Imagine being part of an army of people that created a massive impact? You can! Join us in building a dairy industry in Mindanao, Philippines and educate hundreds of children in the process! 
Vision
Our vision is to see everyone have the opportunity to succeed in life no matter where they live. We have seen that sharing even the little you have in your hand can make a huge difference in reducing poverty. It goes even further by allowing people to exchange hopelessness for a hope that life can indeed become better for themselves and their children.
Problem
Ethical Harvest has been supporting indigenous and marginalised farming communities in Mindanao Philippines since 2008, by assisting them to develop high value agricultural products.
Farmers and labourers currently live on approximately $40AUD a month which barely covers the cost of food to feed a family. The cycle of poverty contributes to poor health, loss of land and degradation of the environment and children rarely continuing going to school beyond Year 2. The impact of poverty resulting in early deaths, joblessness, illiteracy and lack of business skills. These communities then fall prey to unfair business deals and are locked into a cycle of continuing poverty and disadvantage.
Our Solution
A dairy goat project began in three communities in 2014 with only 2 goats and has grown to 160 goats. With support from the Australian Embassy in Manila, a modern processing facility has been built and equipped with modern equipment to process the milk.
Raising and milking goats provides these poor farming communities with an opportunity that would be impossible to achieve without external support. The program utilises their farming skills and provides training in best agricultural practises which increases their ability to produce a high value product for which they receive regular and fair payment. Not only do we support the communities through job creation but we return dividends back to the people through health initiatives such as the womens health ambassador program, environmental land training for sustainable farming, educational scholarships to educate children from preschool to year 12 and beyond.
Our Impact so Far
In an area with almost 100% unemployment, 30 full time jobs have been created with an additional 20 casual jobs provided on an on-going basis.
250 children are on full scholarship which has resulted in more children staying in school.
We have a vision to upscale and support the development of dairy in the Philippines. In the next 5 years we see the Ethical Harvest project with a herd of 1,000 goats, creating 600 new employment opportunities and supporting the education of 1,000 children for their entire educational journey from preschool to year 12.
Our team
We have a dedicated professional team of Filipino nationals who are leaders in the fields of Health education and Agriculture. There is also a support contingent who handle our legal work and compliance in-country with great skill and efficiency. The Australian components of the team includes research and agricultural specialists, media advisers plus the core team of the founder and directors.
Our team recently received recognition as one of the top 16 micro, small to medium businesses in the Philippines that gained enormous market growth creating income and job opportunities for rural poor. We were the proud awardees of Region 12 representing 4 provinces with a population over 10 million and were number 1 from over 200 participants.
These are great achievements, but we want to do more.
