Project R6849 pioneered the use of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA) as a
survey method for gaining a better understanding of livelihood strategies. In this case the livelihood component was domestic
energy among displaced persons.
Open
ended interviews and PRA techniques have often been used to define the “what, where, when, who and how” of
livelihood strategies. However, little
attention has been paid to the “why”. Why do people behave as they do - what
motivates them, what reasoning fuels their decisions? Some open interview surveys have asked the question why but the
answers are often inconclusive.
The
TORA tool explains the relationship of these different expressed attitudes on
the decision to adopt improved practice.
It therefore helps isolate the key issues that may be acting as drivers
or barriers to positive behaviour. The added value of the TORA rapid assessment
tool is its use of a second more formal
survey after the open interview, to
give statistically validated findings.
In
R6849 the TORA was applied to domestic energy concerns. It resulted in recommendations for extension
messages (both content and channels of delivery) and proposed that if these
were applied by extension agents as part of their everyday work they would
result in changes in behaviour among the agents clients.
This
project (R7483) has taken the recommendations of R6849 and worked with
extension services across Northern Ghana to apply them. The deliberate extension intervention
included messages that addressed cognitive barriers to the adoption of three
generalised behaviours:
·
improved
stove adoption.
·
firewood
collection,
·
wood
lot planting,
The
extension initiative was therefore seen to ‘focus’ on these particular
barriers. The ‘messages’ and methodologies of this ‘focused’ extension were
further developed by local extension agencies, both GO and NGO, involved in the
promotion of sustainable natural resource management, during a workshop conducted
in Tamale in January 2000.
Possibly the most important conclusion from
the workshop was the importance attached to issues associated with domestic
fuelwood use and environmental degradation by extension and agricultural
workers and policy makers. This was
evident not only in the numbers who attended the workshop (with a high rate of
acceptance of invitations), but also in the responses given throughout the
workshop – formally through sessions, and informally through discussions.
In particular, firewood collection was regarded as an important, and hitherto ignored area,
which should be addressed. It was
interesting that woodlot planting was an important activity in the area,
registering as one of the issues most commonly addressed by delegates. The workshop revealed that improved stoves
is a complex issue where much work has been done. The complexities are due to traditional cooking methods and
cultural preferences for a variety of food preparations, but most important is
the fact that there appears to be a large range of these practices in a
relatively small area.
R7843 internal workshop report January 2000
A
further workshop was conducted in December 2000 to assess the midterm extension
process and strengthen it with promotion tools, e.g. the development and
testing of dramas suitable for radio, village dramas, role-play and flip charts
for use by extension agents. The
general ‘focused’ extension intervention ran from February 2000 to September
2001. However, the more structured approach was applied between January 2001and
September 2001.
The
final research activity[1]
was to repeat the TORA survey in order to explore the changes that had occurred
among extension clients. 230 sample
households were surveyed in the districts exposed to the focused
extension. The project determined if
the focused intervention had changed these barriers and whether there was a
related improvement in the three behaviours.
Ø The ‘focused’ extension has
led to an increase in the use of improved stoves and a stronger intention to
continue this practice.
Ø One of the main findings of
this research is the more positive response achieved by including the improved
stove as part of a wider integrated approach to sustainable natural resource
management.
Ø Where this has taken place
in comparison to a ‘stoves only’ demonstration, the social support from the
important social referents for the adoption of the improved stove has
significantly increased.
Ø This increased social
support is across the genders, i.e. husband and extension agents, who in many
cases are also males.
Ø Regarding the promotion of
improved stoves, the barriers identified in the first survey, the subsequent
messages developed to address these and the ‘channels’ or most appropriate
social referents to target in the ‘focused’ extension strategy have been
vindicated.
Ø There has been a general
deterioration in sustainable collection behaviour over the past 3 years.
Ø The 'focused' extension
programme does appear ‘to have halted’ this negative trend and has led to more
sustainable behaviour.
Ø
This
positive intention is driven more by their sense of ‘social obligation’ than by
their attitude towards wood collecting.
Ø Nevertheless, the previously
identified barriers to sustainable collection practice that were addressed by
the ‘focused’ extension programme have changed within the targeted
population. For instance:- an awareness of possible future scarcity and
women's self perception of their own capability to address it have now become
drivers.
Ø In the case of the rural
Dagomba women, the main finding is the importance of targeting / involving the
subjects' important social referents and changing the referent's perceived
attitudes toward the natural resource in question, in this instance firewood
and its source, trees, i.e. an integrated cross-gender approach to natural
resource management.
Ø
Generally
tree planting and wood lot management behaviour have weakened over the past 3
years.
Ø
Those
communities exposed to the ‘focused’ extension initiative, and particularly
those who have attended demonstrations have registered a significant
positive change in both their current practice and future intentions.
Ø
The
positive change in the expressed intention to plant wood lots is based mainly
on the response to perceived social pressure rather than attitudes (experience
based reasoning).
Ø
The
main finding is the importance of targeting / involving the subjects' important
social referents via an integrated cross-gender approach to natural resource
management.
Ø
Field
demonstrations have proved a particularly effective extension tool regarding
wood lot promotion.
Ø
The
short period of the ‘focused’ extension intervention and the significant
changes achieved in behaviour demonstrate the effectiveness of the ‘Theory of
Reasoned Action’ (TORA) model in the identification of the critical issues
influencing the decision making process.
Ø
It
enabled a more focused and therefore efficient extension intervention.
Ø
The
use of the (TORA) model in the Northern Ghana context has demonstrated an
effective methodology for the identification of the most salient psychological
barriers influencing the adoption of recommended ‘natural resource management’
practices.
Ø
It
provided the means of combining this knowledge with an intervention strategy
that targeted the most influential social referents of the objective population
regarding the particular behaviour in question.
Ø
TORA
has proved to be a precise although not necessarily a rapid assessment tool.
Ø
TORA’s
periodic application can enable extension or education programme managers to
identify precisely the impact of their interventions and adjust these
accordingly, thus ensuring the greater efficiency and effectiveness of their
investment.
Specific recommendations were made in project R6849
regarding extension practice based on the findings. Project R7843 has applied these recommendations with a measure of
success (behavioural change).
·
For
the gains of the recent extension work not to be lost, we recommend that the
development actors in Northern Ghana come together for a workshop in late 2002
to reinforce the messages that are being used among extension workers.
R6849 concluded that the TORA was a useful tool for
identifying the internal motivation of community members (both displaced and
non-displaced) and could be widely used in the energy sector and beyond. The tool was said to be appropriate for
environmental programmes, technology transfer and health programmes. The report recommended that the results of
this project be widely disseminated to agencies working in the refugee, energy
and environmental sectors, and other relevant programmes where an understanding
of the internal motivation of the participants will assist planning of
interventions, the TORA rapid assessment tool would be useful.
Project
R7843 has validated that the TORA is indeed an effective tool for identifying
the barriers and drivers towards behaviour in communities and groups. It is more rigorous than some of the
participatory tools currently being promoted within the development
community. It allows the planner to
identify the key points that need to be addressed in extension messages or development
discussions. In this case it served as a tool to enhance behaviours that were
beneficial to the environment. At the
same time it has demonstrated that it could be used to address behaviours that
affected common livelihood strategies among a community.
·
As such it should be promoted for wide and regular use in
development projects to aid focussed educational extension work.
·
We recommend that a manual be developed for using the TORA as a
planning tool
for project planners to encourage widespread use of it.
[1] Note:- presentations of findings were made in Ghana to the participants of the research and to other interested parties in March 2002. The project has also worked towards active dissemination of the lessons learned through this research, and dissemination has been considered a “project activity” although not a “research activity”.