The revolving goat fund project aims to build the asset base of families of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) by diversifying their livelihoods and empowering them towards self-help and economic resilience.
The project addresses the problem of lack of productive assets among poor families of orphans and vulnerable children who are prone to many livelihood shocks, ranging from disease to deprivation of food, education, healthcare and decent housing.
In the livelihood context of poor rural communities, goats are a revered family asset, often termed as the “poor man’s cow”. Goats can increase household incomes and resilience to shocks. Income may be used to meet household expenses, increase consumption of nutritious food for the children, or save to invest in education or new opportunities.
Project strategy
The project supplies female goats of indigenous breeds to a select number of OVC families who pass-on the off-spring to new beneficiaries in a cycle that expands the asset program to many more OVC families in the community. The project establishes Buck Stations of improved goat breeds to cross-breed with the indigenous goats to produce a more productive and resilient goat breed for the beneficiaries.
