Name: Aaron Forbes
Post: Agbangnizoun
Contact: 96.03.41.53
Brief Project Description:
The Peace Corps volunteer’s homologue recently approached him, to discuss the difficulty he and others in his extended family have in paying their childrens school fees. Together, they elaborated a plan which will help the children pay their school fees, in the future.
With the budget given, 60 baby roosters (improved breed) will be purchased with enough food and medicine for three months. After the initial three months, the roosters are left to forage. The month of December, the 60 chickens will be sold, in market. A portion of the profit will be divided among the students to help pay school fees while the remainder will be used to purchase another 60 plus roosters and pay any additional operating costs. These 60 plus will then be sold six months later and profits divided in the same manner as mentioned before. This will continue as explained and eventually integrate more children.
The PCVs homologue has recently successfully raised 39 healthy improved-breed roosters at the PCVs work site (CEFODEC, a home for at-risk children). He has trained one of the house teenagers who is responsible for the care. The homologue has years of experience in animal husbandry. He will be the one responsible for training and directing the youth responsible for this GAD project. With profits from this rooster project he would eventually like to open this to local women as well and possibly begin with other types of animal husbandry.
Dates of Project: August 2009-December 2009
Number of People Involved: 6 teenagers, 1 adult director
Budget:
| Item | Number | Unit Price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male chicks | 60 | 400 CFA | 24.000 CFA |
| Feed | 80 kg | 250 CFA/kg | 20.000 CFA |
| Alfacirile (medicine) | 2 boxes | 1.800 CFA/box | 3.600 CFA |
| Alfamisole (medicine) | 1 box | 1.700 CFA/box | 1.700 CFA |
| Total Cost | 49.300 CFA |
Amount Requested: 49.300 CFA
Comments
GAD Coordinator: This seems like an innovative project. I have a few questions, namely, do they predict any loss of chicks between now and December ? How will additional children be selected in the future? I would also like to know the gender of the teenagers involved and the number and gender of students to benefit from the project. If he answers these questions, recommend funding.
GAD Finance: I agree with your recommendation. In addition, I suggest a committee made up of both boys and girls to manage the project with the adult naturally as the overseer.
GAD Specialist: This project is very creative. We should definitely ask Aaron for the gender and age breakdown of the people involved. Also, just out of curiosity, where is the school? What is the name of the CEG? Recommend funding.
GAD Coordinator UPDATE: Spoke with Aaron on the phone. He said that all the students would be involved in the running of the project : everyone would learn how to care for the chickens, and the older ones would learn the accounting/bookkeeping system. If his homologue were ever not available to run the project, there are other adults who make up the board of a local cultural association who could step in. There are 7 girls and 4 boys, ranging in age from 10-16. Recently, there was a dramatic rise in the price of rooster chicks – they are now 1100f each. But, the chicks are older and therefore they don’t predict much loss between now and December. Also, the price to sell roosters in December is higher so they should get a better return. As the proceeds come in, they will select new kids for the program from among the children associated with this cultural association. His homologue is using this as a pilot and wants to apply similar projects to women’s groupements and others.
Approved funding and left check in his mailbox.
Closing Report
Brief Project Description:
Project Title: HOUNDOMABOUN Youth Education and Animal Husbandry Project
Project Director: GUEZO Appolinaire
For an unforeseen reason, the installation of this GAD small project was postponed from May 2009, to August 2009. According to the original project proposal, the rooster chicks would be bought the month of June, 7 months prior to their date of sale in the local market. During the 3 months of time lost, the price of the rooster chicks rose accordingly with the chicks’ growth (400 cfa to 1,100 cfa). Also, the chicks passed the initial 3 month period in which feed is required. See the attached ammended budget.
This project is directed by GUEZO Appolinaire, the secretary of Houndomaboun, the Association of the Royal Guezo Family at Agbangnizoun. The beneficiaries will be children within the extended GUEZO family, in Agbangnizoun. According to the original plan, the roosters would be kept at the Annex to the GUEZO Palace, which was recently constructed in September, 2008. Presently, there are no permanent residents at the Palace and therefore no one to guarantee the safe keeping of the chicks. Therefore up until now, the chicks purchased with the GAD funding, have been kept at CEFODEC (Centre d’Education, de Formation et de Developpement Communautaire) Childrens Home, in Agbangnizoun (the workplace of the PCV and of his homologue, GUEZO Appolinaire). The month of January when a permanent resident is installed at the Palace, the chicks will be kept on the palace grounds. This will be the second cycle of chicks (those bought with the profits made from December’s sales).
Presently, 2 of the 6 children listed as beneficiaries of this project have begun receiving training in how to care for the chicks. Upon the chicks’ installation on the palace grounds, the remaining 4 teenagers will receive their training.
Herein follows a general sales and savings schema elaborated, for the first three cycles of purchases, care, sales and the distribution of earnings among the beneficiaries.
According to this schema, from January 2010 to January 2011, the 6 beneficiaries will receive 26,458 cfa each for their school fees (158,750 cfa total).
The scale of the project expands (purchase of chicks increasing by 5, each 6 months), while the beneficiaries continue to receive 50% of sales. This results in a continual increase in the balance of funds. This balance of funds may help cover any unforeseen costs such as rise in feed prices or the need for additional medicine. It may also be used for the construction of an enclosure or even in the future, to develop additional income-generating activities or to add to the number of beneficiaries.
Schema:
| Date | Item | Withdrawal | Deposit | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2009 | 40 chicks received | GAD funded | GAD funded | 0 CFA |
| December 2009 | Sale of 37 chicks @ 2.500 CFA p/u | 92.500 CFA | 92.500 CFA | |
| January 2010 | ½ of sales divided among 6 students, for school fees | 46.250 CFA | 46.250 CFA | |
| January 2010 | Purchase of 45 chicks @ 400 CFA p/u | 18.000 CFA | 28.250 CFA | |
| January 2010 | Medicine, for 40 chicks | 7.800 CFA | 20.450 CFA | |
| January 2010 | Feed, for 40 chicks for 3 months (333 CFA p/chick) | 13.320 CFA | 7.130 CFA | |
| July 2010 | Sale of 40 chicks @ 2.500 CFA p/u | 100.000 CFA | 107.130 CFA | |
| July 2010 | ½ of sales divided among 5 students, for school fees | 50.000 CFA | 57.130 CFA | |
| July 2010 | Purchase of 50 chicks @ 400 CFA p/u | 20.000 CFA | 37.130 CFA | |
| July 2010 | Medicine, for 50 chicks | 7.800 CFA | 29.330 CFA | |
| July 2010 | Feed, for 50 chicks for 3 months (333 CFA p/chick) | 16.650 CFA | 12.680 CFA | |
| December 2010 | Sale of 50 chicks @ 2.500 CFA p/u | 125.000 CFA | 137.680 CFA | |
| January 2011 | ½ of sales divided among 6 students, for school fees | 62.500 CFA | 75.180 CFA | |
| January 2011 | Purchase of 55 chicks @ 400 CFA p/u | 22.000 CFA | 53.180 CFA | |
| January 2011 | Medicine, for 55 chicks | 7.800 CFA | 45.380 CFA | |
| January 2011 | Feed, for 55 chicks for 3 months (333 CFA p/chick) | 18.315 CFA | 27.065 CFA |
Budget:
| Item | Number | Unit Price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alfamisol (medicine) | 1 | 1.300 CFA | 1.300 CFA |
| Anticox (medicine) | 1 | 2.500 CFA | 2.500 CFA |
| Alfaciryle (medicine) | 1 | 1.400 CFA | 1.400 CFA |
| Rooster chicks | 40 | 1.100 CFA | 44.000 CFA |
| Total Cost | 49.200 CFA |
Recommendations:
I believe that this project will be sustainable not only because it is my homologue who is initiating it but also because a sales and savings schema has been proposed. My replacement will also be there to help him follow up on this project and possibly in the future help our homologue expand the activities to include local women and other children. On any project of this sort, I recommend to any volunteer that he or she put the project into the context of a more long-term plan (ie. How might this project not only continue but even develop and expand in the future). This can guarantee not only the sustainability but also can act as a very empowering tool for the HCN/persons leading the initial project.
