Goats and Donkeys Transform Lives in Darfur

Good progress is being made in launching our programme of activities in our 60th village, Mugabil. Our Project staff are making frequent visits to the village to help the community to establish the Village Development Committee and Animal Loans Committee which will manage the project activities. The community has identified the poorest households to be recipients of the goat and donkey loans. In the past in our villages the poorest 10% of the households in the villages have been eligible to receive livestock loans but as a result of the drought in the past year many families are really struggling to survive and KIDS FOR KIDS is now hoping to be able to extend the provision of livestock loans to the poorest 15% of households in the community. At the same time, however, livestock prices in the local markets have increased dramatically and the local agents engaged by the project management to purchase the livestock are having to search over a wider area to seek out high quality animals at a reasonable price. We are, however, still having to pay significantly more than we anticipated and this means that the contributions of all our supporters become even more valuable.

The fodder situation is also difficult as a result of the drought with pasture currently only available near wadis and hill areas. Whilst many of our livestock beneficiaries in our villages have thankfully been able to store hay for the dry season we feel the need to lay greater emphasis on finding solutions to the recurrent fodder shortages as access to quality fodder is crucial for maintaining productive animals for the families. Hence we are holding discussions with various local experts to devise a pilot project to see how our families could increase their fodder production. The details are still being worked out and will be reported on in due course. In addition to promoting increased fodder production, the pilot project will also work with the families to increase their understanding of animal nutrition and the value and benefits of different fodder crops and will provide training to beneficiaries in the optimum utilisation of the different  fodder resources available.  We hope that these initiatives will ensure that our families are able to otbain the maximum benefits from their animals to provide the income which they need to pay for school fees, medicines, etc. to improve their lives.