The women of the Nebbi women’s group live in the rural areas of Nebbi district in north-west Uganda. There are 100 families who are members and all are entirely dependent upon subsistence farming. Many of the women are widows. Every year crop production decreases and as a result families suffer from poor nutrition and a lack of income which means that they cannot meet their basic needs or send their children to school. The group lacks the inputs and resources to be able to increase crop production from the land and women have to open up land for cultivation using hand hoes – a back-breaking process that takes weeks and means that they do not always have their land prepared prior to the rainy season.

The project will therefore provide training in animal management so women members can improve the feeding, health, productivity and reproduction of their animals. Those without livestock will be give the gift of goats, cows or oxen as pass-on gifts from previously assisted groups. As a result they will have milk to drink to overcome malnutrition and to sell for income. Women will also be given ox ploughs and taught how to harness local oxen for ploughing (something that is considered to be men’s work in Uganda) so they can open up greater areas of land for crops. This project was funded by Send a Cow. TVF’s grant covered the cost of improved animal management training for the women group members.