It does work !

Zebunet in figures :

- 6,000 members over 16 years and 550 active members in 2017;
- about 15 volunteers working year-long on projects, website, events, etc.;
- 38 ongoing projects in 2017 and more than 120 projects led since 2001;
- 25 partners in 7 countries: Vietnam, Madagascar, Togo, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Niger;
- more than 5000 families owning 16 000 animals.
 

Zebunet widens its flock !

Zebunet’s first project in Vietnam was started in partnership with Agronomes et Veterinaires Sans Frontieres (AVSF), who shared their expertise in livestock and development. Thanks to the project’s success both in France and Vietnam, Zebunet extended its action to Mauritania in 2002, Madagascar in 2003, Niger in 2005, Burkina Faso in 2008, Togo in 2015, Mali in 2017 and Senegal in 2018.

The granted community loans meet the needs of our local partners and our herd is now large! Among all countries, we count more than 5,700 small ruminants (ewes, goats, sheeps, etc.), 45 ducks, 20 donkeys, 755 sets of 3 chickens, more than 1,700 zebus, 5 camels and 3,200 pigs. What a beautiful flock !
Our loans are diverse and adapt to the farmer’s needs: they range from €50 to €250 and may fund animals, but also barns, stys, food, etc. For each of these projects, Zebunet may also take part in support actions: we can fund veterinary care the first year or some training for livestock farmers; more generally, we lead some actions to support families and mitigate the environmental impact of livestock: reforestation in Madagascar, henhouses or donkey-carts, biogaz in Vietnam, agroforestry in Burkina-Faso, water pumps in Niger, etc.

Most of the success for these projects is thank to our local partner’s work, which for some of them last for more than 10 years. But all this would also be impossible without the support of the Zebunet community, constituted by our many volunteers and zebuphiles.

Since its founding in 2001, Zebunet was built thanks to volunteers until the first staff was hired in 2010. Therefore, our association had almost no expenses for 8 years, which allowed to fund projects and spare a financial cushion for our administrative base.  Having a sound financial basis enabled us to be granted a « Emploi Tremplin » subsidy from the Ile-de-France Region in 2011 to help fund a full-time staff at our base for 6 years. Memberships and donations, on top of the 5 euros taken from PEAs, are now enough to cover almost all expenses at our administrative base. Subscriptions to PEAs are entirely invested in the countries and subscriptions under a « donor » status become a transition capital in the countries, which allow Zebunet to prefund the next project. This organization let us fulfill several requests in parallel and ensures fairness in the positioning of our activities.

Our association is now seeking to increase the number of annual members by a few hundreds, in order to ensure a long-term financial balance at our administrative base. Likewise, as our association reached a financial balance, our Board decided to study new types of projects that are more diversified although still linked to livestock, in order to address the many requests and have a global impact.  For instance, to equip farmers with more tools, we recently funded a project of donkeys and « Kassine » (donkey-cart used to grow food) in Burkina-Faso. In Vietnam, more than 250 bio-digesters were installed at pig farms and we are assessing the possibility to fund farming in Togo in the next few months. Little by little, these projects will be offered on our website to be funded.

Respecting animals and the environment

Our association is particularly vigilant to limit the impact on the environment of the activities funded within the scope of our projects, and to ensure that animals are raised in humane conditions.

Zebunet and its local partners are therefore paying a lot of attention to the livestock farming environment: crowding, housing size, care, food quantity, stalling and population balance, etc. Respecting the environment also means managing waste, controlling food intake to avoid overgrazing, and improving hygiene practices. 

In this context, Zebunet is also helping towards so-called « support » projects, funded by grants from companies, foundations or institutions. Complementing livestock farming, these projects allow Zebunet to have a global impact, taking into account the environment while increasing advantages to the families. For instance, after a pig project in Vietnam, funding biodigestors let farmers be equipped with cooking gas, while reducing their waste and producing fertilizer.

See our news (in french) here !