Ethiopia: goats and women: lessons from participatory training in a dairy goat project
Peacock, C.; Yilma, K.; Ayele, Z.; Hadgu, K.; Ali, Z.
Rural Extension Bulletin 6: 25-27
1994
Document Number: 532784
In promoting improved goat husbandry among poor households in the Southern Highlands of Ethiopia, the FARM Africa/ODA Dairy Goat Development Programme had to overcome two kinds of prejudice: against goats which have an (unjustifiably) bad reputation among officials for environmental destruction, and against the idea of involving women in a 'serious' agricultural extension and credit project. In the event, women's groups manage credit repayments, women have been trained as para vets and, in both formal and informal training settings, extension staff and women project partners have learnt from each other. There are estimated to be about 20 million goats in Ethiopia and yet virtually no effort had been made to develop this valuable resource until the British NGO, FARM Africa, started the Dairy Goat Development Programme in 1988, with funding from the ODA. The FARM Africa Dairy Goat Project has experienced a large measure of success partly through the rapidly developing enthusiasm and commitment of the extension staff as they see their efforts making a real impact on the lives of the families with whom they work.