In places like Somalia, a goat is not just a goat. Oh no...
A goat and livestock are a way of life, they provide income, food, resources and also unite communities.
Severe drought across Somalia has decimated many herding communities.
We recently delivered goats to 33 families in the Puntland region.
3 goats per family times 33 families, ahhhh, you do the maths — it's a lot of animals that are essentially, the GOATS of impact!
Now, the team doesn't just drop the goats and run and apparently the goats don't run either. They just hang around patiently waiting to head home with their new families.
A distribution like this takes a lot of planning, there is no Uber 'farm animal' option in Somalia.
The team has been leading up to this day for months, it concludes a meaningful community partnership that has approached the need in a holistic and integrated way, ensuring families can survive but also being to recover.
The other activities included in this programme include agricultural and seed distributions, farming 'best practice' coaching and a cash voucher distribution to assist with urgent needs such as food, water and medicine.
The families in Maraya village requested this goat distribution, in order to raise these animals to provide meat and milk for their children and to grow their herds to ensure sustainable livelihoods. This is a a great example of how our team include the community in our programming decisions.
"World Vision has done a lot of work here. They provided cash transfers, built our school, our Maternal and Child Health center, and constructed homes. They have accomplished many things here, more than I can summarize, " says Mr Ali Ismael, a community member.
Across the world, agricultural communities rely on the weather and planned seasons in ways we can take for granted.
Conflict and the effects of ever-changing climate are making life increasingly difficult, driving displacement and hunger.
In places like Somalia and DRC, your gift is providing communities with practical solutions to recover and build a future. That can be a combination of training and tools, specifically for new climate resistant crops, water harvesting technology and animals, such as goats, rabbits or sheep.
Your gift brings hope in really practical and impactful ways and that makes you a GOAT :)
