Brooke announces its first Global Research Strategy
Brooke has launched its first Global Research Strategy for 2023-2028. This will underpin our decision making and help us continue to create lasting positive change to the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules around the world.
Boy and horse in India. Photography Credit: Atul Loke.
Our Research Vision
Brooke has a long history of conducting credible and internationally recognised research, enabling us to better understand barriers and find solutions to challenges. Evidence is key to achieving Brooke’s global aims, and the new Global Research Strategy is a vital and dynamic part of this.
We collaborated with Brooke staff from all parts of the organisation to explore three broad areas:
- The purpose and scope of Brooke research
- How our research is governed, resourced and funded
- How the impact of our research is planned from the outset.
The new strategy will support Brooke to succeed in three of its organisational goals:
- Transforming equine welfare in communities – supporting equine-owning communities to thrive and become more resilient.
- Increasing the visibility and inclusion of working equids – making sure their needs are covered in policy and practice at all levels.
- Developing sustainable animal health systems – meeting both the immediate and future medical needs of working horses, donkeys and mules
Priority Research Themes
The strategy will help Brooke to understand problems, new areas of work and test our approaches, enabling us to make effective decisions on what best action to take. It will also support Brooke’s advocacy and campaigning work, widening our knowledge within related fields such as animal welfare, animal health, One Health and One Welfare, and international development.
Brooke’s priority research themes will include the role of working horses, donkeys and mules and how their welfare impacts:
- The socioeconomic contribution on their communities
- The resilience and disaster preparedness of their communities.
“This strategy sets out our vision for research at Brooke and our approach to achieving that ambition. Over the next five years, it will position Brooke to effectively plan and deliver targeted, quality and ethical research that has benefits working horses, donkeys and mules and the communities who depend upon them.”
The new strategy provides an opportunity for Brooke’s in-country teams to come together for greater impact in their programmatic work. Addressing research themes across multiple countries will help Brooke’s potential to influence policy makers and decision makers, such as governments and national organisations.
Collaboration
As well as collaborating with our international teams, Brooke will work with academics, research institutes and other International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) to deliver quality and credible research. We always welcome new collaborators to share knowledge, resources and expertise with, to ensure our research is as effective as possible in achieving its desired impact.
While implementing the new strategy, Brooke will follow a ‘doing research for impact’ approach. It will go beyond traditional views of research impact such as academic publications, and consider how research has contributed to the desired change. We will work collaboratively to design and conduct research with key stakeholders to achieve this.
Considering ethics when working with animals and people - and promoting a culture of care - is a Brooke core value. All research proposals collecting primary data will continue to be reviewed by Brooke’s Animal Welfare Ethical Review Body (AWERB) before the start of data collection.