Pass-On Farm Animal Program
Based on the Heifer International model (and working with Heifer Cambodia), our Pass-On Farm Animal Program allows poor villagers who do not wish to participate in the micro-loan/micro-business program to receive a breeding set of farm animals.
The program is simple: A family contracts with Sustainable Cambodia to receive a breeding pair of animals. In order to receive the animals, they must 1) agree to attend advance classes in animal care and husbandry, 2) agree to find two other (non-family) village families who wish to receive a "pass-on" animal from the first family, 3) get the two families to sign similar contracts, and 4) get the two other families to attend the advance classes in animal care and husbandry classes with them. This creates a genuine expectation in the two down-stream families that they will receive their animals in turn, so there is added pressure on the original family to honor their pledge.
When the first set of breeding animals produces its offspring, before the two pass-on families can receive their breeding animals, they must in turn do the 4 things the first family had to do. And this continues through each subsequent generation, so the gift of the first set of animals grows geometrically over time.
This beautiful and elegant model, created by Heifer International, is one of the most successful rural development models in the world. We are grateful to Heifer International for the model, and for their help in replicating the model through Sustainable Cambodia.
Gardens and Irrigation
Because five months of each year is a drought and the other months include flooding, villagers have traditionally grown subsistence-level rice during the wet season, and then had nothing to eat or sell but saved rice during the five dry months. The wells and water projects that Sustainable Cambodia helps bring to the villages provide not only clean drinking water, but irrigation for the dry season, allowing fruits and vegetables to be grown year-round.
Once the villagers are providing the nutritional needs of their families, they have time for other pursuits such as vocational training, adult literacy and community projects. And when they aren't operating in starvation mode, they can afford to keep their children in school, and out of the fields.
