The Ubuntu Goats Principle

The Ubuntu principle

Ubuntu is an African philosophy based on our connection with other people. It is often expressed through the words:

Within Ubuntu Goats, this principle becomes something practical. Five women each receive one goat. Their own herds can grow, while the value created by the male kids is brought together in a shared Community Fund. The Fund helps the women protect what they have built and, when enough money is available, create the same opportunity for another woman.

Why one goat can become a valuable beginning?

For a family living in a rural community, a goat can be a practical and valuable beginning.

• Milk can contribute to the family’s food.
• Milk can be made into cheese and yoghurt.
• Kids allow the herd to grow.
• The animals represent value and greater security.
• Goats can help create income.
• Their manure can be used to improve gardens and fields.

The project uses West African dwarf goats. They are well adapted to the local climate and conditions. They are small, relatively easy to care for and can usually have two or three kids during one pregnancy.

One young female goat may appear to be a small beginning, but she can become the foundation of a growing herd.

Why five women and five goats?

An Ubuntu Community begins with five women. Each woman receives one young female goat.

One woman with one goat can create an opportunity for herself and her family. Five women working together can also create a small support network.

• They can share what they know and learn together.
• They can help one another care for the goats.
• They can notice illness or other problems more quickly.
• They can support one another during difficult periods.
• They can make community decisions together.
• They can encourage more women to become involved.

Five women form a group that is large enough for cooperation, while remaining small enough for every woman and every goat to be known personally.

Each woman remains responsible for her own goat and her own growing herd. What the women share is the journey, the Community Fund and the responsibility to protect their common beginning and help the opportunity spread.

How the five women are chosen

The five women are selected within their own community. People living there know the women, their circumstances and their reputation much better than someone looking in from outside.

The community is asked to choose women who:

• are willing to care responsibly for a goat;
• want to work together;
• are prepared to learn;
• can be trusted;
• will support the other women;
• understand that the project should eventually create opportunities for others.

Ubuntu Goats does not choose the women from a distance. The local community takes responsibility for identifying women who can benefit from the opportunity and help carry the Ubuntu principle forward.

What each woman receives

Each woman receives one young female West African dwarf goat. The goat belongs to her.

She is responsible for:

• providing food and clean water;
• offering safe shelter;
• observing the goat’s health;
• seeking help when the animal becomes ill;
• caring responsibly for the goat and her future kids.

The woman also receives access to practical information about basic goat care.

Her goat is not a short-term gift that must later be returned. It is the beginning of something she can build for herself and her family.

What happens when the goat has kids?

A goat is pregnant for approximately five months. West African dwarf goats often give birth to two or three kids.

Female and male kids have different roles within the Ubuntu Goats system.

The female kids remain with the woman

Every female kid born to her goat belongs to the woman. She keeps and cares for these young females. They become part of her own herd and may later have kids of their own.

• One female goat may become two or three.
• Those goats may later have kids.
• The woman gradually builds a herd of her own.
• Her family gains greater security and more possibilities.

The woman is not asked to give away the female goats that allow her own herd to grow. Her progress matters.

The male kids strengthen the whole community

When a male kid is old enough, healthy and in suitable condition, he is sold at the local market.

The net proceeds from every sale are placed in the Ubuntu Community Fund. The Fund belongs to the shared process and is managed by the women together.

It first helps pay for necessary shared costs that protect the goats and what the women have built together. These may include essential animal-health care, necessary repairs to the communal shelter, replacement of important shared equipment and reasonable costs connected with selling, buying and passing goats forward.

After those necessary costs have been met and an agreed emergency reserve remains available, the women continue saving the rest. When enough money has accumulated, the Fund is used to buy a young female goat for another woman in the community.

This is how it works

1. A woman’s goat gives birth.
2. The female kids remain with her.
3. A male kid is raised until he is old enough to be sold.
4. The male kid is sold at the local market.
5. The net proceeds are placed in the Ubuntu Community Fund.
6. The Fund helps meet necessary shared costs and keeps an agreed reserve available.
7. The remaining money is saved until enough is available to buy a suitable young female goat.
8. Another woman receives that goat and begins building her own herd.

In this way, the herd continues to grow, the existing community becomes more secure and another woman gradually comes closer to receiving a new opportunity.

Why the male kids and the Community Fund are used in this way

If every woman had to give away one of her young female goats, helping another woman would reduce the growth of her own herd. Ubuntu Goats deliberately avoids that conflict.

The female kids are the foundation of the woman’s future herd. They therefore remain hers.

The male kids cannot expand her herd in the same way. By selling them and bringing their value together in the Community Fund, they can strengthen everyone’s shared foundation.

• The five founding women become stronger.
• The goats and shared facilities are better protected.
• Necessary common costs can be met from within the community.
• The women build a reserve for difficult moments.
• The Fund gradually creates an opportunity for another woman.

A birth the whole community can celebrate

Within an Ubuntu Community, the pregnancy of a goat is more than a private event for one woman and her family.

The people around her know that every birth can bring something valuable.

A female kid helps the woman’s own herd grow. A male kid can eventually be sold, adding new strength to the Community Fund.

This means that every pregnancy carries two forms of hope:

• hope that the five founding women become stronger. and their families will become stronger;
• hope that the Community Fund will become stronger, helping protect all the goats and bringing another woman’s opportunity closer.

As the birth approaches, the other women and the wider community can share in that expectation. They have a reason to care about the health of the mother goat, to take an interest in the newborn kids and to follow what happens next.

When a male kid is born, people know that the whole group may become a little stronger and that a new beginning for another woman has come one step closer. His later sale strengthens the Fund. When the necessary shared costs have been met and enough money has accumulated to purchase a new female goat, that moment can be shared and celebrated by the whole community.

In this way, every birth becomes visible. Everyone understands what it may lead to, and each new woman joining the group becomes part of a story the community has witnessed from the beginning.

Because the whole community follows this journey, each step—from the birth and sale of a male kid, through the careful use and growth of the Fund, to the arrival of a new female goat—can remain open, visible and shared.

When the next goat is passed forward

A new goat is passed forward when:

• one or more male kids have been sold fairly and their net proceeds recorded in the Community Fund;
• necessary shared costs have been paid;
• the agreed emergency reserve remains available;
• enough additional money has accumulated to buy, check and transport a suitable young female goat;
• the community is ready to welcome another woman;

One male kid does not necessarily pay for one new female goat. Sometimes the Fund will need time and the proceeds of several sales. This is not a failure or an interruption of the Ubuntu principle. It is how the women protect what they already have while building the next opportunity on a secure foundation.

Ubuntu Goats provides a common principle, but the process must remain realistic and humane. The welfare of the goats, the security of the shared project and the circumstances of the women always come first.

How another woman joins

The community chooses her according to the same basic values used when the first five women were selected. She should be willing to:

• care responsibly for her goat;
• participate in the community;
• learn from the women who began before her;
• support others;
• help strengthen the Community Fund when her own goat has male kids.

She does not begin alone. She joins women who already have experience and can help her take her first steps.

The Ubuntu Community can therefore grow gradually from five women to six, seven and eventually many more.

From outside support to growth from within

A conventional aid project might purchase goats for new women each time more money becomes available. Ubuntu Goats begins differently.

Outside help may provide the first five goats and the shared foundation needed to begin. After that, the Community Fund gives the women a practical way to meet important common needs and gradually create the next opportunities themselves.

• The project is not dependent on repeated donations.
• The women become active participants rather than passive recipients.
• Each generation of goats can contribute to care, resilience and further growth.
• The Fund helps necessary costs to be carried by the system itself.
• Local responsibility becomes part of the system.
• The opportunity can continue after the first support has ended.

Outside help creates the first opening. The women, their goats and the Fund help protect it, strengthen it and carry it forward.

What remains personal and what is shared

Ubuntu Goats combines personal ownership with shared responsibility.

This distinction protects the progress of each woman while preserving the Ubuntu principle at the heart of the project.

How are communities selected?

An Ubuntu Community is not selected after one short application or a single conversation. The process is deliberately careful and takes place step by step.

We first learn about the community, its circumstances and the person making contact. We then ask more detailed questions about local support, experience with goats, cooperation, practical conditions and the community’s willingness to take responsibility for the project.

If the first conversations are encouraging, the community must show that it can select five women through an open, fair and Ubuntu-inspired process. The women are not chosen by one person behind closed doors, and Ubuntu Goats does not simply select them from a distance. The community proposes them because local people know their circumstances, abilities and reputation. Ubuntu Goats then examines how that choice was made and whether the five women understand and freely accept what participation involves.

Even after the women have been proposed, the project does not begin immediately. The community follows a practical roadmap. Each stage must be completed satisfactorily before the next support is released. The final Community Agreement is presented for signature only when the preparations have been completed, the goats can be cared for safely and the women have shown that they can work together.

The four documents below make this entire process visible. They show that selection is not based on a vague promise, personal favour or momentary impression, but on information, local participation, practical preparation and clear mutual commitments.

A local person who helps everyone stay connected

Ubuntu Goats may begin a project from a distance, but the daily reality of an Ubuntu Community is always local. Questions arise, materials must be checked, goats need attention and small difficulties are best noticed before they become serious problems.

For that reason, Ubuntu Goats works with a trusted local liaison: a woman or man who knows the local language and circumstances and can help communication flow between the five women, their community and Ubuntu Goats.

This person does not take the project away from the women. The women remain the owners of their female goats. They make the group decisions and manage their Community Fund together. The liaison stands beside them and helps the agreed process work in practice.

The liaison is given clear tasks and clear limits. The person may observe, explain, assist and report, but may not own the women’s goats, control the Community Fund, take group decisions or promise additional support on behalf of Ubuntu Goats without authority.

Good local follow-up requires time, travel, communication and responsibility. The liaison therefore receives an agreed compensation. Part of that compensation is connected to completed work and the quality of the follow-up. This gives the person every reason to remain attentive, reliable and helpful throughout the important first months.

Why fostering still matters

During the first six months, Ubuntu Goats remains closely involved in every new Ubuntu Community.

Ubuntu Goats prepares and launches the project, carefully selects the community, provides the goats and start-up support, explains how the project should work and pays the agreed launch costs. Together with the local project liaison, Ubuntu Goats follows the women, the goats, the Community Fund and the first important steps of the project.

After six months, the community should be strong enough to continue building upon the foundation that has been created. The women care for their goats and the group increasingly provides for its own needs.

Being self-supporting does not mean being left alone

Moral support is an important part of fostering.

Continued human connection remains valuable. The women still benefit from encouragement, recognition, practical advice and the knowledge that others remain interested in what they are building.

Overall reporting and follow-up also remain necessary.

This work is carried out by the local project liaison. He:

• records births, deaths, illnesses, sales and purchases;
• applies and records the Ubuntu Goats identification tags after new births;
• follows the general welfare of the animals;
• discusses proposed expenditure with the five women;
• keeps the financial records of the Community Fund;
• submits requests for the release of money from the Fund;
• reports on the community’s progress.

During the first six months, the local project liaison reports to Ubuntu Goats. Ubuntu Goats reviews proposed expenditure and gives the final approval before money can be released from the Community Fund.

After six months, the foster group takes over this responsibility.

Why fostering involves a limited cost

The work of the local project liaison must continue after the first six months. Records must remain up to date, the goats and the Community Fund must continue to be followed, and proposed expenditure must still be examined before money is released.

Ubuntu Goats pays the liaison during the first six months. After that period, the foster group assumes this limited continuing cost. This makes it possible for the liaison to keep carrying out his work and to report to the foster group.

Why the foster group takes over

Ubuntu Goats must eventually step back from communities that have successfully completed their first six months. Otherwise, it would have to continue spending its limited time and resources on every existing community and would gradually lose the ability to launch new ones.

The foster group therefore takes over both the human connection with the community and the continuing oversight previously provided by Ubuntu Goats. It receives reports from the local project liaison and gives the final approval before money is released from the Community Fund.

This arrangement allows Ubuntu Goats to direct its resources towards launching new communities, while ensuring that each existing community continues to receive moral support, reliable local follow-up and responsible supervision of its Community Fund.

Some financial figures for launching a new Ubuntu Community

Launching a new Ubuntu Community requires more than purchasing five goats. The women need individual and shared equipment, a safe communal shelter, careful selection and transport of the goats, initial animal-health care and reliable local follow-up. Ubuntu Goats must also prepare, coordinate and support the project before and during its first months.

The figures below show the current recommended budget for launching one community with five founding women and five young female goats, including the conditional contribution that Ubuntu Goats may add to the Community Fund after a successful first six months. They are planning figures based on the present estimates. Actual local prices may change, and amounts are paid or released in stages wherever possible.

The euro amounts are indicative conversions. Not all amounts are paid directly to the women: many purchases and services are paid directly to suppliers, sellers, transport providers or animal-health workers. The preparation, coordination and supporting work carried out by Ubuntu Goats is provided free of charge and is therefore not included in the recommended budget. Percentages are rounded.