HOW GIRINKA IS BENEFITING THE POOR

Inputs from agencies

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently on a five-day three-nation tour of the African continent, with his first stop being Rwanda . It's the first prime ministerial visit to the country which has a population that's less than Delhi's.On Tuesday Modi in a rather unusual gift, presented 200 cows sourced locally to villagers in the Rweru Model Village as part of the Girinka programme, which mandates one cow for one poor family. with the first female calf that is born from the cow gifted to the family's neighbour.The gift was in support of Rwanda President Paul Kagame's ambitious initiative for poverty reduction and tackling childhood malnutrition, initiated by Kagame in 2006 to provide nutritional and financial security through this national social protection scheme.Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi appreciated the 'Girinka Programme', saying people in India too would be pleasantly surprised to see the cow being given such importance as a means of economic empowerment in villages, in faraway Rwanda."Being part of a transformative project towards economic development of Rwanda! PM @narendramodi donates 200 cows under #Girinka - One Cow per Poor Family Programme at Rweru village. Girinka is an ambitious projects that provides both nutritional and financial security to the poor," Raveesh Kumar, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, tweeted.A flagship programme of the government of Rwanda, Girinka is helping to transform rural livelihoods and address poverty alleviation in this Central landlocked African country. The programme was set up with the central aim of reducing child nutrition rates and increasing household incomes of poor farmers.Under the Girinka model, one cow brings nutrition, sustenance and employment, providing a stable income for a family. In addition, it serves as a source of soil nutrients via manure to assist in small scale cropping activity.Till date more than 2,03,000 families have benefited from the programme.PM Modi's gift of 200 cows to villagers who do not yet have a cow is aimed at boosting the livelihoods of the poor in Rwanda.In addition, India has also extended a line of credit worth US $200 million to the African country.