OUR STORY
Goats for Girls was established in 2012 by 15 year old Jannine Koert.
Jannine went to Malawi for the first time in 2010. She had an amazing trip, and was able to build close friendships with girls living in the areas she visited. In 2012, Jannine was excited to travel back to Malawi to see her friends again. However, a big surprise was waiting for her when she arrived back in her friends' villages: many of the girls she met only 2 years before were married. They were only 14.
When Jannine returned to Canada, she realized she had to help these girls change the situation they were in. And so, Goats for Girls was born.
How We've Grown
In 2013, we distributed the first set of goats to our first girls in Southern Malawi. Over the next 10 years, we grew to include over 400 girls in 4 regions in Southern Malawi. We have also trained many parents in the south in microfinance, reusable menstrual pad production, and adult literacy.
In 2018, we started the goat pass on program with girls in Nigeria. Over time, we also were able to start a support group for boys in Nigeria.
In 2019 we started a goat pass-on program for girls in a rural area near Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. Within a short time, we began to develop additional programs to support the broader community in this region. Here, our programs include irrigation support, a village grain bank, a maize mill, youth empowerment programs, and more.
WHAT WE DO
"Give a man a fish and he has food for a day, but give a man a fishing pole and he has food for a lifetime."
This is the G4G approach. We give people what they need to help themselves get ahead. Whether it be a goat, a word of encouragement, business training, or a small loan, we try to give people a leg up without growing dependent on G4G for daily assistance.
GOAT PASS-ON PROGRAM
A Sustainable Solution
When G4G was born in 2013, we worked exclusively with girls. In the past, parents would invest in their sons before their daughters; however, culture has gradually shifted and today this is no longer the case. As a result, G4G now includes vulnerable boys in our goat pass-on program. A vulnerable child is given 2 goats at age 8-10. The child passes the first 2 kids from their goats on to another child, but can keep additional kids to grow a herd. These goats are eventually sold to pay secondary school fees, providing financial independence and the opportunity to receive an education.
VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LOANS (VS&L)
The Power of Microfinance
Many people we work with do not have access to conventional banks and are not able to take out loans. As a result, most G4G programs require that participants be organized into Village Savings & Loans (VSL) groups. Under this model, 10-20 individuals pool their savings, allowing members to take small-scale loans to boost their businesses or purchase emergency items. These loans are repaid with interest, which is divided among group members at the end of the year.
POST-SECONDARY SPONSORSHIP
Open Doors and Expand Horizons
While goats can cover secondary school fees, they are not enough to allow youth to go to college or university. As a result, we provide a combination of grants and loans to G4G beneficiaries who graduate from secondary school and are accepted to post-secondary education. The loan portion of the sponsorship must be repaid in money or time spent working for the project.
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION
Spreading the Bible and Reformed Literature
While the efforts to improve the daily lives of our beneficiaries are good, we know that their eternal wellbeing is of most importance. That is why we distribute Bibles to the youth in our goat pass-on programs and many adults involved in our programs. We also translate, publish, and distribute children’s Bible stories and other materials that explain key Reformed doctrines in a simple manner. We pray that the Lord would bless these efforts to the extension of His Kingdom!
VILLAGE GRAIN BANK
Fighting Dependency on Outside Aid
Every year, the months leading up to the harvest are known as the ‘lean season’. Food is scarce and the price of maize doubles to triples compared to shortly after harvest. To improve food security during the lean season, G4G sponsored a community grain bank that distributes maize during the lean season. This maize is collected back from beneficiaries with interest after the harvest. The maize collected after harvest is stored in a warehouse, ready to be distributed during the next lean season. In this way, the community meets its food needs without becoming dependent on outside organizations.
IRRIGATION FARMING
Boosting Food Production
Most farmers in Malawi rely exclusively on rain-fed horticulture. As a result, access to irrigation can significantly increase annual food production in rural areas. G4G provides petrol-powered irrigation pumps to be shared among groups of farmers. Access to pumps allows them to farm much larger areas during the dry season, while also boosting crop yields. Farmers are also able to sell their harvests off-season, meaning they get paid much better prices. In this way, irrigation improves the wellbeing of the community while also increasing their access to food throughout the year.
ADULT LITERACY
Teaching Parents to Read
Approximately 30% of adults in Malawi are illiterate. This means they are unable to read labels, signs, instruction manuals, and (most importantly) the Bible. G4G has sponsored adult literacy classes in several areas of Malawi open the world of reading up to this large segment of the population. We hope that, in so doing, they will be better equipped to provide for the physical and spiritual wellbeing of their families.
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT
Equipping the Next Generation
Many young people in Nigeria and Malawi struggle to take part in the local economy. Often times they are unable to purchase land for farming and few other jobs exist in the area. G4G has supported the development of pig rearing facilities in both Nigeria and Malawi. We also have supported vocational training classes in baking, tailoring, mechanics, and carpentry for young people. We know that the youth will form the next generation, and as such we do what we can to invest in their success.
MAIZE MILL
Value-Addition in Agriculture
G4G has provided interest-free loans to set up a community maize mill in Malawi. This mill allows community members to grind their maize harvest into flour to be used to make nsima, Malawi’s staple food. The goal of this facility is also to provide farmers with the opportunity to grind soy, cassava, sweet potato, and ground nuts into flour, which can then be sold individually or mixed with maize flour to create a niche product. This would allow farmers to boost their profits by adding value to the raw materials they harvest.
WATER PROJECTS
"Water is Life"
Access to clean water remains a challenge across Malawi and Nigeria. In rural areas, piped running water into homes does not exist, and so girls and their mothers are tasked with bringing water from the nearest well to their homes in buckets. We have sponsored well-drilling projects in both Nigeria and Malawi to improve access to clean water. We hope this helps to prevent water-borne illness and gives women more time to focus on supporting their families in other ways.