Free Kissan Free Pakistan has been donating lactating cows with their calves under Single Mother Initiative Livestock Empowerment Project (SMILE) to single mother farmers in remote villages of Pakistan. These women are living on $1-$2 per day & live below the poverty line. They have 6-7 dependents including mostly children. Their children suffer from malnutrition due to lack of access to balanced nutrition.They do not go to school because their mothers ask them to work with them in the fields for added labor income. In the fields, these kids are exposed to hazardous chemicals. Secondary to occupational hazards & lack of good nutrition, the children suffer from various illnesses.

Each cow donated delivers milk right away to these children thus addressing the nutritional deficiencies of these children. Most importantly, it empowers their mothers boosting her income immediately from $2 a day to $5 a day. Mother sells the milk in the market. She also makes ghee, cream & butter from this milk & sells it in the market. The cow uses local feed that has negligible cost.

Cow has access to local vet & gets vaccinated. This gift multiplies with time. The cows donated a year ago have delivered 1 more calf thus improving the productivity of the mothers business. The single mother farmers are not only able to feed their children well, they can stop engaging them in labor on the farms AND they can send their children to school. Above
all, this gift provides them with confidence & uplift that they can run a successful & profitable business on their own. FKFP has set up a monitoring system to ensure sustainability & continued efficacy of this project.