The Latest Proposal

There have been some interesting developments lately that have changed some of the directions the project is going. Not only has the availability of newly hatched chicks made us look away from the idea of hatching our own, but the idea of raising multiple smaller flocks of differing ages has caused us to scale down the size of the operation but think in terms of multiple units for each project. I was tasked with the job of putting a proposal together for an organization which is interested in funding the project. While the proposal is not ready for submittal, it is finished enough to post on the site as an overview of the whole project. The project is moving from a simple chicken farm to more of a community develpment idea, if the funding can be found. Our first priority is to implement the first "unit" of the chicken farm regardless of the amount of funding we can raise, but we are also developing a more comprehensive sustainable project for the entire community based around the agricultural neeeds of the people. How we implement the project will be tied directly to the level of funding we can acheive. If you look around the website you will see that a couple pages have been removed, and a new page with the proposal has been added. The exciting part is the number of small integrated projects that we have not yet added to the proposal but have been discussing in person. Such things as converting used cooking oil into diesal fuel, utilizing avacodo trees for oil and chiken feed, planting cashew trees for food and export, a community cold storage/co-op, and several other possible projects. My vision has now been expanded from a simple chicken farm into a community renewal project that will be used as a template for other villages. My hope is that a portion of the revenue seen will be paid back by the community and get used for jumpstarting the next project in a nearby village. Each successful venture would lessen the need for outside capital until the project is not only self sustaining as a project in country, but as a ministry it would become free from the need to raise funding for additonal projects. The danger here is the opportunity for funds to be wasted or poorly spent. To combat this we will need to lay the groundwork for complete transparency in the project by partnering with or developing an organization to maintain the books. We have taken steps in this direction already, and are in discussion with some organizations already working in Haiti that have an interest in what we are doing. Hopefully the next month will see great steps taken in this area. Regardless of the final scope of our project we will be seeking to take the necessary steps to safeguard the use of all our funding and create a means of assuring anyone who partners with us that all donations given are going directly to the project and not into gross administrative fees or individual pockets.