in the Developing World
Projects in Development
Take a look at the projects currently at the top of our list for development. We’re joining with local people to develop projects where each can dramatically change the life of thousands or tens of thousands of people. Cheetah projects are innovative, self-sustaining, community based and often women focused. They address value chain structural problems that unleash opportunity on a scale far beyond the investments made. Most remarkably, they leverage up the resources of the poor themselves, creating a vision for hope and a sustainable future.
Following is our list of Projects in development. For printing and external reference convenience, this document contains all projects in one file.
Not Glamorous but it Works
Over half the world’s poor are farmers; in nations like Tanzania it’s 75%. Urban slums fill with farmers seeking a better life but not finding it. Care for the poor? -Pay attention to farmers. Historically, cooperatives are how farmers lift themselves up. So Cheetah empowers communities with grass-roots organizing, needed investments, and access to markets. When we ask farmers how they want to spend their new profits, they want health care. Why? They are dying young. So Cheetah will link coops to village group health insurance, perhaps the first sustainable model.
IMPACT: Coops can increase farmer income 5X, drive local economies, and preserve food against rotting. This project addresses the root causes of poverty, bringing solutions for hunger and health care.
End the Feast/Famine Cycle with a Jar
Sad but true: food comes in flood at harvest and more than half rots. It’s not preserved, stored or processed. Then the dry season arrives and hunger spreads. So Cheetah is establishing a chain of shops that teach food preservation, sell the required supplies, and coordinate micro-loans to buy them. Focused on women, it’s starting with home canning and will expand to pickling, smoking, drying, cheese, etc. The franchise model will allow it to scale rapidly.
IMPACT: The solution will address the feast/famine cycle prevailing in areas with wet/dry annual seasons. And it creates opportunity for women.
Connecting Success to the Middle of Nowhere
Roads are limited. Most agriculture is done at the end of single track trails not suitable for motorized vehicles or even donkey carts. Cheetah has a team of world class designers that have created a unique bicycle that can carry 1000 pounds (500 kg). Farmers are able to transport their goods from the field (pushing on wheels – not carrying on their head) and then ride back for more. This increases their capacity at least fourfold. Cheetah is establishing a manufacturing facility in East Africa to be owned and run by local people.
IMPACT: Studies also show that a bicycle increases a person’s income fourfold. This solution addresses a key problem in the agriculture-to-food value chain: bringing the crop to market.
Keep the Water Pumping
The average African woman walks 3.5 miles for her family’s water – and she and her children do almost all the carrying. Dirty water is the biggest killer on earth so it’s great that many groups are drilling wells. Unfortunately, the wells don’t last long before needing maintenance. Repair costs are low but 95% of wells are never revisited. About half of all wells aren’t working. As a village women commented, “They only serve to remind us that we can never escape poverty.” Funded by the women who will benefit, Cheetah has a service company model to maintain wells at a very low cost, creating the first self-sustaining well solution on earth.
IMPACT: Women are helped because they do the heavy lifting. Children will have their life extended. This project is the first to sustain the most important factor in human health: clean water.
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