News from Helen Keller International’s 
        Enhanced Homestead Food Production 
        Program
            Hatching an End to Poverty 
                   and Malnutrition
           HKI’s CHANGE Project promoted a 
           novel model for nutrition-sensitive 
           urban poultry rearing, which has 
           proved highly sustainable even after 
           the project’s end
                                                                                                       Hen and chick
        “A henhouse is a win-win investment: you produce        poultry. In particular, the project promoted laying 
        much more than you put into it!” Explains Aissatou Ba   hens, as chicken eggs are very rich in protein and 
        with enthusiasm. “When the chickens lay eggs, I use     micronutrients but are rarely consumed by most 
        them to make breakfast for my family. The money I       families, primarily due to the cost. CHANGE targeted 
        save from not having to buy breakfast, I use to buy     women, who are mainly responsible for household 
        chicken feed or vaccines.”                              nutrition but have few ways to earn money, intending 
                                                                to make it easier for them to produce and buy 
        Just four years ago, Aissatou had never even            nutritious foods for their households.
        considered raising chickens—she lives not on a farm 
        but in Guédiawaye, a crowded urban neighborhood         About 1300 participating women thus received a 
        of Dakar, Senegal. Then came the CHANGE project,        henhouse, built from an innovative design that was 
        implemented by Helen Keller International in            adapted to raising chickens in urban areas, plus three 
        partnership with a local NGO, ADECOM, with funding      laying hens and one rooster, personalized training, 
        from Global Affairs Canada. CHANGE sought to            and veterinary support. This was combined with 
        address problems of childhood malnutrition by           education and counselling on nutrition and hygiene, to 
        promoting a novel urban approach to nutrition-          ensure the production benefited the household diet. 
        sensitive agriculture, centered around gardening        Simultaneously, an interactive women’s empowerment 
        using compact ‘table gardens’ as well as raising        curriculum worked with participating women and their 
         husbands to help improve communication,             the end of the project, with          joints and restaurants—she 
         cooperation, and sharing of workloads               higher median revenues. One           sees plenty of potential, within 
         within households. This helped ensure               example of this is Aissatou Ba.       and beyond the neighborhood! 
         that women would be able to remain in               From three hens and a rooster         “The project ended, but I have 
         control of their chickens—and any resulting         three years ago, her flock            found a great passion for raising 
         revenues.                                           numbered seven chickens               chickens. I dream of having a 
                                                             two years after the end of the        huge henhouse, when I have my 
         The approach proved widely popular.                 project, and she increases it         own house, to produce more.” 
         Before CHANGE, almost no women in                   each year in advance of major 
         the neighborhood owned chickens. Over               holidays, such as Korité (Eid         CHANGE consciously sought to 
         the course of the project, flock size grew          al-Fitr), when the period of          promote a sustainable model, 
         steadily: two years in, 20% of participants         fasting, spirituality, and sharing    teaching participants how to 
         owned 10 or more chickens and the                   marked by Ramadan comes to            grow a flock, make feed, and 
         average household was producing about               an end with a feast of chicken.       vaccinate their chickens. As 
         six dozen eggs a month. Households also             Indeed, Korité without chicken        Aissatou explains, “Chicken 
         gradually began to diversify, including             is like American Thanksgiving         feed is expensive in the market, 
         raising broilers for home consumption               without turkey. Recognizing           but we were trained on how to 
         and sale. For example, midway through               this, Aissatou added a third          make it. All the ingredients are 
         the project, project participant Amy Fall           level to her henhouse to              sold at the market… you can buy 
         was already using part of her henhouse to           raise more chickens and               them all and make it yourself. 
         raise broilers. The money she earned from           sold 40 broilers, earning over        It’s much cheaper.” HKI also 
         selling them was used to cover the family’s         150 USD. This was used to             aimed to make the henhouses 
         daily needs, including better nutrition.            cover household needs, like           sustainably available by 
         “One day my husband, a day laborer at               children’s education and food.        working with local carpenters, 
         a slaughterhouse, came home empty                   In addition, her family eats          providing the blueprints and 
         handed, when I’d been expecting him to              chicken regularly, and she            hiring them to build henhouses 
         go to the market and buy us food for lunch.         continues to produce eggs,            for all the project participants. 
         I thus took one of the chickens, sold it for        which she uses for her family’s       This provided not just a 
         4000 FCFA ($7.00), and used the money to            breakfast. Aissatou’s ambitions       temporary boost to the local 
         buy food to cook.”                                  continue to grow: she plans to        economy: the carpenters 
                                                             invest in another 50 broilers         had learned to make a new 
         Urban poultry rearing proved to be highly           to raise for the December             product, and through project 
         sustainable: 18 months after the end                holidays and eventually to            participants, their work got 
         of CHANGE, about 75% of participants                get a second henhouse to              wide exposure throughout the 
         continued to raise chickens, and                    increase production, fostering        neighborhood, leading to new 
         consumption and sale had increased since            partnerships with fast food           orders from non-participants. 
                                                          Eggs can make a very nutritious addition to a child’s diet. (Credit: Alessandra Silver)
                                                                                  Aissatou Ba with her henhouse (Credit: K. Thiam)
         “Several people who saw the            Korité, she invested in 150 chicks      from selling them to buy his own 
         CHANGE henhouses came and              and earned about $500, selling          clothes. Her family regularly enjoys 
         ordered their own,” explained          to individuals and restaurants          the fruits of the henhouses more 
         Abdoulaye Sene, a carpenter in         alike; she is eager to expand her       directly, as she harvests about 16 
         Wakhinane-Nimzatt neighborhood.  production even further. “Chicken             eggs a week, all of them destined 
         “I built 37 henhouses for individuals  raising is very important to me,” she   for the family table. And all this with 
         [not connected to the project], and    explains, “because I produce eggs       little investment: chicken care takes 
         I even delivered some outside of       to cook for my kids, and I also have    her only about 20 minutes a day!
         Dakar.”                                sold a lot of chickens. I manage 
                                                many of my family’s needs using         “The CHANGE project,” Aissatou Sy 
         In addition, HKI trained a team of     that money.”                            avows, “created a positive change 
         local women to be experts in urban                                             in the community: whether myself 
         poultry raising; during the project,   Aissatou Sy also had no experience      or the other beneficiaries, everyone 
         they conducted regular outreach to  with chickens before the project           found herself in this project. The 
         other project participants, helping    but has since become a true poultry  project even allowed me to stop 
         troubleshoot any problems. This        entrepreneur. Over a year after         buying eggs and chicken, as I prefer 
         included Aissatou, who, a year and     CHANGE ended, she earned over           to produce them myself. Now I raise 
         a half after the end of the project,   $400 selling 75 chickens for Korité     my own chickens to eat and sell, 
         remained an important resource         and became even more ambitious          or sometimes to give to others… 
         for her neighbors: “Many people        in advance of Tamkharit (Muslim         but what struck me the most 
         still ask me if I can advise them      New Year), raising a full 100 broilers  about the project is that is helped 
         on chicken raising—and some            to sell. The growing revenues           make malnutrition disappear in our 
         of them don’t even live in my          from her livestock operation were       neighborhood. Women here used to 
         neighborhood!”                         enough to not only support her          have many malnourished children, 
                                                family’s daily needs but also allow     but that receded as the project 
         Sokhna Gningue was one of              her to expand her livelihood in         advanced.” Given how sustainable 
         these participants. Thanks to the      other directions, investing in a small  the urban poultry rearing approach 
         training provided by CHANGE,           business selling cookware and           has proven to be, we can be 
         she began raising chickens in her      opening money transfer platforms,       optimistic that this improvement in 
         courtyard, growing her flock many      from which she earns royalties by       nutrition will continue long into the 
         times over and also diversifying       facilitating her neighbors’ transfers.  future, as the squawks of chickens 
         to raise broilers. Her family now      She’s also made chicken rearing         become ever-more common 
         eats chickens regularly, harvests      a family affair, giving her 13-year-    music on the rooftops and in the 
         eggs daily, and has many of its        old son a compartment of the            courtyards of Guédiawaye and 
         economic needs met through             henhouse to raise his own chickens.  beyond.
         her entrepreneurism. This past         Last year, he earned enough money 
             What is Urban Enhanced Homestead                                                             and grow vegetables, as well as reinforcing best 
             Food Production?                                                                             practices for nutrition and hygiene.
                                                                                                    •     Women’s empowerment activities support more 
                                                                                                          equitable intra-household decision-making and 
            •     Participants (mostly women) learn improved                                              workload and resource sharing.
                  practices for growing vegetables in table gardens                                 •     With novel home food production, potentially 
                  and intensive poultry raising for egg production.                                       greater earnings from selling surplus production, 
            •     Participatory education improves their                                                  and new knowledge, participants are better able 
                  understanding of the causes of malnutrition,                                            to feed their children and families diverse diets 
                  including low dietary diversity, and potential ways                                     rich in micronutrients, combatting malnutrition and 
                  to avoid it.                                                                            improving child health and growth.
            •     Trained neighborhood resource people provide 
                  follow-up training and support to raise poultry 
                                               FIGHTING MALNUTRITION AT ITS ROOTS.
                                                                    The CHANGE Project was supported by: