Transforming communities

“We have realised that together we have strength, unity, identity. We work together and motivate each other.”

Joyce Mary Choi, Aliasit Zion Group, Uganda

It requires a huge amount of courage, vision, effort and change in attitude to work your way out of poverty for good. So the support – both practical and emotional – of your peers is vital. That’s why Send a Cow taps into Africa’s community spirit and always works through groups – 564 of them this year.

Our ultimate aim is for groups to become self-sufficient – able to continue the work of the project long after our funding has ceased. So we always deliver our training to whole groups, whilst providing livestock and seeds to individual members and their families.

Who we work with

Most groups we work with are formed by neighbours, usually women, coming together to seek answers to common problems. Some groups have their roots in churches. A few bring together people who face specific issues: orphans; people with HIV/AIDS; and disabled people.

Occasionally, our staff bring isolated people together to form a group. This has happened in post-conflict communities in Rwanda for instance and also for child-headed households. Mostly, though, existing groups hear about us through word-of-mouth or from local authority officials, and approach us themselves.

Our staff visit the group, and discuss its needs. They assess whether the group meets our criteria: Is it cohesive? Are its members among the poorest in their community? Would our package of assistance be suitable?

Once a group has been approved, it may face a wait until we have funding. Currently, there are 450 groups on our waiting lists across Africa –a testament to our successful approach. To help families in Africa, please donate now.

Training

With the help of our social development staff, groups begin by defining their goals. They examine the barriers – personal, social and material – that they face, and the prejudices that they may have, such as towards disabled people.

They then start learning how best to function as a group. They adopt a democratic constitution with elected positions such as chair and treasurer. Our staff work with them on conflict resolution, group dynamics, and leadership issues. Key to this process are our Cornerstones, which encourage members to support one another and play a full part in the group’s activities.

Groups also undertake practical training sessions together, on topics including animal management and welfare and natural farming. We also offer business skills training and support for communities to set up joint income-generating activities, such as dairy cooperatives. By learning together, group members can help one another put the skills into practice. And they’re always encouraged to bring along relatives to training sessions, so the whole family benefits.

Communities in action

Farming successfully needs an investment of time, effort and resources, so it’s vital that poor farmers can share the load.

Groups set up a revolving fund, either with a loan from Send a Cow or small contributions from members. Each family can then borrow money, for example to buy materials to build a goat shelter – crucial for communities who have little access to formal banks. Groups also organise regular work days, helping individual members in turn to build compost heaps or dig water pits.

All this gives people a role in their community and increases their social status. That is further strengthened by the pass-on system, under which all people given livestock, seeds and training by Send a Cow agree to pass on the benefits to others when they are able, thereby transforming someone from a beneficiary into a donor with a huge impact on their self-esteem and community respect.

We provide extra training to some outstanding farmers to become ‘peer farmers’ who then pass on their skills to new trainees.

With their confidence, skills and community cohesion boosted, farmers gradually rely less on Send a Cow staff. And as their own communities are strengthened, groups start looking to the wider world. Our training in advocacy has helped some mature groups to lobby local authorities on issues such as water supplies. Some farmers have even become confident enough to stand as local councillors.

Always, our aim is that groups will become self-sufficient – able to provide training, run the pass-on system, and support their members without funding from us. And that ensures thriving communities for many years to come.

The Aliasit Zion group, in eastern Uganda, has a clear vision. They have decided that in five years’ time, each member should be able to care for her family; educate her children; have a bicycle for transport; and have a regular supply of food.

They have rules and regulations, too. There’s an elected nine-member executive and a constitution that states members have to support their peers if needed, and pass on any help they receive.

So joining Aliasit Zion is not to be taken lightly. But the rewards are many, as John Olubot, the husband of chair Joyce Mary Choi, explains.

“The women of the group have learned new ways to behave, which have led to us men changing too. We have all learned how to pool our resources so that one group member can buy something one month, and another the next. We have also learned organic kitchen gardening, so we can feed our families and earn an income to send our children to school.

“Members of the group are very smart and clean. Even the Government points to the homes of Send a Cow members as exemplary. And when I walk around my community, I see it has been transformed by the group.”