*These five principles will ensure best results if applied jointly and in sequence. If not possible to apply all 5 principles, project teams are advised to use the World Bank Social Inclusion Assessment Tool (SiAT) to address social inclusion and gender equality issues.
Identify the excluded individuals and groups in any given context
An important first step to ensure that project interventions do not exacerbate existing inequalities is to identify who is at risk of exclusion in the project context. Are there individuals and groups who face lower access to land, have lower ownership of livestock, or are excluded from decision-making surrounding the livestock intervention? Asking these initial questions, the project can develop a baseline of which social groups are most likely to be excluded due to socio-economic disparities, but also based on existing discriminatory social norms, policies or practices. E.g. nomadic pastoralists are a social group that has been historically marginalized in many countries. Similarly, women and youth in many countries/societies to not have access to (grazing) land and have lower ownership rates of livestock, even when they may have responsibility for rearing them. Understanding who is at risk of exclusion allows the project team to develop more inclusive and equitable project interventions, and foster dialogue with government and other partners to influence necessary change in legislation and policies (e.g. inheritance or ownership laws).
Exclusion is often contentious and deep-rooted. It is important for project teams to triangulate information with a diverse and representative group of informants from different social groups, including government as well as non-government and civil society partners.
Applying the step
Under ideal circumstances this step is carried out during the initial stages of project design, and it informs the rest of the project design/preparation and implementation.
While it may not be possible for the project team to have an exhaustive list of individuals and groups that are excluded, they will have access to a number of World Bank resources for each of the countries where WB operates. Systemic country diagnostics (SCDs) can provide some initial information.
It is highly recommended that project teams should, if possible, allocate funds for additional mapping of relevant stakeholders, including a gender analysis that can identify all individuals and groups at risk of exclusion. In the absence of such funds, additional information on gender and social inclusion issues can be found in resources by several UN agencies, including the UN Women Country sheets and UNDP Human Development Data.
For livestock specific information on gender equality and social inclusion, project teams can also draw on material from FAO projects and the work of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
Trade-offs
With any of the 5 five steps for promoting social inclusion in SIL, the main trade off is the resource cost of the activity. The resource cost includes allocation of qualified staff, time to carry out the exercises at the right moment in the project cycle, and material resources needed for completing the activities in each of the 5 steps.
While there may be a pushback about the cost of this work, it is important to remember that the cost of not doing this work - that is - the cost of inequality and social exclusion for broader society is much more substantial, encompassing economic, social, and psychological dimensions. Economically, it results in reduced workforce participation, lower tax revenues, and increased public expenditure on welfare and healthcare. Socially, it leads to higher crime rates, health inequities, and educational disparities, undermining social cohesion and trust. Psychologically, it exacerbates mental health issues and erodes social capital, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality across generations. Ultimately, this hampers societal stability, equity, and overall prosperity.