“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.
My friend is currently working with this charity that ultimately aims to empower women by giving them a new source of income. Shivia works in West Bengal, India, where millions of people living below the poverty line want opportunities to work, earn money and improve their lives. Most of all, they want to give their children access to education but lack the resources to do so. Shivia’s Livelihood Development Programme is giving people the tools and skills to enter new enterprises and increase their earning power. Predominantly, they are teaching families how to raise chickens and market and sell their produce. They do this with their Poultry Toolkit – delivering 10 newly hatched chicks and all the training they need to grow and sustain their poultry enterprise.
They have sold nearly 18,000 subsidised poultry toolkits to over 6,200 home-farmers, changing the lives of at least 37,000 people. Impact assessments show that the sale of eggs alone can supplement household income by 30%, enabling families to significantly improve their lives.
Shivia’s model is based on enterprise, not just aid and farmers make a small financial contribution to the toolkit. This not only gives them the sense of ownership and responsibility but also contributes to the sustainability of their programme.
Shivia empowers the poorest to create livelihoods, boost income and inspire permanent change
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