Local Partner: Namunkanga Heifer Project                                             Local Partner Coordinator: Rev. David Natema                                     Area Served: Namunkanga Community, south eastern Uganda             Program Goal: Provide heifers to needy members of the community so that they can earn an income and support their families.

Program Services Provided: Distribution of heifers, medical care for heifers, local water protection.

Number of Program Beneficiaries: 410 individuals

Program Summary: A community outreach program implemented by the community and created out of the necessity to provide food, clean water and opportunities economic self-sufficiency to people in the area, the Namunkanga Heifer Project has made great headway towards their goals.

Over the past three years, 98 individuals have received heifers, with 15 heifers being born and passed on from the original heifer distribution. Rev. Natema, Project Coordinator reports, “Before the implementation of the project families at Namunkanga did not have access to milk and they did not have money to purchase it. Thanks to Bread & Water for Africa®, now families have milk and through the sale of their surplus milk, they have the money to meet other basic needs, food, health care services and education for their children.”

The heifers are kept at the home of the program participant in an enclosed pen, thus using a zero-grazing basis. The zero-grazing approach helps to protect animals from diseases if otherwise left to walk free and local gardens are not destroyed by wandering heifers. Also, the cow dung has been widely used by the community to increase soil fertility in local gardens also assisting to combat malnutrition.

Economic empowerment is being achieved by program participants through the sale of milk and meat. The availability of milk and meat also helped to greatly reduce the incidence of malnutrition in the community, especially amongst children.

Due to the spread of many water borne diseases included typhoid and bilharzias, protection of the local water source was also a focus of the program. A tap was constructed at the local water source and the community was educated about how to collect water and to keep it safe. Since the protection of the water source, thankfully water borne diseases are no longer a major source of death and suffering in the community. The water is also provided to the heifers in the program.

Rev. David Natema, Namunkanga Community Project Coordinator says, “The community is benefiting from the programme since it is addressing our needs, this brings excitement among the people”.