Animal welfare standards vary enormously across the world. Understanding how to support welfare improvement in lower-income countries requires sensitivity to context and genuine partnership.
Animal welfare improvement in lower-income countries faces distinct challenges: limited veterinary infrastructure, economic constraints, cultural contexts where animal welfare is not yet a policy priority, and working animal dependence that complicates welfare advocacy. The most effective international welfare work is done in genuine partnership with local organisations, respects cultural context while working toward welfare improvements, recognises the links between working animal welfare and human livelihoods, and builds local veterinary and welfare capacity rather than imposing external standards. Organisations like SPANA, Brooke, and WSPA have developed effective models of context-sensitive welfare improvement.