To support DPM practitioners and authorities, ICAM has developed two self-paced eLearning courses, freely available at ICAM’s new eLearning portal (which can be found at https://icam.talentlms.com).
The courses focus on key building key knowledge and competencies related to managing dog populations, including an understanding of dog population dynamics and an appreciation of the need for a sustainable system of services that have been selected to match local needs.
The two new courses are designed to meet the differing needs of DPM practitioners and policymakers:
- Implementing DPM is an in-depth, seven-unit course for learners involved in planning, implementing, monitoring or evaluating dog population management.
- DPM for policymakers is a shorter three-unit course designed for learners who are responsible for developing or refining policy relating to dog population management.
The new ICAM eLearning portal also provides access to the Humane Community Development course and toolkit, which provide a participatory framework for communities to work together to find humane, sustainable solutions to dog issues that are having negative consequences for people and animals.
About the new DPM courses
Implementing DPM includes seven instructional units designed for learners responsible for planning, implementing, monitoring or evaluating dog population management. Each unit takes an estimated 45 to 60 minutes to complete; a final assessment can be taken to achieve a personalised certificate of completion.
- Through interactive elements, case studies, and examples, the course outlines the structure and process for designing an effective and sustainable DPM system, from assessing the dynamics of the local dog population to interventions that address root causes.
- The course also provides guidelines for DPM monitoring and evaluation, as well as decision-making scenarios and a toolkit of methods that support an ongoing cycle of adaptation of DPM interventions and the system as a whole.
- Cross-cutting themes emphasise the important role of human behaviour and the need for policy at all levels to support local DPM design and implementation.
DPM for policymakers is a self-paced eLearning course with three instructional units designed for learners responsible for developing or refining policy relating to dog population management. Each unit takes an estimated 45 to 60 minutes to complete; a final assessment can be taken to achieve a personalised certificate of completion.
- The course introduces DPM at a high level, highlighting the differences between stray dog control – short-term fixes focused only on the current stray dogs – and DPM, which provides long-term, systemic solutions to a community’s dog population challenges.
- Through interactive elements and extensive examples, the course outlines the structure and functioning of a DPM system, with particular focus on the important role of policy development at all levels to support localised DPM design and implementation.
- This course also emphasises the important role of human behaviour in DPM systems and explains the basics of behaviour change science as an approach to effective DPM policymaking.
