80% of the Somali population are dependent on livestock for their income

She has 4 children all of whom were born while Ladan clung to the top of vehicles on milk-collecting trips.

There is no disguising it; rural life in Somalia is harsh and it’s tough making a living as a milk trader working alone.

Barnaamijka Xoolaha (The Livestock Programme)

Ladan’s story features on a half hour pilot educational radio programme Barnaamijka Xoolaha (The Livestock Programme) made by the Trust with funding from the European Commission.

	Somali women consult with a shepherd

The weekly broadcast is the centrepiece of the Trust's Livestock Livelihood Project which began transmitting in September 2005.

But that is not the end of Ladan's story. The radio feature describes how the strain of working alone was removed when she went into partnership with a fellow milk seller.

Now the labour is divided on a rotating basis; one of them is out collecting fresh stock while the other sells the existing milk at market.

The profits are split between the 2 women and Ladan and her business partner both report that their incomes have gone up as a direct result of this pooling of resources.

These women's enterprise provides an illustration of how simple changes may be made to improve the economic welfare of individuals in the rural society.

	Producer, Abdillahi Jama Maxamed interviews a young shepherd for The Livestock Programme

It is stories like this one that the new programme will feature as it strives to improve skills and knowledge in the livestock sector across Somalia.

Livestock ban

80% of the population in Somalia are dependent on livestock for income.

The entire sector was hit very hard by the 1998 Saudi import ban on livestock from the east African region, following an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever.

The Saudi ban has had all sorts of knock-on effects in the country including the break-up of nomadic communities as young men leave to find work and money in urban areas.

The Trust's project seeks to improve the livelihoods of this rural population and help to preserve their way of life which is so threatened by the impoverished state of the sector.

The Trust Livestock Livelihood Project

The magazine format radio programme will cover a range of issues including market prices, animal health, detecting fake drugs, marketing, business skills and economic opportunities.

There is also a hands-on element to the Livestock Livelihood Project.

The Trust has worked with it's partner the Africa Educational Trust to train more than 500 facilitators who will lead learning groups which they will set up in communities across Somalia.

The intention is that people can listen to the broadcasts in groups with the facilitator and carry out learning activities that feature in all the programmes.

That way, the issues and news that they hear on Barnaamijka Xoolaha can be discussed and they have the chance to check the understanding of what they have learned.