A new year and new beginnings!

A new year and new beginnings!

Staff in our African offices are preparing themselves for a very busy year in 2012.

Over the coming months, Send a Cow local trainers will start working with 100 new groups – that’s almost 4,000 farmers – across the seven countries where we work.

The new farmers and their families will start to feel the benefit of our training and support quickly, but it will be a while before they receive any livestock or seeds.

Firstly, working in groups, they will decide between themselves what they want to achieve and how they will be organised, including electing a Chairman and Treasurer. Then, before any training is delivered, the group as a whole decides who among them is most in need of help.

Alongside courses in animal wellbeing, sustainable farming practices and natural resource management, Send a Cow will also provide training in subjects such as gender equality and HIV/Aids awareness. It is not a quick fix; most groups work with us for around three years.

Working with groups is fundamental to the support Send a Cow provides. By learning together, group members help one another put their skills into practice and support each other through good times and bad. And, because they’re always encouraged to bring along relatives to training sessions, the whole family benefits.

In addition to supporting these farmers in the very first stages of their journeys out of poverty, we also expect to say goodbye to around 3000 more families over the coming year as they become self reliant and ‘graduate’ from Send a Cow, no longer needing our support.

It is always a memorable and inspiring time and we look forward to sharing their stories with you over the coming year.