With eight children, B and her husband were struggling to make ends meet with his meagre daily wage income. “My husband worked as a farm hand and his income was simply not enough; we couldn't even afford to buy milk,” said B. Her family was assessed to be among the poorest households in her village in Kabul province, and she was selected to participate in the Targeting the Ultra-Poor (TUP) project in 2017. This intervention granted beneficiaries productive livestock, a monthly stipend for daily consumption, skills training, such as financial literacy and livestock rearing, and market linkages.

B was provided with a cow and a calf but the cow had a low capacity to produce milk, and was replaced. B decided to sell the new cow using the proceeds plus a loan of AFN 17,000 from the First Microfinance Bank Afghanistan (FMFB-A). With the loan, she was able to buy a hybrid cow, estimated to produce five litres of milk per day. She was then able to start repaying her loan from FMFB-A, save a portion of her earnings and buy a pregnant goat which produced three litres of milk per day.

B is committed to further expanding her livestock asset and has started saving to buy a second cow. Her husband also appreciates what the TUP intervention and the FMFB loan have both done to their lives and is not taking things for granted. “I help take care of the livestock and get busy with them all day long,” he said. “I am thankful for having them and I am sure they will help change our lives.”

“At last, I am no longer concerned about where to get our next food,” said B. “Now it feels good... it's a dream come true: that I have already bought new clothes for my kids before the coming Eid celebrations; I have new pillows and mattresses for our home for the big day.”

This story was developed by Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA).