What you need to know

• A gift of a goat provides families with milk and fertilizer to grow their vegetables.
• Families can sell any extra milk to help cover essentials like health care or school costs.
• Plan International also helps farmers work together to sell milk, earning more than they could on their own.

“When I received a goat through Plan, I thought it was just an animal,” says Hitimana Jean Baptiste. He quickly realized it was much more than that.

Baptiste lives with his wife and six children in a village in Rwanda’s Karongi District. Nearby, there is a refugee camp where families displaced by conflict and climate-related disasters live. These communities are neighbours in the truest sense: close enough to feel each other’s struggles and experience the same limits.

While displaced families in the camp receive some support, communities like Baptiste’s are carrying quiet burdens of their own – facing food shortages, stretching already-thin incomes, and finding ways to get by as resources shrink.

That’s where the goats come in. To ease some of those pressures, Plan International Rwanda, in partnership with the World Food Programme , provided goats to families in host communities.

For Baptiste, the change first started in his garden. “The goat provided organic fertilizer for our crops and vegetables,” he says. “Our kitchen garden became healthier, more productive.” Slowly, meals improved. There was more variety. More security.

Over three years, Plan distributed 238 goats. As the goats reproduced, the number grew to nearly 380.

One day, Baptiste’s goat gave birth. What happened next was not a part of any plan or project design. It was Baptiste’s choice. “We gave the young goat to a neighbour,” he says. “That way, another family can benefit, just like we did.”

A gift, passed on.

“Today, my family is stronger,” Baptiste says. “We are eating healthier food and we are helping others in our village.”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Why are goats a popular gift to give?

Goats provide milk, help crops grow, and can be sold if a family needs money.

2. How can I give a goat to a family?

You can give one through Plan’s Gifts of Hope program.

3. When you give a goat as a charity gift, what happens?

When you give a goat as a Gift of Hope, you’re helping fund training for families on how to care for goats and helping them gain access to veterinary care so they can keep their animals healthy.

4. Are goats also given to refugee communities?

No. Through this program, goats are provided to families in the host communities of refugee camps. Plan organizes separate livestock programs for refugee families that include pigs, rabbits, cows, and fish, depending on the communities’ needs.