Using cows to broadcast behavior change.

I came across a story last week about a very small but successful program to curb female genital mutilation (FGM) in West Pokot, Kenya.  The Kenyan government outlawed FGM nearly 10 years ago.  But its deep cultural roots have allowed the tradition to endure.  Given that the practice predates both Islam and Christianity it's easy to understand why, despite ample evidence of serious health risks, FGM isn't going to simply stop overnight.  Changing mass behavior is seldom swift and never based on reason alone.  And when the behavior in question is attached to a rich tribal, cultural, and even political tradition, lawmaking isn't likely to bring about lasting change. But when criminalization is coupled with community based interventions, sustained behavior change may actually stand a chance.

The community based intervention I came across is using cows to reward women who quit their work as female circumcisers.   Six years ago, a local women's organization devised the plan when they learned that their previous efforts had failed.  The program's director realized that simply talking to circumcisers about the dangers of FGM wasn't working.  They found that the circumcisers often went back to the custom due to idleness.  To solve for the problem they needed to do more than just ask the circumcisers to stop, they needed to get them to start something else. And preferably, that something else would replace the income the women earned as circumcisers. So they asked the women (sorry, "crowdsourced") what income-generating activity they would like to start.  Aside from FGM, raising cattle is about the only way to make a living in West Pokot.  The women wisely asked for cows.  Those ten women are now offering to give seven heifers to other women who pledge to quit their work as female circumcisers.

This may seem like a pretty simple, common sense campaign.  And it is.  But I think one of the strongest features of the campaign has largely been overlooked - the role the cows play in signifying behavior change.  In other words, the cows make it visible to the entire community who is no longer participating in a practice that is now often carried out in secret.  And making that behavior change visible is a critical element to facilitating mass adoption.

As Mark Earls describes in HERD, most efforts to change behavior misunderstand the very nature of human behavior in the first place.  They assume that human beings are rational, independent decision makers.  In reality, the decisions we make are often irrational and largely influenced by others.  Mark argues that to create behavior change we need to start thinking of people as herd animals.  That is, we do what we do largely because of what we see others doing around us.  The cows in West Pokot allow others to see what the women are, in this case, no longer doing.  The cows act as both incentive to participate and marketing vehicle.  The consumer analogue Earls would point to is the white ear buds for iPod.  Since mp3 players are typically stashed away in the listener's pocket, the white earbuds make it clear to passersby who is actually listening to an iPod.  The earbuds make the behavior visible.  And making the behavior visible facilitates peoples' natural tendency towards copying.  It's then no surprise that the advertising campaign that launched the iPod didn't focus on the revolutionary technology or beautiful design, it focused on that one simple way to signify iPod ownership and thereby accelerate mass adoption. In effect, the cows are the white earbuds of West Pokot's campaign to stop FGM - a way to make an otherwise hidden behavior visible.  And thereby, encourage copying and mass behavior change.

This is not to diminish the role the cows play as an income generating incentive.  The incentive is critical.  But so is the uniformity of that incentive.  Had the women not been asked to agree upon a single income generating activity and rather been given money to start a business of their own choosing, the opportunity to broadcast the behavior change would be lost.  The cows act as an icon for the campaign's effort to end FGM.  And in this remote corner of Kenya, the sight of women herding cattle may actually help usher in a new era of health and human rights for women.

Comments

[Cheap Sandals]

Law can nerver be enforced unless fear supports it. （Sophocles, Ancient Greek dramatist）

[nike heels]

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults.or resolution enough to mend them

[nike heels for women]

Beware,beware!he＇ll cheat＇ithout scruple,who can without fear.