Aiming to improve the quality of life of ethnic minorities in extremely difficult circumstances in 6 mountainous communes of Huong Hoa and Dakrong districts, the “Moving Forward” program, sponsored by the Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam, has recently supported the development of many meaningful livelihood models. Thanks to that, people in the areas benefiting from the program have had jobs and stable incomes to develop their family economy and strive to escape poverty.
Thanks to the herd of goats, Mr. Ho Van Khoa and his wife in Huong Loc commune have jobs and a more stable source of income - Photo: TP
Following the Vice President of the Women's Union of Huong Loc commune, Ho Thi Thuy, we visited the goat farming model of Mr. Ho Van Khoa's family (born in 2001), in Cu Ty village, Huong Loc commune, Huong Hoa district.
It is known that this is a livelihood model supported by Plan Quang Tri for the family since the beginning of April 2023 through the program "Moving Forward". In the current herd of 11 goats, the family only bought 3 goats to raise, the rest were bred from 2 female goats and 1 male goat that were initially given. In addition to breeding goats, Plan also provided additional funding for building barns and organizing training courses on goat raising techniques.
Mr. Khoa said that goats are less susceptible to diseases, easy to care for and reproduce quickly; on average, each mother goat gives birth to about 2 litters each year, each litter has 2-3 kids. Thanks to good care, regularly every few months, he and his wife earn money from selling goats to traders. “Before, my wife and I had a hard time. Working on the fields was not enough to eat.
It was not until after I returned from the army and received a livelihood model from the “Moving Forward” program that our life improved and we were able to take care of our two children. My wife and I used part of the money we got from selling goats to cover our living expenses, and saved the rest many times to continue buying goats to raise,” Khoa shared.
In Cu Ty village, since the "Moving Forward" program was implemented, not only Mr. Khoa's family but also many other households have had the opportunity to change their lives thanks to livelihood models.
Speaking to reporters, Ms. Ho Thi Thuy said that the entire village received 36 goats from the program, including 34 female goats and 2 male goats. “Thanks to the guidance and training of Plan Quang Tri staff, people here are now more proficient in raising goats, especially in minimizing diseases.
From the initial number of breeding goats, the village's herd has now grown to 72. Livelihood models such as goat farming in recent times have really helped change the lives of the mountainous people of Huong Loc commune and people in localities benefiting from the "Moving Forward" program in a more positive direction," said Ms. Thuy.
In addition to goat-raising households, from the beginning of 2024, Huong Loc commune will have 8 more pig breeding models. Taking us to visit the pig breeding model of Ms. Ho Thi Suon's family (born in 1986), in Ta Xia village, Huong Loc commune, Ms. Thuy once again affirmed the meaning and value that the "Moving Forward" program brings to local people.
Compared to Mr. Khoa's family, Ms. Suon's family is in a more difficult situation because her husband has spinal degeneration and has not been able to work for many years. She alone has to take care of the housework and farm work to support her husband and 4 children. Then, through the "Moving Forward" program, Ms. Suon was supported with a 60kg sow, a boar and funds to build a barn with a total value of 7 million VND.
Thanks to her diligent care, in a short time, her pigs gave birth to two more. When we visited, Ms. Suon happily said: “I am very grateful to the local officials and Plan officials for creating conditions for my family to do business and develop the economy. Applying the instructions that the officials gave, my pigs eat more and grow faster than the previous care method. I plan to try to fatten this litter of pigs, wait for the sow to give birth to another litter, then sell some to make ends meet.”
According to information from Plan Quang Tri, the “Moving Forward” program, sponsored by the Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam, has now reached its second phase. In addition to Huong Loc commune, the program has also been implemented in 5 other communes of Quang Tri province, including Ta Long, Dakrong, Ta Rut (Dakrong district) and Lia, Ba Tang (Huong Hoa district); 4 communes of Da Bac and Lac Son districts, Hoa Binh province and 5 communes of Xin Man and Vi Xuyen districts, Ha Giang province.
With community-centered and community-determined approaches, over the past time, program implementing organizations have carried out many meaningful activities such as developing climate change management and adaptation models, safe school models, building new and maintaining micro-community works, especially supporting livelihood models with the aim of enhancing the capacity and position of ethnic minorities with special difficulties. Thereby, improving access to livelihoods and basic services, helping them improve their lives.
Mr. Le Van Phong, officer in charge of the “Moving Forward” program, shared: “Support for livelihood models is based on the concept of giving “fishing rods” rather than “fish” to help ethnic minorities in Quang Tri reduce poverty in a sustainable and effective way.
Instead of giving or donating, organizations implementing the "Moving Forward" program agree on support plans to create initiative, without waiting or relying on the subjects.
In the coming time, we will continue to work with localities that benefit from the program to conduct surveys, research and support many other livelihood models, helping people there have more motivation and conditions to rise up."
Truc Phuong
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