Six students from Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Ohio State University traveled to Tanga, Tanzania for four weeks to partner with local governments on a modern chicken project.

In one village, we surveyed and selected five families to help start innovative chicken busineses based on need and willingness to take on a potentially profitable risk.  We built each family a hut in the traditional Tanzanian style with the help of a local building expert.  We then provided a European rooster and several traditional hens.  These hens will produce chicks that are a hybrid between traditional and exotic, and the chicks will be capable of producing over three times the number of eggs that a traditional hen can produce.  The eggs can then be boiled and sold at market.  Informational materials were designed in Swahili to teach families how to care for and upkeep the chickens and huts.  In addition, food, vaccines, and kerosene were provided to cover initial investment costs.  The families will be expected to cover all upkeep costs in the future, but the costs were calculated to be far less than the profit made from the upstart of a business.

A similar project was completed in another village outside of Pangani, Tanzania. The only difference was that one hutch was built for communal use by 20 families.  Because of the tight-knit nature of the community and the heavy involvement of the town council in everyday life, it seemed like a communal hutch would be cost effective and and potentially more successful.

In addition, we traveled to the Usambara mountain region and established contacts with a school for the mentally retarded, school for the blind, and an orphanage.  We learned about a fish pond project in the area started by Heifer International and kept up by the Lutheran Church.  We are hoping to help found a Nourish Chapter at one of the local universities that can continue working on the fish pond project.

• Planning
• Community needs
• Assessments/Surveys
• Research
• Collaboration with locals
• Building
• Organizing transport of chickens
• Volunteering