The Role of Demonstration

“Seeing is believing” – field demonstrations are critical to success in scaling up.

It is well known that  “People are more likely to believe what they see than what they hear or read”.

Field demonstrations of new practices are therefore key to helping people:

1. Become aware of new practices,
2. Believe that a new practice can help them,
3. Believe they should try the new practice, and
4. Understand how to do the new practice.

For a demonstration to be effective, advance planning is essential.

Establishing and conducting the field demonstration:

Key points to keep in mind:

1. Awareness – How will people know what has been done, the impact, who to contact and what to do?
2. Believe – Will people believe that they can do the practice and that it is relevant to them?
3. Try – Will people be sufficiently convinced that they will be prepared to invest time and/or money to understand the practice so that they can  try it?
4. Understand – How will they get the information or inputs they need to correctly apply the practice?