Tag Archives: Partners

"The Father of The Co-op Movement in Dnipropetrovsk"

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Pietro Turilli, Heifer’s Vice President for Heifer’s Central/Eastern Europe area, told me, “you’ve got to talk to this guy. He’s our biggest supporter. He made all this possible.” I’m intrigued. So in a brand new, high-tech barn with roll-up plastic walls and heated, automatic drip waterers, I spent a few minutes with the diminutive man Alexei Sakarchuk, a cancer survivor and persistent fighter. Ukraine Program Director Anna Pidgorna translated for me.

“I am the founding father of the co-op movement In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast,” he told me humbly (if “humble” can be applied to a statement like that).

BF: How did you get started with co-ops?
AS: I started this in 2000. I addressed Ukraine’s government with this problem but no one listened. I went to parliament, other branches… They dismissed me.
After the Internet, I learned about a Canadian project being implemented
in Lviv. I went there and met Viktor Teres [Heifer's Ukraine country director]. Together, we prepared a project proposal for Heifer and it was accepted. Since 2006, we are partners. So in 2006, the first co-op was started in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Andriivka village.
BF: Were you always a supporter of co-ops?
AS: Before that, we were on the Soviet collective farm system. “Co-operatives” existed, but they were not real
co-operatives. They were bad. These were state entities. They did not hold to co-operative principles. There was no transparency, no honesty, no opportunity to elect members, no “someone helps you-you help someone back.” It just did not exist. NOW it exists.
Right now, there are three in Dniproperovsk and there will be a fourth by the end of the year. We did not establish them by force. We tried to convince them [members] by showing them good examples such as this one. This is a very good example. The farm that you saw in Olexsandrivka [under construction-- the ground breaking in another post] will be super.
BF: Are they all dairy co-ops?
AS: Most are dairy, but there is also one vegetable co-op. they produce vegetables without any pesticides or chemicals.
BF: Certified organic?
AS: Not yet. It’s only two years old. We did sample analysis for water and soil quality. We brought in California red worms to process manure. We also used biological agents– we don’t use pesticides or herbicides; we use environmentally friendly control mechanisms.
BF: Have you always been a farmer?
AS: I was never a farmer!
BF: Then why did you decide to get involved in this?
AS: Because I have a brain and a heart. And a will for people to live better. I don’t want anything for my pockets. A lot of our leaders think only of gaining more income. That’s unfortunate.
BF: You have a good brain and heart.

Co-op pioneer Alexeii Sakarchuk explains the layout of the
Heifer demonstration farm at Olexsandrivka village
with Heifer Program Director Anna Pidgorna.
Alexxi Sakarchuk oversees the Cossacks preparing material
for the time capsule at Olexsandrivka demonstration farm.

Heifer and Others Invest in Haiti

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This post was written by Heifer Vice President of Philanthropy Cathy Sanders.

 

I recently spent five days in Haiti at an Invest in Haiti Conference organized by the Clinton Foundation and the InterAmerican Development Bank. More than 900 people from 35 countries attended along with Heifer Haiti Country Director Hervil Cherubin and myself. Hervil is a Haitian who returned to his country after the 2010 earthquake to be a part of the solution.

Private businesses hoping to move Haiti forward while also making a profit were there en masse. The opportunity for business in Haiti is very strong. It was an interesting few days where we made contacts for future partnerships with the Haiti government, private sector and other non-governmental organizations. We talked and talked about Heifer’s commitment to Haiti, announced at the Clinton Global Initiative in October ($15 million over five years). Heifer has been in Haiti since 1999 and continues to operate ongoing projects.

We were fortunate to meet with the Minister of Agriculture to engage him in our plan. He liked the concept of the breeding centers for goats and cows that we are planning to build in the north and in the south. I was also fortunate to see a project that ended last year and saw how the addition of cows and an irrigation canal system really improved this community’s life and livelihoods. They are now selling milk in the town, all their children are going to school, and the irrigation system allows them to appropriately water their crops of okra, plantains and beans. This infrastructure enables the community to grow enough to sell extra produce for money. I asked them if they believed the Heifer project helped them have a sustainable life, and the answer was a resounding Yes! I then asked them what elsed they needed. The answer: More cows!

The community we visited was beautiful with a view of the mountains many would pay millions to have. People all have cell phones, but there’s no electricity in the village. I don’t think they care about electricity because when I asked if they had it, the project director shrugged his shoulders and said no. The kids were eating sugar cane out of the field, and the men cracked open a coconut and let us drink the water straight from it. Then we ate the meat of the coconut–delicious! They were obviously a happy group of people.

My observations about Haiti are that it is a beautiful country that has been ravaged by natural disaster, with a stunning population. This is not a war zone, but rather a society that was already in trouble, then the earthquake and hurricane took out a lot of the infrastructure. But, they are a functioning society (okay, not like we think of in the U.S.). This is a country ready for business! They are a hard-working and industrious people. There are many in poverty. Many are living in tent cities in Port au Prince, and many others live in cinderblock houses. The living conditions are atrocious, and it extends into the country as well. Heifer hopes that by providing a livestock supply chain with a good income potential, more young adults will be enticed to go back to the country to live, thus making their lives and that of their families better and relieving pressure on the already strained city (which has a population of two million).

There are many Haitian-Americans living in New York, Boston, Miami and across the United States. I ask and challenge all Americans to help Heifer make an impact in Haiti. Hervil told me as he dropped me off at the airport, that now I know what we are fighting for. Having seen it for myself, I can tell you that these are deserving, hard-working, spirited people who need assistance getting started. Heifer will be here to help. We need you to help, too! Please go to our website, www.heifer.org to see how you can help, or email me at philanthropy@heifer.org.

Heifer and Danone Partner to Strengthen Ukrainian Dairy

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Pierre Ferrari signs a certificate honoring the groundbreaking
of a new demonstration farm as part of a Heifer/Danone project
 near Andriivka village, eastern Ukraine. The document was
later placed in a time capsule. Danone Ecosysteme Fund
General Manager Phillippe Bassin is right of Ferrari.

Post and photographs by Bill Fitzgerald, creative director for Heifer International. 


Heifer President and CEO Pierre Ferrari addressed a regionalpress conference to publicize a new joint Heifer/Danone Ecosysteme project inDnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, on Wednesday 7 December. After the press conference, agroundbreaking was held on the first learning farm associated with the projectin Oleksandrivka, some 100 km from Dnipropetrovsk, the oblast (similar to astate) capital.
Danone Ecosysteme Fund General Manager Phillippe Bassin
addresses the Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) Oblast Council meeting
with Heifer President and CEO Pierre Ferrari.
The press conference was held during the DnipropetrovskOblast Council Meeting, presided over by Yevgen Hryhorovych Udod, Head of theOblast Council, and an effective and influential politician within theUkrainian state who happens to support this project.
Representatives of Danone and SOCODEVI and CIDA, twoparticipating development agencies based in Canada, presented to the council,visitors and local media. Several Heifer projects under the collective title,“Cooperative Learning Farm and Services,” represent a milestone for both Heiferand Danone’s Ecosysteme Fund, a bold experiment to invest in local people andeconomies around the world. So far, Danone has invested some 50 million Eurosin 40 projects around the world, but Heifer’s Ukraine efforts are the largest—about10% of their total.
The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council meeting, where the
Heifer/Danone press conference was held. The Heifer/Danone
project is a significant investment in the local economy
and is considered a pioneering project in the region.
Phillippe Bassin, General Manager of Danone Ecosysteme Fund,said during the press conference “All of this is not charity. It is businesssense. It’s in our business sense that this work is sustainable.” TheHeifer/Danone partnership is exciting because it connects desperately poorfarmers in Ukraine with markets for the products they create under the Heiferproject. Markets mean sales, and sales means income for these people who werestruggling in the wake of the collapse of collective farms in a former Sovietcountry.

“What’s key is co-creation—involving all thelocal players,” Bassin continued. Danone worked closely with Heifer staff andfarmers on quality levels for milk construction of milk collection centers,training of farmers and farm techniques. The result is dairy products that amultinational commercial enterprise (Danone) and local farmers are all proudof.

Pierre Ferrari receives a traditional Ukrainian bread at the
groundbreaking for the Heifer/Danone project
in Andriivka village, Ukraine.
Documents are placed for posterity into a time capsule
near Andriivka village by local farmers dressed as Cossacks.

Irish Heifers Meet Their New Romanian Families

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Speaking of Bóthar… Remember when they shipped 70 heifers from Ireland to Romania as part of a Heifer project?

Irish heifers arrive in their new Romanian village.
The crowd eagerly awaits the distribution of the heifers.

We’ve just learned that earlier today, 42 of those heifers and one male calf reached their new farmer families in Rasca commune. Heifer Romania held an original livestock placement ceremony near the town hall in Rasca. The heifers waited patiently until the lottery draw was finished and their new owners could take them home. 

These heifers will soon supply milk for farm families and
orphan children. Holstein Frisian cows produce twice as
much milk as the local cattle breeds.

Over the past week, the community has waited excitedly for the announcement for the coming cattle. There were more than 100 requests to become project participants and receive the gift. The applications were sorted and future beneficiaries chosen according to project criteria (poor farmer families, the unemployed, families with children, possibility and capacity to properly feed and house the livestock, willingness to Pass on the Gift).

Families receiving heifers today sign contracts
that include the commitment to Pass on the Gift of
their heifers’ first female offspring.

The number of people attending the ceremony exceeded expectations. All families who applied for the project came to see the animals and were impressed by the high quality of the heifers. Villagers were enthusiastic and said they never believed the animals would be in such an excellent condition. Families not selected for original placement will eagerly await the first Pass on the Gift ceremony.

Dorina smiles over her new calf.

Suspense filled the crowd, as everyone was wondering who would pick the ticket for the cow with the calf. Applause burst when the ticket number drawn by Mrs. Nistor Dorina brought her the mother cow and male calf. She was excited and, while covering the calf with a blanket said, “God bless the Irish families that made this possible. Such happiness is rarely felt! Thank you very much.”

Rasca commune is about 56 miles from Cluj. About 60 percent of the families here do not have consistent incomes. They are trying to establish small-scale private farming in order to earn a living. Through this Heifer project, the families will improve their nutrition and increase their income by breeding Holstein Frisian cows, well known for their high milk production and rapid adaptability to various climate conditions. These families will also pass on the first female offspring of their dairy cows to another impoverished family, and they will donate 79 gallons of milk to orphan children.

These heifers are ready to settle in!



The heifers must be glad to be home after traveling for three hours from the quarantine farm where they spent the last month. Their new farm families are certainly glad to have them.

Information provided by Laura Manciu, communications and public relations coordinator for Heifer International’s Romania Country Program.

Says Goat: Are We There Yet?

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Heifer believes that we can achieve more together by working with communities, local governments, organizations, and other partners. Heifer has several longstanding relationships with organizations that share in the mission of Heifer International and our belief that we can end hunger and poverty. One of these organizations is our global partner, Bóthar, based in Limerick, Ireland.


For the past several years, Bóthar has run a series of adorable commercials encouraging donations of livestock to help poor farmers around the world. This year, they’ve allowed us to Americanize and Heiferize their commercials to share with you. Take a look:

We began working together in 1991 with a project in Uganda. Bóthar then was a newly formed organization of Irish farmers who had a grand idea to send as many Irish dairy heifers as possible to Africa. The first airlift of 20 in-calf dairy heifers left Shannon Airport for Uganda that year, and this simple and powerful idea of sending livestock to support families in developing countries rapidly gained widespread support. Twenty years later, Bóthar’s work has expanded to include working with more than 16 different animal species in more than 35 countries, together with training in animal husbandry and sustainable farming.
Bóthar has airlifted more than 4,550 Irish dairy heifers to communities around the world, each transforming the lives of recipient families. Because each family Passes on Gift of the first female calf to another family, Bóthar estimates that a further 15,000 “pass-on” heifers have enriched the lives of families formerly living in poverty.
Through partners like Bóthar, individual supporters and others, Heifer is able to scale up our impact, reach more communities and families, and move forward in getting there.  
To learn more about Bóthar and their work, visit Bóthar’s site at www.bothar.ie. Or follow them on Twitter at @bothar or on Facebook.

Information provided by Meredith Rolf, international resource development manager at Heifer International.

Heifers In Flight: Delivery of 70 Heifers from Ireland to Romania a Huge Success

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At approximately 1:45 pm today, 70 purebred cows landed at the airport in Timisoara, Romania. These heifers flew from Ireland to be integrated into a food security project for orphans and poor families in central and western Romania through a partnership between Heifer International and Bothar Ireland. Bothar is part of a network of non-governmental organizations that use livestock in development aid. It is also sensitive to children’s needs and has experience helping children in Central and Eastern European countries.

The cows are Holstein Frisian and were brought to Romania to ensure the necessary milk for institutionalized children and rural families without income. The heifers came from Shelton Abbey Prison in Ireland, raised by prisoners living under an “open prison” concept, which allows them to raise livestock.
Twenty heifers will go to Caminul Felix orphanage in Oradea. Following Heifer’s Pass on the Gift model, each of the children who receives a cow will pass on the first female offspring to another orphan.
According to the Romanian National Authority for Child Protection, 80,000 to 100,000 children between 0-18 years are institutionalized every year. The daily food allocation for orphan children is about $2.80, which is not enough to provide proper nutrition. Through the Milk for Orphans Project, daily nutritional supplements will be provided on a long-term basis for the children, meeting their dietary needs and improving their general health. The project will ultimately serve more than 5,000 children from orphanages in central and western Romania.
Milk processing will be ensured by the Animal Breeders Association in Corusu, which operates a milk collection center, built with the support of Heifer Romania.
The remaining 50 heifers flown in today will reach poor rural families in Rasca commune, 56 miles from Cluj. About 60 percent of the families here do not have consistent incomes. They are trying to establish small-scale private farming in order to earn a living. Through the project, the families will improve their nutrition and increase their income by breeding Holstein Frisian cows, well known for their high milk production and rapid adaptability to various climate conditions. These families will also pass on the first female offspring of their dairy cows to another impoverished family, and they will donate 79 gallons of milk to orphan children.

The arrival of the heifers was a huge success, according to Heifer Romania Communications and Public Relations Coordinator Laura Manciu. The animals landed and were transferred safely and without any problems. The airlift was a big media event, with more than 30 reporters from different media institutions. Mr. Valeriu Tabara, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development attended the event and gave a short speech in support of Heifer and Bothar’s efforts. 

Feeling the "buzz" at SCAA

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The premiere of “After the Harvest” last week at the SCAA Symposium and exposition ended up generating quite the buzz. During hallway chats and coffee breaks, and there were many, it was clear that the documentary woke some folks up to the very real issue of seasonal hunger and poverty in the coffeelands.

In a moderated breakout session following the film, conference attendees from across the coffee spectrum gathered together for a deeper discussion of the problems of food insecurity in sourcing areas. Roasters, importers and coffee companies large and small joined with nonprofits and farmers for a casual and enlightening exchange of thoughts and ideas. Rick Peyser from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters related how the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) study revealing the scope & severity of “the thin months” inspired the company to refocus their social responsibility efforts to directly address this issue. Among their peers in the industry, GMCR has taken the lead in bringing awareness to the problem and is working to rally actors from all links in the coffee chain to participate in solutions.

It was clear that despite experience and familiarity with the coffee industry, many see this information as newsworthy and surprising. So much of our work at Heifer is based on this issues of food security so we welcome the discussions and the willingness to get involved. We were inspired by the genuine interest of those in the room in Heifer’s work, as well as that of other nonprofits & development organizations like CRS and Coffee Kids. “After the Harvest” was a success and well received. It made impressions, changed perceptions and motivated action.

We made a lot of new friends at SCAA, and the awareness generated by the film planted the seeds for new partnerships in support of our work. You can see the short version of “After the Harvest”, written and produced by our new friend Brian Kimmel. Stay tuned to aftertheharvest.org for information on when and here the film will be shown.