With close to 10 million donkeys, Ethiopia has the largest donkey population in the world. However, the country lacks animal welfare legislation to protect them. Primarily used in agriculture and for transporting goods, the donkeys often suffer from poor welfare. Common issues include wounds and injuries due to improper harnessing, as well as lameness and disease.

This paper describes a program initiated by The Donkey Sanctuary, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), to test the effectiveness of community-based approaches in improving donkey welfare. Between 2012 and 2017, the project team worked with nine communities across four regional states: Amhara, Tigray, Sidama, and Oromia. These regions were chosen because they’re home to 93% of Ethiopia’s equine population. The project followed a participatory, whole-community approach. The goal was to achieve long-term improvements in donkey welfare through community empowerment and the promotion of life skills.

Key program elements included:

• Community and stakeholder engagement: Involving local communities, animal health professionals, regional authorities (town mayors, officers and staff from government departments of agriculture, education, and transport), and harness-making experts
• Education: Training animal health professionals and donkey keepers on physical health and behavior as indicators of welfare
• School programs: Establishing animal welfare clubs to teach children life skills such as critical thinking and to strengthen their relationships with donkeys
• Healthcare: Transforming public veterinary clinics into model facilities of equine welfare and education
• Harness and packsaddle skill transfer: Training community members to produce harnesses and packsaddles that are less harmful to donkeys than traditional designs, using expertise shared by professionals

Welfare assessments conducted at the start of the program in 2013 and again in 2016 showed a significant improvement in donkey welfare. The prevalence of wounds in working donkeys dropped from 50% in 2013 to 16% in 2016. This reduction was largely due to the introduction of new packsaddle designs made from smooth, natural materials that helped prevent pressure injuries. A total of 3,742 donkey keepers were trained to make these new packsaddles themselves. In addition to fewer wounds, the donkeys also showed improved body condition and reduced lameness.

In terms of education, 33,803 donkey keepers and 65 animal health professionals received training over the course of the project. Whereas most donkey keepers previously didn’t take the donkeys to veterinary clinics, many began to seek care at their own expense after the program was established, resulting in tens of thousands of donkeys receiving direct healthcare each year. Learning to read donkeys’ body language and recognize signs of poor welfare helped donkey keepers provide better care. Animal health professionals completed five training modules including handling, behavior, welfare assessment tools, hoof care, and disease prevention.

The program also established 19 animal welfare clubs, reaching more than 22,000 students. Club members successfully campaigned for donkey keepers to stop loading donkeys with freshly milled flour, which can get so hot it can burn a donkey’s back, and for mill owners to provide shade and water to donkeys waiting to collect flour. An animal welfare handbook in local languages was developed to help integrate animal welfare into school curricula, and over 700 teachers received training on how to teach animal welfare.

At the policy level, the project collaborated with local government structures to establish animal welfare bylaws. These proved effective at the local level and marked an important first step toward national legislative reform.

Unfortunately, due to organizational changes within the NGO, the program was ended in 2017. Despite the large number of individuals reached, the authors believe it’s likely that an even greater impact could’ve been achieved had the project continued beyond that point. Although animal health and welfare were not initial community priorities, the program achieved significant results. Its emphasis on community engagement, education, and empowerment led to shifts in attitudes and behaviors toward donkeys over the four years the project ran, suggesting the potential for long-term change.

For animal advocates, this study illustrates that addressing a problem from multiple angles can produce a multiplier effect. While it’s intuitive to focus directly on the animals when seeking to improve their welfare, an even greater impact may be achieved by involving all stakeholders — fostering participation, behavior change, and policy reform. Furthermore, highlighting the benefits for people, alongside those for animals, can be a powerful strategy in animal advocacy.