Goat $50
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Uganda
The goat gets many communities' vote as a great provider of nutritious meat, milk and cheese. Goats are easy to care for and breed quickly, so offspring can be sold to pay for children's education and health needs. This gift includes training in animal husbandry.
Photo: A Bangladeshi woman holds two young kids. As part of an income generation program, goats are provided to the poorest women in the village, who can then earn money from the sale of milk and kids.More information:
More information and images (pdf)
TEAR Australia supports development projects which focus on the poorest and most marginalised people and give priority to their rights, interests, needs and initiatives. These projects are implemented in partnership with local agencies. HEED Bangladesh is one of the agencies providing goats to families.
HEED BANGLADESH
For the most marginalised people in any community, development opportunities are often inaccessible. Families face social as well as economic barriers, sometimes meaning they are actively discouraged from participation. Women in Bangladesh who are widowed, divorced or separated, and who rely on an irregular income to support their children, often find participating in a development program can be just too hard. HEED Bangladesh recognised that these women needed specific programs, designed for female-headed households with no permanent source of income and no land.
Many of these women have been forced to take loans at exorbitant interest from local moneylenders, often just to pay household expenses. This program aims to give the women an alternative source of credit (at no interest), to introduce new life skills such as income-generation possibilities, and to discuss social issues such as child marriage, dowry, domestic violence, HIV and AIDS, women's rights to land and education.
One of the most popular income-generation activities is goat rearing. HEED helps by providing the first two kids, and advice on how to care for the animals. Fortunately, goats are hardy and easy to care for. Most of the women have found them to be a good business option, providing milk for the children and a good profit from the growth of the herd. A healthy female goat can produce twin kids twice a year, helping a herd to grow quickly. The sale of goats helps to pay for household expenses like school fees, medical costs and house repairs, and for special occasions like a dowry to help their daughters marry.
The women comment that their life situation is much improved now that they are able to support each other. The opportunity to meet and learn together has boosted their self-esteem, leading to a change in attitude, helping them to take up new initiatives and grow the income they receive from the goats. A few animals bring in much-needed income, but it's the social and political awareness that transforms the women and enables them to participate as equals in their community.
OTHER TEAR AUSTRALIA PARTNERS PROVIDING THIS ITEM:
International Nepal Fellowship, EFICOR (India), Saahasee (India), CROSS (India), Elysiom (India), Oasis (India), Cambodia Hope Organisation.