Education or outreach initiatives designed to encourage an environmental management goal can only be truly successful if they change those characteristics of individuals or groups that are contributing to the situation.

If your goal is to change human behaviors, you need to develop an understanding of the qualities and characteristics of the individuals and communities with whom you work, and how those characteristics might impact the situation. This is known as the social or human dimension of environmental management.

The focus of Unit 2 is to learn about your target audience. In this Unit you will begin studying a county-based outreach initiative that took place in Arkansas. The Arkansas case study applies all 7 steps of the recommended process for building an outreach or education initiative based on audience information.

Unit 2 content:

♦ Change behavior: one behavior and one audience at a time – audience and change; targeting the audience

♦ Work with a team to define behavior goals and evaluation

♦ Practice selecting a target audience

♦ Use social assessment strategies. Prepare for Units 3 and 4

Track your progress using the Unit 2 Checklist.