Project: Cow Microloans
Mission: The mission of this project is to help poor families in Vietnam generate income by raising cows, which improves their living conditions and gradually helps them improve their quality of life.
Results: Our field partner Allianz Mission started this project in 2008. They currently facilitate it in 2 mountainous districts of Vietnam: Bac Son district in Lang Son province and Vo Nhai district in Thai Nguyen province. As of 2015, the project cows had expanded to the 3rd generation, which means that the number of supported families has already doubled. |
Description: The project cows provide stable income to support the children’s education, once the parents can afford to send them to a school farther from the village. The income from the cows improves the housing conditions for both the farming families and for the cow’s shelter. The candidates for this project are selected as a result from the whole village meeting and voting for capable and reliable families to receive the project cows as loans. Each selected family will receive a cow as a loan so that they can start raising the cow for their own benefits. The project also provides the families with fodder grass and technical training on raising cows. The clients look after the project cows until the cows deliver females calves that will be handed over to other families in the village to continue the cycle. The next generation begins when the female calf is ready at 18-months-old to be handed over to a new family. The village will meet to select that new family. The Allianz Mission staff follows up with the farmer groups and individual clients every 2 months. These regular visits provide support and monitoring, helping to empower the local leaders and villagers while also transferring values.
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