Field Reports
"A Pig Van Djouke Project"
2016 ACTIVITY AND FINANCIALREPORT
Theme for 2016 ;- "Giving others a Chance and Praising God"
Period of execution;- 11th - 30th March 2016
"THAT WE MAY LIVE TOGETHER AND BE SUPPORTIVE TO EACH OTHERS PROGRESS"
"You may have the piglet and the feed but still you need to be prayerful and hardworking to see light at the end of the tunnel. We have hope and trust in God that he will give Djouke health and wisdom as she drives her vision within our communities".Written and submitted by'-
Atomba Titus Tegwi
Project Coordinator
NOWEPIFAC - Cameroon
P O Box 729 - Bamenda
http//Nowepifac.com
nowepifac2015nijp@gmail.com
Introduction.
With the aspiration of moving further "A pig Van Djouke" Project has extended its activities to Batibo sub-division this 2016 and have chosen the village of the project coordinator Guzang, to launch its activities on the 16th birth day of Djouke the project donor, This report will render account of how 400 Euros sent by Djouke in March 2016 has been effectively used in Cameroon to realize her dream this year.
STEPS IN THE EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT;-
STEP ONE - Receiving the Money for the project and visit to Mobile Livestock Pig Farm.
On the 11th March 2016 Mr. Peter Leerdam of Project Hope and some 2 other Dutch friends visited the project coordinator of NOWEPIFAC and handed an envelope from Djouke with money for the project. Mr. Leerdam visited the Mobile Livestock pig farm and invited Mr. Titus to Njinikom as the Cameroonian based pig expert to organize and schedule a training workshop for the members of "project hope" with Sister Rose Mary of the Njinikom hospital.
STEP TWO - Collection of POG piglets; - *POG=Passing on the Gift(The cycle contribution system that those who received the donated piglets try to breed the pigs and hand them over to others in their community on next year.)
Right: Fed while waiting for the POG day
On the 17th March 2016 in Bawock 4 out of the 7 beneficiaries gave their POG to the Project coordinator who carried them to Bamenda and kept in a waiting fence. The 3 others complained that pigs died, one traveled out of the village and the last said she sold hers to meet up with some financial demands so will buy and pass over. They were all given one week latest to comply with their obligation of POG. At the Mobile livestock piggery, the piglets were fed daily. The rest 3piglats followed a few days after and make seven. Three extra ones were bought to make up 10 piglets for the new community of Batibo sub division.
STEP THREE - Feed Composition:-
Right: Micro-ingredient distribution
Feed ingredients were purchased in bulk from the Bamenda main market, transported from point of purchase to point of collection to the cooperative by a manual truck and then by car to the cooperative. Corn(Maize), soya bean and fish meal were processed at a grinding mill first of all ready for use before taking to the cooperative hall for manual mixing.
At the cooperative building, the various feed components were weighed proportionately and put together to have a complete balanced grower mash ready for the piglets to be handed over. A bag of 50kg each was composed of Wheat bran, Palm Kernel cake, Corn(maize), Fish meal, soya bean, Bone meal, vitamins and salt. In all we composed 11 bags. One was for use during the waiting period and the rest to be handed over with the piglets on the 30th March.
STEP FOUR - Selection of Beneficiary farmers'-
On the 21th March - a meeting for the selection of Beneficiaries was held in Bamenda. All the four group delegates from Batibo were invited and the project committee of Nowepifac. Names were proposed and agreed upon based on the fact that they have good housing and will be able to feed the pig sustainably after the project feed stuff gets finished and hopefully will not continue with poor feeding.
The following were finally selected,(Five Men and Five Women)
1.) Mankah Florence
2.) Bacha Stanley Mbah
3.) Atud Alice Abuh
4.) Atah Richard Tebit
5.) Ndebe Napoleon Atud
6.) Tibab Ernest Mbachick
7.) NjeiTebong Clement
8.) Acha Elisabeth Engonwei
9.) Tenye Bridget Anam
10.) Nkuinja Rosaline
STEP FIVE - Transportation of feed and piglets to Guzang - Batibo;-
Pigs and feed were transported to Guzang by public transport on the 29th March 2016. Two large cages were bought by Mr. Emmanuel Tepi from the Bamenda food Market and each was capable of holding 5 piglets.
After the vehicle was loaded with the 10 bags of feed, the pigs were then put on top of the feed bags and tired. Mr. Emmanuel Tepi accompanied the driver to Guzang village market square where he had to locate where the pigs and feed have to pass the night.
It was not an easy arrangement for him any way but he managed to go through the huddles as the cages were all torn and some piglets tried to escape.
STEP SIX - POG and HAPPY BIRTH CEREMONY 30th March 2016:-
Prior to this day, invitations were sent ahead of time to some state officials of the ministries of Livestock, Agriculture and to the Mayor of the Batibo rural council. An agenda/activity schedule of the day was also made and circulated ahead of time to prepare the minds of the concern.
Another important document was the beneficiary form to be filled and signed by the beneficiaries and their witnesses.
(see copies of the above in the annexes).
Speakers of the day included Mr Emmanuel Tepi, who had to welcome us to Guzang;- Mr Titus who had to brief all present on the history of the project and why the Bawock people are quite prominent/present in Guzang for the event. He elaborated on the reason why the venue Guzang was chosen and why on the 30th March.
Mr. Njimbong Stephen, a retired teacher of the National veterinary school and livestock trainer who was part of the team from Bamenda gave some lectures to the beneficiaries to guide them toward success and same was done by the project coordinator.
Some farmers from Bawock also shared their experiences, telling the new beneficiaries how they managed their farms to succeed to pass over the gift.
Right: History of the project by Coordinator.
Right: Mr. Nju Charles
Mr. Nju Charles read through a copy of the beneficiary form clearly and loudly so that all those present for the occasion could bear witness to the agreement between the 10 beneficiaries and NOWEPIFAC authority. After reading, he then called on all the beneficiaries to come forward with their ID cards for filling the form.
The Batibo rural council mayor's representative, Mr. NgohJohn(Chief of works, Batibo rural council), after listening to all the speakers,stood up and gave a feedbackspeech. He appreciated the initiative of the Dutch girl Djouke and send VERY SPECIAL words of greetings and thanks through the project coordinator to the project donor Djouke and expressed the wish that other village within the sub division be assisted in the same way if the means is available.
He warned that beneficiaries should not fail to respect the terms of the beneficiary agreement because others are waiting anxiously to benefit come next year.
He regretted the choice of venue and suggested that next time it would be better to carry out this activity in the Batibo town center so that the impact be felt by a greater majority. The minute secretary for NOWEPIFAC Mr. Samuel wato took special note of the Mayor's recommendation against 2017.
Right: Mr Marcel, MINEPIA Guzang, receives a phone call
HAPPY BIRTH DAY SPEECH AND PICTURE;-
The coordinator after explaining to all present that 30th March 2016 was chosen for this event because it coincided with Djouke's 16th birth day and that the POG was more of a birthday gift to us. To thank her for the gift of love, 3 persons spoke on-behalf of the rest reminding her that they were all with her in spirit for a birth day party wherever she will be celebrating and wishing her many more years on earth and God's protection. Happiness could be seen on every ones face as they all rose to join for the group happy birth day picture. On the front placard was written,
"Djouke, you are 16 years old today, We say Happy Birth Day"
STEP SEVEN - -POG Proper After picking Ballot.
We move away from the frontage of the hall where the meeting was held and walked a distance of about 100 meters to the Guzang Market square grand stand where the piglets in their separate cages and feed were kept waiting. Talking time was over so here was more of action time.
The pigs were all treated for worms, administered some iron dextran injection and vitamins.
Because the piglets were not all the same, ballot papers were prepared as usual by Nju Charles, numbering them from 1 to 10 and numbering the piglets from 1 to 10 also. The numbers were twisted and thrown on the ground and the ten people picked their numbers and go for the Corresponding piglet.
The 10 piglets were all in cages this time considering the trouble faced last year from some that threaten to escape. A prayer asking for success in the project from God and blessings to the donor was offered by Mr. Frederick Ateh at the start of the occasion.
After the POG exercise every one present went back in front of the hall where the meeting took for a light refreshment. A basket of food brought in by the Bawock delegation and some liters of white stuff (native wine) brought to the occasion by some members of the different groups as freewill donation towards the success of the event.
STEP EIGHT - MONITORING OF THE IMPLIMENTAION PROCESS.
The project coordinator and another volunteer member of the project committee will have to visit beneficiaries after every two months to see how these piglets are faring and the feed composed by beneficiaries when the project feed is exhausted. The follow up schedule will be drawn this April 2016 in the days ahead and respected till POG in 2017. Beneficiaries were promised prizes for best perform ant farmers who will respect the POG timing.
POG EVALAUTION MEETING IN BAWOCK;- 6th April 2016
During the evaluation meeting which was not attended by all group delegate discussions were centered on problems/difficulties faced as well as successes recorded during the POG event in Guzang. The evaluation is just an added point on the normal agenda of the regular monthly group delegates meeting. During this meeting this report was also read and amended for adoption by delegates.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT;-
Working Budget 400Euros x 660(exchange rate) = 264,000.FRS CFA
Contribution by donor = 264,000
Contribution from Group Annual dues and freewill from members = 43,500 FRS CFA
DIFFICULTIES ;-
It should be noted that during the selection of beneficiaries, only group delegates(leaders) are invited for the exercise to provide prove of eligibility. In this case some members argue that their leaders are biased so raise a lot of tension during the POG event proper. Group leaders in defense say, these persons who claim to have been selected are irregular in meetings, and only present when they hear that something is at hand to benefit.
Some, they say don't contribute their annual dues and don't respect the orders of the group leader but that of Nowepifac project coordinator rather which is very wrong.
It is often necessary to make a follow up schedule after passing on the gift to ensure that the piglets received by beneficiaries are well taken care in general terms.
The barrier is often the distances away from the coordination team thus the need of a transport facility to reach the beneficiaries at least after every two months.
GENERAL OBSERVATION'-
The Pig Van Djouke project this year 2016 has recorded another major success in a new community attracting on-lookers to find ways of becoming part of the cooperative fold. Gender balanced, with youths inclusive on the list of beneficiaries is quite indicative of sustainability. The fact that the number of beneficiaries chosen per group takes into consideration statistics of group membership enrolement and participation in group activities as testified by the group delegates is indicative of a transparent approach.
Everybody left the occasion satisfied with the ballot paper system of giving piglets to beneficiaries. It should be noted that not all cost/expenses have entered the financial statement because much is put in as freewill/sacrifice to have the project realized. We wish to appreciate and acknowledge all those who did one or two things to enable us come to this wonderful end this year 2016. We thank the Mayor of Batibo and the delegate of MINEPIA for Guzang for honoring our invitation to this wonderful event.
RECOMMENDATION;-
In addition to the same recommendation of last year 2015, we recommend that this project be extends to other communities but a follow up plan/schedule be drawn by the supervision team and followed strictly to avoid failures in POG timing. We also recommend that the donor assist the follow up team financially in a separate budget allocation to cover travelling and communication cost because this team is important for the success story of the project.
ANNEXES;- Announcement/Invitation
NORTH WEST PIG FARMERS COOPERATIVE SOCIETY
(NOWEPIFAC)
Announcement/Invitation
These questions and more will be answered to you during the upcoming POG launch in Batibo Sub division.
Sign;- ………………………………………
Management
ANNEXES;- Agenda for the launching of "A Pig Van Djouke Project" in Guzang-Batibo Sub-Division
NORTH WEST PIG FARMERS COOPERATIVE SOCIETY
(NOWEPIFAC)
AGENDA FOR THE LAUNCHING OF "A PIG VAN DJOUKE PROJECT" IN GUZANG-BATIBO SUB DIVISION
ANNEXES;- a sample of Beneficiary Form
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