Community Empowerment in Mardan:
One Person at a Time

Jamal Bibi lives in Akbarabad village, which is situated on the outskirts of Mardan, with little in the way of resources. Most of the people derive their income from whatever they can grow and sell on their small plots of land and in their livestock. Unfortunately, there is no facility in the area of diagnosis of problems or even vaccinations of the animals.

Jamal has five children, and her husband was jobless, so the entire family was getting by on what she could earn sewing clothes for people in the village—which wasn’t very much at all.

When HDF arrived on the scene, one of the first thing to happen was the formation of a “Development Organization” (DO) to help the residents start making decisions about their community. Jamal was one of the first people to join the DO in Akbarabad, and was subsequently elected Secretary.

One thing the members of the DO noticed was that almost every household kept poultry birds. The DO asked for some way for people to get training in poultry management. HDF worked with the Department of Livestock and Animal Husbandry in Mardan and set up a three-day poultry management training session.

Jamal attended the course, which covered not only basic information about poultry, but also practical demonstrations of proper vaccination techniques. After training and acquisition of her new vaccination skills, Jamal started poultry vaccinations in her village and now performs this service regularly. She purchases the materials on her own, and was able to begin saving a small amount by providing the service.

Encouraged by her success, Jamal also requested livestock training, and completed a course in that. Following her graduation from that course, HDF provided her with a RS.15,000 loan to purchase a buffalo. She was easily able to make the installment payments on the loan by selling milk from the buffalo. Jamal was thus able to pay off that loan even faster than anticipated.

She next turned her attention to helping her husband start a business. Taking out another loan from HDF, Jamal and her husband were able to start a small business that has grown more than four times in size in a little over a year, raising their monthly income over Rs. 6,000!

Each payment Jamal makes on her loan goes back into the community, so the next entrepreneur can have a chance to lead a self-sufficient live and provide for his or her family and children. HDF’s programs work!
Training in Poultery Management

Date/Time Last Modified: 9/30/2006 10:38:23 AM