The Brooke - 'Self-help' - helping people help their working animals

Spotlight on Sonargunbur village

Twelve women in Sonargunbur village set up a self-help scheme eight months ago, with support from Brooke.

Between them they have 40 horses and donkeys which, prior to our intervention, were treated with traditional ‘remedies’, some of which did more harm than good.

Now the women have learnt about healthy feeding. They clean out their animals twice a day, give them salt and regularly cleanse their eyes and undertake grooming. As a result, their animals are a great deal healthier.


	Working with Brooke, we are much more confident.

Saving money, helping animals

The women also save a little money each month so if their animal gets sick or injured they can afford to rest their horse without resorting to the extortionate rates charged by some local money lenders.

These savings also enable the women to provide a prize for a quarterly competition, awarded to the owner of the animal judged most healthy by the women themselves. The group came up with this idea to encourage good practice throughout their community.

With the Brooke's help, the women were able to gain knowledge on issues that are important to them and to share their knowledge with each other.

Spotlight on Betayla Village

In Betayla village we have assisted 12 men with a total of 22 animals to set up a similar group. Like the women of Sonargunbur, they have a joint savings scheme to protect them from high interest rates, and together they have already managed to buy a new horse for one owner whose previous animal had died.

In addition, the group are better equipped to get tetanus vaccinations for their animals thanks to a trained community animal health worker who can help provide essential protection from this deadly disease.

Most of the owners have families - and they rely on the work they do with these animals, so Brooke's community work is supporting people as well as animals to find solutions that work for the long-term.