Executive summary: After reassessing the effectiveness of their plant-based meal advocacy, Anima International in France pivoted their strategy to focus on ending the use of cages for laying hens, believing this to be a more impactful way to reduce animal suffering.
Key points:
Initial Focus on Plant-Based Meals: As Assiettes Végétales, the organization successfully increased the proportion of vegetarian meals in French university canteens, but struggled to expand further in a country with strong culinary traditions centered on animal products.
Reevaluating Impact: A deep analysis of collective catering menus and animal suffering data revealed that many vegetarian meals relied heavily on eggs, often from caged hens, reducing the net benefit of their campaign.
Strategic Shift Decision: A systematic review of 94 possible interventions led the team to choose cage-free advocacy as the most effective way to reduce suffering, despite initial emotional resistance to abandoning their previous work.
Implementation of the Cage-Free Campaign: Anima International now works with companies to ensure compliance with cage-free egg commitments and engages policymakers to push for a legislative ban on cages.
Reasons for the Shift: The cage-free campaign was selected due to its high tractability, clear measurable outcomes, significant suffering reduction, and alignment with global animal welfare progress.
Current Progress and Next Steps: Since launching the new campaign, Anima has engaged with companies, collected industry data, and started working with lawmakers to accelerate the transition away from cages.
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Executive summary: After reassessing the effectiveness of their plant-based meal advocacy, Anima International in France pivoted their strategy to focus on ending the use of cages for laying hens, believing this to be a more impactful way to reduce animal suffering.
Key points:
Initial Focus on Plant-Based Meals: As Assiettes Végétales, the organization successfully increased the proportion of vegetarian meals in French university canteens, but struggled to expand further in a country with strong culinary traditions centered on animal products.
Reevaluating Impact: A deep analysis of collective catering menus and animal suffering data revealed that many vegetarian meals relied heavily on eggs, often from caged hens, reducing the net benefit of their campaign.
Strategic Shift Decision: A systematic review of 94 possible interventions led the team to choose cage-free advocacy as the most effective way to reduce suffering, despite initial emotional resistance to abandoning their previous work.
Implementation of the Cage-Free Campaign: Anima International now works with companies to ensure compliance with cage-free egg commitments and engages policymakers to push for a legislative ban on cages.
Reasons for the Shift: The cage-free campaign was selected due to its high tractability, clear measurable outcomes, significant suffering reduction, and alignment with global animal welfare progress.
Current Progress and Next Steps: Since launching the new campaign, Anima has engaged with companies, collected industry data, and started working with lawmakers to accelerate the transition away from cages.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.