Project Launch: 12-13-17

Koungheul Soce is a Mandinka village of 1500 people in which most people earn their livelihood through farming and gardening. Koungheul Soce’s primary school staff want their school to be innovative and encourage self-sufficiency. They already have a functioning school garden which students and staff take care of together. The staff wish to engage in more income-generating activities to create a school fund that can pay for future school projects as well as assist students financially.

The teachers have proposed the idea of building a chicken coop at the school in order to generate income for the school as well as teach the students about poultry farming and financial literacy. The school and community will be responsible for building the chicken coop, transporting materials, providing medication and feed for chicks, and acquiring needed tools. Additional income will greatly help the school in its bid to become self-sustaining.

Project Update: 3-14-18

The Koungheul Soce Primary School staff and students have raised and sold chickens. They bought the first round of 75 chicks, of which three died, and they sold the remaining 72 during Ziyaro, an important holiday that took place on March 10. They bought the second round of 50 chicks of which none have died so far. This second batch will be ready to sell in a few weeks. The chicken coop was open during certain times for all students to observe and participate. Mostly the CM2 (sixth grade) class of 30 students took care of the chickens. After some training on best chicken raising practices by the Project Leader, the students managed the chicken coop.

Final Report: 5-24-18

Out of 125 original chicks, only a few died, and the school had no difficulty selling all of the grown chickens. This addressed the primary goal of this project which was to generate income for and supplement the budget of the school. While the oldest students were primarily involved in the actual care of the chickens, all of the teachers incorporated the project into their lessons. The teachers' lessons included chicken biology, how to raise chickens (feed, water, medicine, cleanliness), nutrition, and compost. This project also addressed the goal of increasing the prevalence of high-quality chickens in the village, some of which were eaten, some of which continue to be raised for either families' income generation or for nourishment.