goats and livelihoods project outcomes 2010
DESCRIPTION
Project outcomes from GlobeMed at Columbia's 2010 project with Gulu Women's Economic Development and GlobalizationTRANSCRIPT
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GULU WOMEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
GWED‐G IN
PARTNERSHIP WITH GLOBEMED COLOMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
FAMILY GOAT AND CROP FARMING PROJECT
ANNUAL REPORT ‐ 2010
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FAMILY GOAT AND CROP FARMING PROJECT
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Gulu Women Economic Development and Globalization (GWED‐G) is a women’s right organization working to support war affected women and youths in northern Uganda. GWED‐G support innovative and groundbreaking initiatives in communities to encourage social change. With a vision for a world free from discriminations and poverty, GWED‐G support activities in areas of Economic Empowerment/Livelihoods, Human Rights, Psychosocial Support programmes for children and youths, Advocacy and Research.
In 2009, GWED‐G and students of GlobeMed Columbia University in the United States of America entered into an agreement to support returning communities of northern Uganda with projects that address some component of the Millennium Development Goals. Given the current return process in northern Uganda, the project designed is to meet the gap faced at household levels, which is in form of quick responsive projects. This project outlined 23 vulnerable households of war affected communities to be supported with quick impact projects to allow the families to eat, pay for education and health and make informed decisions using rights based approach.
The objective
To empower war affected families to increase their household food security, income and become self reliant.
The project is designed into two livelihood components;
a) Family goat rearing b) Crop farming
a) FAMILY GOAT REARING
This component is supporting seven (7) war affected vulnerable women headed households in Gulu district. These families have been provided with two female and one he goats each in January 2010 and it is envisaged that this will support and raise income to the various households to become self sustainable members of their communities.
Activities implemented.
• Assessment: Seven (7) families were assessed using poverty household indicators to be supported with IGA projects. The selection was done on the basis of their interest in goat rearing project and demonstrated capacities to build on the project to ensure sustainability.
• The project initiated a forum where the families were trained on Business Skills Management. This is intended to empower and support the beneficiaries with skills in managing income generating activities.
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• Vaccination of the goats in all the seven families was done by the veterinary doctor to enable the goats live healthy and free from diseases.
• Regular follow up and monitoring visits to the families were conducted in all the families supported to identify the existing gaps ,achievements and to provide technical support to them in terms of better ways of rearing goats, saving their money and problem solving techniques. The result indicates that there has been great improvement in the status of the families and the goats, since most of them have produced and others are still expecting.
• Besides that, the follow up also helped us to identify some gaps like high rate of infectious diseases which attacks the goats frequently causing miscarriages among them.
GOAT MULTIPLICATION TABLE PER BENEFICIARY FAMILY
Beneficiary No. of goats given No. of new births Total Akello Margaret 03 03 06 Olga Okullo 03 02 05 Lucy Lanek 03 04 07 Aromorach Obalim 03 03 06 Angeyo Ojok 03 02 05 Madelena Labol 03 03 06 Jezella Odur 03 02 05 21 19 40
Project impacts/Success Stories: 1. Akello Margaret – 60 years old:
She lost her husband who was abducted and killed by the rebels in 1995. She has 8 children; Komakech Stephen (2years), Arop Innocent (3years), Aywerwot, Okot Brian, Alanyo, Amuge and Rubangakene.
When asked what she will do with the goats, she said,
“When the goats multiply, I will sell them and use the money for buying food and paying school fees for the children, medical bills, repair and build the huts”.
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2. Olga Okullo – 65 years old:
She is a widow whose husband died during the war. She produced six children but four of them died during the war and one died of cancer. The only surviving child is called Akoko Alice (30years). She takes care of her 6 orphan grandchildren, namely; Joan Atimango (7years), Aloyo Susan (10years), Aziz Obwona (9years), Olga Apwoyorwot (3years), Rogers Lacanpol (15years), Edinah Adyero (3years) whose father died of cancer.She said that when the goat multiplies, she will sell some and use it to meet the children needs and pay school fees. Above all, she said that the money will also help her to rebuild her house which was destroyed by war and floods.
3. Lucy Lanek – 45 years old;
She is a widow and takes care of orphans belonging to her late children. The children under her care are; Opiyo Geoffrey, Apiyo Irene and Olum Henry.
She said that the goats will help her construct another grass‐thatch hut for the kids. She planned to begin livestock farming where she will make sure that the goat’s project grows.
However this year Lucy Lanek already killed one of her big Goat and send with her child to school because she already has new ones.
4. Aromorach Obalim – 59 years old;
She is a widow whose children were all wiped away during the war. She takes care of orphaned children, namely; Kenneth Kaunda (20years), Lamunu Sarah (17years), Laker Mercy (15years), Lakot Peter (13 years), Lapolo Prossy (10years) and Aber Fiona (7years).
The father to her children is there but they can’t afford to meet the family needs. She said that the goats will help them pay for school fees, feeding the family and raise family income, and above all, she is very grateful to the donors for the assistance.
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5. Angeyo Ojok – 59 years old:
She is married and taking care of her orphaned grandchildren, namely; Ogenrwot Richard (12 years), Luke Olweny (8years), Paska Ajok (14 years), Acan Betty (6years), Watmon Bernard (4years) and Ajok Anna (4years).
She said,
“I will keep these goats and when they multiply, I will sell them to support the children in paying school fees and meet their basic needs”.
6. Madelena Labol – 55 years old:
She is a widow with four children and lost two during the war after they were abducted and taken to the bush where they died. She had this to say,
“Before the war, I had 8 goats but they were all taken away by the rebels, so this is not the first time I am keeping goats. My immediate problem is that I cannot pay school fees for the remaining children……but I am very grateful for the donation from GlobeMed and I promise to take good care of the goats”.
7. Jezela Odur – 67 years old:
She is a widow since 1979 when her husband was killed during the Amin’s regime. She is taking care of 7 children and she said that the goat project will help her repair her house, pay school fees and meet the basic family needs.
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She is taking her goat to graze where it can eat lots of grass.
Key results /achievements:
• Some families already used the goat project to pay for school fees and meet basic needs especially health.
• The families empowered have developed some hope for better lives and good education for their children since most of their investments is geared towards education.
• The goats provided to them have multiplied and produced their young ones and others are pregnant.
• The family of one beneficiary called (Jezella) during the follow up visit said that the goats are doing very well but she opted for vegetable production as another alternative to help her raise some income to support her family and also add on the food stuff at home. She has been working tirelessly to prepare the garden for cultivation and GWED‐G will supply them with some seeds this raining season.
• The families appreciated the support provided by GWED‐G and GlobeMed and urged the organization to continue giving support to them to enable them raise more money for their children’s school fees and improve their wellbeing.
• Secondly they request that the project is extended to other families whom they know are very vulnerable.
Lessons learnt.
• The goat project requires patience and commitment by the families
• The goat project is a very good project and can do much better when it’s integrated with other livelihood project.
• Male Boer goat type would have provided a better mix of variety, so GWED‐G should work with GlobeMed to buy the Boer Goat and keeps it rotating within the families.
Challenges.
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• Infectious diseases affected the goats hence making them have miscarriages at the beginning of the project. GWED‐G mobilized for Vaccination.
• Limited and insufficient funding.
• Absence of other food security coping mechanisms for the families
Recommendations
• There is need to support these families with vegetable growing/kitchen gardening as an alternative source of food alongside the goat project. GWED‐G procured seeds and planned to conduct massive vegetables support to each homes.
• Transport support should be provided to ease monitoring follow up visits of the beneficiaries
• There is need for frequent visits to these families by veterinary doctor to enable him detect the diseases which are most likely to attack the goats and respond to it before it affects the rest.
Action Point:
• All families shall receive vegetables seed this year, last year it was already somehow late for all families to produce the vegetables. Seeds procured awaiting distributions.
• Second round vaccination of Goats are due, GWED‐G is to mobilize resources together with Globe Med to conduct the last Vaccination,
• Its agreed that with these two support, the beneficiaries can roll out any possible support on their own since it will already become sustainable.
b) CROP FARMING PROJECT.
This is a component where a group of 16 families in Wii‐lacic in Bobi sub‐county were selected and provided with crop/vegetable seeds and pine tree seedlings. The seeds provided include; groundnuts, green‐paper, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, egg‐plants and pine tree seedlings.
Activities implemented;
• Assessment: Sixteen (16) group members were assessed using poverty household indicators to be supported with IGA projects. The selection was done on the basis of their interest in crop farming project and demonstrated capacities to build on the project to ensure sustainability.
• The project initiated a forum where the families were trained on Business Skills Management. This is intended to empower and support the beneficiaries with skills in managing income generating activities.
• Seeds and seedlings were delivered and distributed to the group members for planting according to their choice. However, some crop seeds could not be provided to them because the planting period has expired.
• Monitoring follow‐up visits was carried out by the project staff to provide technical support and identify achievements and gaps that requires immediate action for project success.
Summary of crops planted
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Crop No. of families Status Harvest Groundnuts 04 Good yields Being harvested Pine trees 02 Healthy Growing well Carrots 02 Very good yields Being harvested Eggplants 02 Healthy Yet to be harvested Green‐pepper 01 Still growing Tomato 01 Average yields Yet to be harvested Cabbages 01 Good yields To be harvested
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The groundnuts being harvested. Project impacts/Success stories:
• The family of one, Ms. Amon Grace – 48years with 6 children said that “if I harvest my carrots and groundnuts, I will sell the carrots and some groundnuts to buyers and use the money to procure goats and pay school fees for my orphaned children”.
• Ms. Adong Janet – 27years with 3 children said that
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“I will sell the groundnuts for school fees and save some seeds for the next planting season…….I have realized that staying in a group is very beneficial and am very grateful to GWED‐G for the assistance”.
• In general, the group members are very hard working and committed. They hope to get better yields next year since they have learnt a lot from their experiences during the first phase.
• The group members are very grateful for the support from Globe Med because they had great yields and would like to do better this year.
• GWED‐G created linkages with World Food Program where some of the beneficiaries were trained under the food for Cash project.
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Challenges;
• Late delivery of the seeds beyond the planting period
• Dry spell destroyed some tomatoes and egg‐plants seedlings in the nursery beds but the ones transplanted managed to give good yield. They need to open up big garden this year.
• Some of the pine trees planted tends to dry up after being weeded because this is dry season, so apparently they are left within the weeds to preserve some moisture then in raining season the weeding shall take effect.
• Pest and diseases resulted into poor yields for some product especially only the tomatoes. But the rest were fine.
• Lack of pesticides to spray the vegetables regularly since spraying was done only once. GWED‐G advised farmers that this season the farmers shall spray more than once.
Lessons learnt:
• Vegetable growing requires regular spraying with pesticides
• Regular monitoring visits are very important for project success in terms of gaps identification and provision of technical back‐stopping.
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• Farming requires proper timing in terms of planting for particular crops.
Recommendations;
• Seeds are to be planted at the right time during or at the beginning of every planting season
• Prompt delivery of the seeds shall be monitored again by GWED‐G in the second planting phase of the project.
• Procurement of spray pumps and pesticides should be done by all farmers; GWED‐G shall follow up from the profit gained out of the project so that they procure personal spray pumps. The present spray pump is procured by GWED‐G and not enough for all families.
• Training on modern farming skills should be conducted by GWED‐G
• Training on the skills of crop marketing shall be conducted by GWED‐G as well. CONCLUSION: The projects initiated have yielded great results and we hope to realize great progress this year. The supported vulnerable families have got market that procured all their products and they realized that they need to produce much more. Also if provided with more market access, development and farming diversity will generate high household income that will benefit the entire family. However, other support services like farming skills training, human rights empowerment training would provide added value for the realization of full human potential and wellbeing. Action Point:
1. GWED‐G planned to expand on this project by conducting intensive market surveys and improved varieties for products of the Farmers.
2. GWED‐G planed to create linkages with other potential donors to expand the farming project since its is one of the best project that contributes to faster recovery of families and increase on well being for vulnerable communities through the nutritional food products that they are able to eat.
3. GWED‐G needs to procure logistics that shall support monitoring of all these project and also up‐coming project initiated with Globe Med.
© Beads Project: During the period GlobeMed supported women groups working on beads products to market their products and this was really amazing in terms of impact to the women.
1. 7 children enrolled to school and school fees met through the sales of beads. 2. 5 children who were very sick and malnourished supported with nutritional food supplement
and apparently they have gained their weight and have become healthy. 3. GWED‐G supplied the women with materials and more beads still being worked on. 4. The women really appreciated the Globe Med team for offering their humble support towards
marketing their beads products. Action Point:
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1. GWED‐G is to continue working with Globe Med team and support the beads project, the two institution are still working on ways of marketing these product while GWED‐G intend to train the women and add value to their product so that they can gain market anywhere including local markets.