Category Archives: Gender Equity

Heifer CEO in Nepal: First Steps into Sustainability

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On his first day in Nepal, Heifer International President and CEO Pierre Ferrari found himself among a group of withdrawn yet excited women in an unused classroom in the village of Kabilash in Chitwan district, a jostling 45-minute drive uphill on a dirt track that was patched up from recent landslides especially for his visit. The ethnic tribal women spoke of the challenges of and their aspirations for Heifer’s signature project, of which they were going to be a part. This was a first for Ferrari. Having traveled through Nepal in February 2011 and having heard about the country’s achievements in implementing transformational projects ever since he joined Heifer, Ferrari was more accustomed to strong women displaying confidence. “It validated the time and money we put into trainings to build the social capital to strengthen and transform women,” said Ferrari.

The women in Kabilash are part of a groundbreaking effort in Nepal that will scale up Heifer’s work to end poverty and hunger by increasing goat and milk production by helping women farmers increase production and enabling them to take part in the value chain through cooperatives formed and led by women. The overarching goal of the project, reducing importation of live goats and milk, will increase income for smallholder farmers through increased production and participation in the value chain, which will ensure that they get a fair share of the profits.

Heifer’s plan in this beautiful but resource-poor community is to establish sustainable partnerships with the local government, which is a co-funder of the project. “Our five-year plan consists of improving livestock and agriculture to help the people of this village escape poverty,” said Village Development Committee Secretary Pradhumna Khadka. “So when Heifer came to me with an opportunity to partner, I accepted it without any reservations.”

This is a partnership that works for all. Because after Heifer completes its work in Kabilash, it can be assured that the impacts will be exponential. “By this time, Heifer will have strengthened the farmers, the cooperative they form, and the agents of development, the government organizations, who are there to stay,” said Parbati Rawal, executive director of SRAM, a Heifer local partner NGO that will implement the project in Kabilash.

Heifer Nepal is geared up to implement similar projects in 28 districts of Nepal in the next five—an ambitious plan that has already been able to seek support in forms of resource leverage and collaborative partnerships from the national and local government and other development agencies.

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Holiday World Ark Features U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

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The holiday edition of World Ark magazine is out, hope you got yours already. This issue is especially great.

It’s not every day that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes the time to chat with us about women’s role in development work. She makes a brilliant case for why boosting women’s status around the globe is so important.

“We know that investing in women’s employment, health and education levels leads to greater economic growth across a broad spectrum,” she said. “It also leads to healthier children and a better educated population overall. We know that political systems that are open to full participation by women produce more effective institutions and more representative governments.”

The magazine also features stories and photos about Heifer projects in Senegal, Malawi and Bangladesh.

If you haven’t found your magazine in the mailbox yet, view it online here.

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Clinton: Value Women the Same as Men

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While her days as the U.S. Secretary of State are drawing to a close, Hillary Clinton used an opportunity last week to again call attention to the plight women around the world.

Clinton made similar remarks in an interview with World Ark magazine, which we published in our Holiday issue. Long a champion for women, Clinton acknowledged both in her speech last Thursday and in the interview with Heifer, that there are still great strides to be made before women and girls are seen as equals to men.

“As the mother of a daughter, and as someone who believes strongly in the right of every person, male and female, to have the opportunity to live up to his or her God-given potential,” Clinton said, “it pains me so greatly when I travel to places around the world and am received almost as an exception to the rule, where the male leaders meet with me because I am the secretary of state of the United States, overlooking the fact that I also happen to be a woman.”

“We are on the right side of history in this struggle, but there will be many sacrifices and losses until we finally reach a point where daughters are valued as sons, where girls as educated as boys, where women are encouraged and permitted to make their contributions to their families, to their societies just as the men are,” she said.

The speech followed Clinton’s acceptance of a humanitarian award given by Concern Worldwide, an anti-poverty organization.

Clinton’s interview also appears in the first World Ark tablet edition, as well, which you can download from the App Store on your iPad or from the Google Marketplace for your Android tablet.

 

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The Cost of Inequality in India

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The horrifying story of a young woman who died after being brutally gang raped in New Delhi is putting inequality in India in the international spotlight. The murder of 23-year-old Jyoti Singh Pandey is spawning widespread protests and a push for major change to the chauvinism and oppression Indian women face.

The need for change became even clearer this week, as political and spiritual leaders continued to openly blame women for inviting assault by being out in public after dark or wearing skirts. And on Wednesday, a lawyer for three of the five men accused of raping and torturing Jyoti Pandey said Pandey and her companion were solely responsible because they were out together after dark, but were not married. Wow.

The moral argument for addressing gender inequality in India is clear. And surprisingly, the economic argument is clear, as well. A survey of 2,500 women in several Indian cities revealed that nearly 82 percent of the women are leaving work earlier since the infamous Dec. 16 attack to avoid being away from home after sunset. The survey indicates that one in three women in Delhi reduced their work hours or quit their jobs altogether to avoid making themselves vulnerable to attacks. This drop in productivity will only add to India’s poverty.

India is one of the world’s poorest countries when measured by per-capita income, and the country’s failure to invite women into the workplace and support them there is a major factor. Only 35 percent of Indian women work. Just think of the potential forfeited when millions of women opt out of the workplace.

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A Sweet Role Model

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Agronomist Vanessa Mendoza is a role model for many of the girls she works with in chocolate-harvesting communities.

Agronomist Vanessa Mendoza is a role model for many of the girls she works with in chocolate-harvesting communities. Photo by Dave Anderson

Editor’s note: Empowering women is at the core of Heifer International’s model for sustainable development. In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, this week we are sharing stories of the women with whom Heifer works, who take the gifts of livestock and education to produce extraordinary results for themselves, their families and their communities.

It’s not the most glamorous or lucrative profession one could choose, but lots of the girls in Jasiaquiri village in northeastern Bolivia have made up their minds. They want to be agronomists, just like Vanessa.

Vanessa Mendoza is a frequent visitor to Jasiaquiri, which she reaches by flying from her home base of Trinidad on a prop plane, then driving over bumpy dirt roads in a pickup. She works for the Bolivian NGO CIPCA, the Centre for Research and Promotion of Farmers, which is teaming up with Heifer to help people in Jasiaquiri and surrounding villages protect and capitalize on the rich supply of wild cacao growing in the forests. The unique cacao that grows here is part of traditional regional cuisine, and it also makes one of the most delicious chocolate bars on the planet.

Visiting Jasiaquiri with Vanessa Mendoza is like visiting Costco with Joe Biden. There’s always going to be an entourage. That her most ardent fans are young girls makes sense. Vanessa has an education and career that allow her to offer real help in rural areas where paying jobs are scarce. She’s also pretty and friendly, and she paints her fingernails to look like ladybugs.

On an overcast day in January, Vanessa sat at a table at the home of Susana Abalos Dorado, an enterprising schoolteacher in Jasiaquiri. Besides teaching school, Dorado also raises chickens and ducks, runs a snack shop out of her front yard and maintains a solar-powered telephone for neighbors to use. The camaraderie between these two professional women was clear as Dorado explained the economics of her home village and Mendoza nodded along. The village of roughly 65 families is more prosperous than most, Dorado explained, because it’s on the road to the small town of Baures. Most of the young people here would like to stay, but opportunities are few.

Mendoza is helping the community protect the chocolate forests so they can continue producing for generations, providing food and livelihoods for families here. Mendoza is also helping local chocolate harvesters improve quality and get the best prices. Her job is a big one, but she does it with such warmth and grace that she has plenty of young women ready to follow her lead.

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Double Your Impact In Guatemala

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Double your impact on hunger now! Thanks to a generous benefactor and international partners, your donation to Heifer International will be matched dollar-for-dollar during March to support food security, better nutrition and women’s empowerment in Guatemala.

Double your impact for people like Virginia Jimenez Mateo, who knows firsthand how women living in rural areas can become isolated and marginalized. She lives in the remote village of Laguna Verde, Guatemala, with her husband Mauricio and their seven sons.

Virginia Jimenez Mateo, Guatemala

Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International

Before joining a Heifer project in 2007, Virginia seldom left her house since women do most of the farm labor and household chores. She rarely had the opportunity to get to know other women in her community apart from church activities. “The only time I left my house was to go to church and back,” she said.

Virginia primarily prepared beans, steamed broccoli or carrots for meals. They had to buy eggs from their neighbors and could only afford meat twice a month. She recalls that 14-year-old Mario had stomach problems.

Since joining the project, she has received training along with 10 chickens in 2007 and a goat in 2011. She especially likes Passing on the Gift®. “It would be hard for me to save enough money to repay a goat, but when mine (kid born on February 14, 2012) is big enough I can pass it on,” she said, having already passed on the gift of chickens in 2008.

Heifer’s training improved life in the community. Training provided opportunities for the local women to get to know each other. “No one can take away the knowledge we received,” she said. Thanks to the gender training, the men have started participating. With more help around the house, Virginia’s family started to thrive.

Edwin Gonzalez Jimenez, Guatemala

“Part of the training was teaching my children than they can do anything a woman can do,” Virginia said.
Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International

The biggest benefit for her family, Virginia said, was their improved diet and nutrition. They raise their own chickens, so they no longer have to buy eggs and can now afford to buy meat once a week. “Now we have more variety,” she said. She noticed that they aren’t as sick as before. She credits drinking goat’s milk for her improved health and less aches in her joints.

Better nutrition means her sons have more energy to focus on their school work. Miguel, age 19, and Carlos, age 16, received scholarships to attend a Catholic school. “The knowledge and ethics they are receiving are important,” she said.

This kind of impact happens every day in Heifer projects. Stretch your dollar this month and double your impact to help provide the training and livestock needed by families like Virginia’s to help put more food on the table.

To maximize this match, we need to raise at least $831,000 from generous supporters like you.

Click here to donate.

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From the Field: Global Empowerment Launches Women’s Future

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This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field”From the Field section.

Editor’s note: Empowering women is at the core of Heifer International’s model for sustainable development. In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, this week we are sharing stories of the women with whom Heifer works, who take the gifts of livestock and education to produce extraordinary results for themselves, their families and their communities.

Eka and Guri

Eka Surameli and her son Guri, pick tomatoes in their garden. Photo by Nino Tskhadadze

Eka Surameli, a 42-year-old mother of four children and two grandchildren, lost her home and livelihood during the Russian-Georgian war. The family left their garden and orchard unattended when soldiers forcefully emptied the Georgian border village. After the war ended in 2008, villagers returned to destroyed homes, burned fields and the continuing echo of gunfire.

Eka attended training on modern agricultural technologies through the Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG) organization and learned how to better maintain her garden and orchard. She worries her children will never forget the cruelty of war, but because of Heifer’s partnership with RDFG, she has hope for a peaceful future.

On February 22, 2013, Heifer Cambodia and its partner, Gender and Development for Cambodia, launched the three-year project Promotion and Protection of Women’s Rights and Socio-Economic Empowerment. The European Union awarded about $1,441,720 in funding to help the project promote gender equality and women’s participation in sustainable socioeconomic development in Cambodia. Keo Keang, country director of Heifer Cambodia, said the impact on women’s lives will increase their self-confidence and also make a positive change in the expectations and behavior of men, families and communities.

Trinh Thi Phuong Dung, Heifer Vietnam

Heifer Vietnam project participant Trinh Thi Phuong Dung stands next to her family’s sugarcane field. Photo by Maria Lynn Wrabel, courtesy of Heifer International.

 

As a child, Heifer Vietnam participant Trinh Thi Phuong Dung was only allowed to complete the fifth grade. Understanding the importance of education, Dung and her husband have worked hard to finance their son’s and two daughters’ college educations. The couple began raising catfish and sugarcane with a $100 revolving fund through Heifer Vietnam. Dung and her family also help support their community by hosting monthly meetings for project participants to share experiences, ask questions and offer advice.

Empower more women with Heifer on International Women’s Day.

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Half the Sky Facebook Game Features Heifer and Inspires Action

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When you think of games people play on Facebook, the first one that might come to mind is FarmVille. But today marks the official launch of a new game that hopes to build on the success of such social games to raise awareness of the difficult issues that face women in the developing world.

Half the Sky: The Game

Half the Sky Movement: The Game is inspired by the book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn and a companion PBS television series. Kristof and WuDunn have made it their mission to offer a window into the lives of women who face the threat of malnutrition, oppression and disease each day.

The book and TV series attracted attention from people who already care about women’s issues, Kristoff told Fast Company, which hosted a roundtable discussion to coincide with today’s launch. But the Facebook game is intended to reach all the people who may not know about the problems women face worldwide. “It potentially offers a way of luring people — a gateway drug, if you will, to women’s empowerment,” he says.

This game seems poised to do just that, and it also has the potential to generate support for seven NGO partners — including Heifer International — that are featured prominently in the game. There is a natural link between the scenarios presented in the game and organizations like Heifer that work to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide. At many points throughout the game, users can learn more about Heifer, share info about the organization through their own Facebook profile and even make a donation.

When I played the game, I was introduced to Radhika, “a simple woman from India who wants to make things better … for both herself and women worldwide.” The game is a series of quests, and my first quest was to help Radhika get her young daughter to a clinic to receive treatment for a serious illness. I faced a number of decisions, and I had to reason with a reluctant husband, pick and sell mangoes, haggle with a taxi company, and decide how to pay for an immunization.

When all was said and done, Radhika’s daughter was saved, and I was hooked. This game let me walk in Radhika’s shoes in a way that’s simply not possible through reading statistics. It’s safe to say that games like this represent a powerful new medium for telling some of the world’s most important stories.

To begin playing, visit the Half the Sky Movement: The Game Facebook page. Even if you’re not able to make a monetary donation to Heifer’s work, you can still help by playing. The game’s sponsors have pledged a total of $500,000 for players to unlock through a number of in-game projects.

This game was produced by Games for Change — an organization whose mission is catalyzing social impact through digital games. I had the chance to sit down with Asi Burak and Emily Treat of Games for Change last year when they came to our offices to conduct a digital games workshop, and you can read that interview here.

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Teen Girls in India Find Their Voices

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Manju, age 14, (at right) says attending school allows her and her friends to understand their strength and self-worth. Photo by Maggie Carroll

Manju, age 14, (at right) says attending school allows her and her friends to understand their strength and self-worth. Photo by Maggie Carroll

Editor’s note: Empowering women is at the core of Heifer International’s model for sustainable development. In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, this week we are sharing stories of the women with whom Heifer works, who take the gifts of livestock and education to produce extraordinary results for themselves, their families and their communities. 

In India, Heifer works with women-only groups to teach them they have worth outside the home. Women are also learning that sending their girls to school can have lasting effects far beyond their families. When a girl receives an education, she’ll have more resources and be able to contribute to her local economy.

World Ark contributor Maggie Carroll spent the summer in India interviewing Heifer participants. She spent several days talking with girls to find out how the Heifer project and trainings have helped their families. The first answer she found was that just a few years ago, she would not have had to wait to talk to the girls as their families, even their own mothers, thought it would be a waste of time to send them to school.

Suman, age 12.

Suman, age 12.

But now, they all go to school and speak with pride about the confidence they see growing in their own mothers as well.

“My mother has become more vocal,” said Suman, age 12. “She isn’t so hesitant anymore. Now she can even sign her own name to papers.”

Read the rest of their insights about education, work and gender equity in the latest issue of World Ark. If you have an iPad or Android tablet, download for free on the App Store or on Google Play; just search for World Ark. Or also find it here on Heifer’s website.

Do you think we in developed countries take education for granted? If so, how can that be changed? Please weigh in by responding here in the comments or by email.

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Your New Issue of World Ark is on the Way!

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WA-035_2013 February WA CoverHeifer’s East Africa Dairy Development project is changing the lives of 1 million people previously living in poverty. You’ve heard us talk about the importance of scaling up Heifer’s work to help more people in need, but how do we go about it?

In the February 2013 issue of World Ark, arriving in mailboxes this week, you’ll read about how we’re working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, partners and private providers including village banks, to connect small dairy farmers with each other—and with their local economies—to lift up entire communities.

You’ll also hear directly from young girls in India, who with Heifer’s help are beginning to realize their own strength and potential through education and training. Also learn what challenges India’s elderly are facing as young families migrate to cities for better jobs.

Bonus features include everything from tips on how to patiently teach compassion to children to a deep dive into the world of aquaculture, or fish farming, throughout the world.

You can also read the World Ark features online here, with extra stories and videos. Let us know what you think; we look forward to hearing from you!

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From the Field: Training and Education Empowers Women Worldwide

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This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field”From the Field section.

Using available resources is not always simple. Training and education is needed for many people to effectively improve their lives. For women around the world, Heifer International and its partners are providing that knowledge. When South Africa’s government provided water tanks to Mabheleni Village, many residents lacked the skills to use the new resource. Participation in Heifer’s Sukuma Poultry Project helped village woman Ntombizethu gain knowledge to manage and improve her two and half acre garden. Ntombizethu said Heifer’s training has brought positive change to her family.

Cusco woman learns to spin alpaca fiber into thread.

Photo by Bryan Clifton, courtesy of Heifer International

Heifer Research Assistant Jessica Ford recently experienced firsthand the philosophy of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development. Ford met with eight southern Peru women’s groups as they learned how to spin alpaca fiber into thread. After the workshop, Heifer presented each group with a new spinning machine. This training in the Cusco community empowers women and their families, moving them toward a more sustainable future.

In Cambodia’s Ampao Prey village, Ouk Sam On lives with her husband and two children. When their rice yield did not supply enough food for the year, she and her husband had to leave their village to labor for a small income in Phnom Penh City. After partnering with Heifer-funded Cambodia Farmer Economic Development (CFED), Sam On attended workshops and trainings for leadership and project management. Because of her education, Sam On was able to enhance her farm’s productivity and authorities selected her as a Community Facilitator in charge of children and women’s affairs.

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From the Field: Looking Back and Going Forward

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This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field”From the Field section.

To determine how to get where we want to go, it helps to know where we’ve been. With this in mind, the Philippines government adopted the Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) in 2000. This tool promotes evidence-based policy formulation that targets many Filipinos who are living below the poverty line. In addition, it helps the country achieve its Milennium Development Goals (MDG). Heifer Philippines staff recently attended the CBMS-Philippines National Conference to learn what direction the national and local governments are headed on the issue of poverty and how we can work together to empower residents to achieve food and income security.

Nazar with his pig Mashok

Nazar with his pig Mashok

Nazar is a teenage boy from Hushakert, Armenia. He has always thought about ways to make money, so when he joined a YES! Youth Club, he decided that the time was right to start his own business. After his business plan was approved by Heifer Armenia, Nazar received a financial grant to start raising pigs. His first activities have been so successful that he is making plans to expand his business.

When her husband sustained paralysis in half his body after an argument over land, Chandrarekha Paswan became open to ways to support her family. An opportunity came through Heifer India with Mithila Women Empowerment and Sustainable Livestock Program. Seeing something special in her, Chandrarekha’s fellow group members asked her to be the group’s Certified Animal Health Worker (CAHW). With hesitation, she accepted their request and soon discovered her knack for working with animals. Through Chandrarekha’s contributions, life is better for her family and her whole community.

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From the Field: Embracing New Opportunities for a Successful Future

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This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field” section.

When we are open to new opportunities, our future is often positively affected. Heifer International project families experience this all the time. Embracing the new and trying something different, regardless of what one’s history or neighbors say, has made a profound difference in the lives of many.

Heifer Armenia and Ashtarak Kat CJSC, the country’s leading milk producer, are working together to help families improve the breed of their animals and build successful dairy businesses through the Milk for Communities project. Valuable training and equipment for artificial insemination (AI) will enable families to make the most of their milk cooling unit. Soon these families will pass on the gift to new families, and an even greater impact will be made on hunger and poverty in Armenia.

Sulekha Devi, a CAHW in Bihar, India, with her goat

Coffee is the main economic activity for the residents of Cajamarca, Peru, but the crop is always vulnerable to an unpredictable climate and market fluctuations. When farmers here added guinea pigs and other inputs to their farming mix through Heifer’s Healthy Life and Sustainable Production for Coffee Producer Families in Lambayeque and Cajamarca project, they discovered that it pays to diversify. Now, with multiple crops, these families enjoy greater food and income security.

Sulekha Devi is a member of the Musahar community in Bihar, India. The Musahar are a Hindu scheduled caste, making them one of the country’s most vulnerable groups of people. They have no land of their own and must work as sharecroppers or agricultural laborers to support their families. Since Heifer India started the Mithila Women Empowerment and Sustainable Livestock Program, women like Sulekha are being trained as Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs). Sulekha has become an expert in diagnosing and treating animal conditions and has become a tremendous asset in her community.

                                     Find out how you can give a new opportunity to a family today.

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Haiti REACH Begins Training Goat Breeders

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This week, Heifer Haiti and local partner organization, Tèt kole, held a three-day training for a group of goat breeding center owners in Montrouis in western Haiti. This group of owners are part of the first cohort of Heifer’s REACH program.

Haiti REACH training participants

Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

A total of 22 participants, men and women, young and old, gathered from six of Haiti’s departments where REACH is implemented: Northeast, Northwest, Centre, Nippes, the West and the Grand’Anse. The owners met and networked with each other and learned more about Heifer International’s philosophy, history and methods.

Training topics included Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, the general context of livestock production in Haiti, importance of breeding centers, breeding center care and characteristics, animal production techniques, animal health and wellbeing, forage management, business management, marketing and others. Future plans include visiting successful commercial farms in the Dominican Republic.

Haiti REACH training participants.

Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Participants were pleased with the trainings, as they will be better prepared to manage the important work of breeding center ownership. Although many have backgrounds in agriculture and livestock, the introduction to new operating techniques and skills will set them up for success.

This diverse group of producers and goat breeding center owners became aligned around a common target during the training: the success of REACH on an individual scale, and ultimately improving the fates of their communities.

When asked about the importance of Heifer’s REACH program, participants said they think it is timely, because they were missing the tools for success. They are confident this program will benefit their respective communities and the entire country.

Haiti REACH training participants.

Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

This introductory training session will not only help breeding center owners modernize their farming practices, it also serves as the launching pad for the REACH program. Training participants before had a common passion for agriculture and livestock; as a result of the training, they have become a group of budding entrepreneurs with the yearning for success within the program.

The signing of contracts between Heifer Haiti and this new group of entrepreneurial goat breeders marks a decisive step in the implementation of REACH. The participants would like to thank Heifer from the bottom of their hearts for this program, and Heifer wishes them well.

Read recent blog posts about Heifer’s REACH program here, and visit www.heifer.org/reachout to give directly to this groundbreaking program.

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