Ukraine - Carpathian Project

Project Overview:

Heifer International is working with 110 rural families in Ukraine in the villages of Borynia and Komarnyky, in the Turka region. Heifer’s goal is to improve participants’ knowledge of agricultural production and processing and green tourism. The project also plans to establish an education and production center to provide training on small-scale milk and meat processing for participants and the larger community.

A total of 55 rural families will receive Simmental breed heifers, bee packages, gilts, a boar and ornamental plant saplings. Heifer will also provide project participants mixed fodder for their animals, veterinary medicines, equipment for artificial insemination, and agricultural inputs. An additional 55 families will benefit from Passing on the Gift.

Project participants had opportunities to visit other Heifer projects to learn from their success and share their experiences. Visiting with other Heifer participants in the Carpathian region, they learned what led to their success and established working relationships. They also attended trainings on rural green tourism, agriculture, natural farming, branding local and traditional products/services, potato production and leadership.

The brand training inspired the group to create and develop the Carpathian brand to use in community development. Project leaders learned techniques for project presentations through their leadership training. The group’s partnerships and project activity were covered by the local media.

One of the biggest difficulties with community development is the lack of vision for economic development, including development in self-government and executive power. To this end, the group is working to continue their partnerships and attract new partners to aid their growth.

Villagers are gaining social capital, trust and mutual help. They are attentive to available resources and where to look for missing elements in their development. They have a vision for their future activity and how to achieve it sustainably.

Key Updates:

• Through original gifts and Passing on the Gift, 17 families improved their nutrition and increased their income from the sale of animal products, beekeeping and potatoes.
• Orchard tree saplings were donated to families engaged in rural green tourism.
• An artificial insemination center was created. There have been nine heifers artificially inseminated in the center, seven of them owned by Heifer project participants.
• There was continued training in animal well being.
• At the general group meeting, strategy and direction were discussed for the cooperative. Two of the outcomes were to create a training center to revive production of local food products and to purchase a tractor to provide additional services, including land tillage, to project participants.
• Some 20 families used the services of the credit union, a project partner.