Tag Archives: United Nations

United Nations Day 2012

Posted on by
0

Today is United Nations Day, a day that celebrates the creation of the United Nations (UN), 67 years ago. Many people are familiar with the UN’s role as peacekeepers, but I wonder just how many know that the UN also works in the area of fundamental issues such as sustainable development, environment protection, gender equality and the advancement of women, and economic and social development.

United Nations Day: Pierre Ferrari in Nepal

Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Sound familiar? Although Heifer has many successes to share in these areas, to see larger changes as a result of our efforts, we cannot do this work alone, and we are more successful when working with partners helping us advance our mission. I recently wrote a blog post, “Collective Impact Necessary to End Hunger and Poverty,” that demonstrates how bringing together nonprofits, governments, the public, private and commercial businesses can increase the scale and impact of our work.

When I traveled through Asia, through our country programs’ networking efforts, we were able to meet with government officials and members of organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to discuss how our approach of helping people obtain a sustainable source of food and income aligned with their efforts. These meetings were key to creating alliances in the areas were we work.

United Nations Day: Pierre Ferrari in Nepal

Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

But it is more than what we can do for these partners or what they can do for us – it is what we can accomplish together. Our focus is and always will be what we can do for struggling families who desire a better life.

In Nepal I met with families who lived among the beautiful hills of the Kabilash village and yet struggled to find the next meals for themselves and their children. They are now just receiving training, but they have hope that Heifer will support their efforts to become self-sufficient.

In this same visit I also met with families who have been involved in a Heifer project for more than two and a half years, and the contrast was amazing. The 200+ women involved have formed a cooperative with legal status and have elevated their training and new confidence to much more ambitious goals. Their success has increased interest from local government and additional organizations. I know we can replicate this example many times over by working collectively.

United Nations Day: Pierre Ferrari in Nepal

Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

So today, as we recognize the creation of the United Nations, I reflect on the words of Heifer participant, Jag Kuwen Magar, who said, “It is easier for us to bring about change when we are in groups. Our ancestors say that if groups are together, then villages are together, and if villages are together, then the country is better.” I’d like to expand on this thought and say that if countries are together, the world is better.

Would you like to help Heifer’s efforts to make this world a better place? You can find ways to give on our website. 

World Food Day 2012: Heifer International’s Cooperatives Will Help Feed the World

Posted on by
0

Our fragile and beautiful Earth is home to seven billion people. Right now, the global food system is struggling, one in eight people goes to sleep hungry, and according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which declares October 16 World Food Day, “food prices still remain generally higher than last year and very volatile.”

So now what? Do we wring our hands and hope someone else will provide the solution?

Absolutely not! We take action and become a part of the answer to ending hunger and poverty.

World Food Day: Jibu Guoguo, collects cabbage from her garden.

Heifer project participant, Jibu Guoguo, collects cabbage at her garden near her home in Gudu village in China. Photograph by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.

Today Heifer International joins the FAO and others in observance of World Food Day. This year, the theme “Agricultural Cooperatives – key to feeding the world” highlights the efforts of smallholder farmers who have united to end hunger.

But it isn’t just today that Heifer supports the world’s farmers, cooperatives and rural organizations – it is every day. We have always understood the critical importance of agriculture, and we have recognized that smallholder farmers are the best tools we have to help feed this hungry world.

There are 650 million smallholder farmers in the world, and according to the ETC Group, they produce 70% of the food eaten every day. By simply doubling their productivity, they can feed the world’s vastly growing population.

So how do we support the efforts of the smallholder farmers to improve their own lives, advance their communities and begin to feed to the world?

Earlier this year, on the United Nations International Day of Cooperatives, we highlighted Heifer’s work with cooperatives in Peru, Africa, Nepal and the Ukraine.  Heifer is continually working to reach a rapidly growing group of smallholder farmers – mostly women – to inspire agroecological productivity, biodiversity, financial security and health to create the surplus needed to feed the world.

You also have a key role to play in feeding the world. Spread the message to family and friends, and join us in observance of World Food Day. But remember: hunger does not end when the day does. You can continue to play a role by getting involved in Heifer’s work.

Read more of Heifer’s coverage of World Food Day 2012 here.

Rural Women Will Make It So

Posted on by
0

In addition to being Blog Action Day, today is also International Day of Rural Women. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his message for today, stated, “Empowering rural women is crucial for ending hunger and poverty. By denying women rights and opportunities, we deny their children and societies a better future.” We couldn’t agree more. I have been traveling recently to our project sites in Africa, and I’d like to share my reflections on one of my field visits.

Today’s visits were a lesson in what rural women, in this case African women in a remote Zambian village, can do given a few assets and a little bit of opportunity. This morning, after a long, bumpy drive across stretches of dried up farmland in the increasingly hot sun, we arrive at the home of 53 year-old Mrs. Flora Monga. Dressed in her bright blue shirt and flashing a megawatt smile she welcomes us heartily, and after initial greetings she leads us to her cowshed and starts telling us all the things she has been able to do since she received two draft cattle from Heifer in 2009. She remembers the date as if it were her birthday: January 1. From those first two animals, she now has four, which have gone a long way to helping the former housewife improve life for her husband and six children, aged 16 to 22. “In the first year we received the animals we harvested 69 bags of food from our 10 hectares of land,” she recalls. She goes on to say that in 2010 she harvested 150 bags, then she flips frantically through the ledger in her hand, a record book, to show us the evidence and adds proudly that in the second year she harvested 200 bags; soy beans, cow peas, sweet potatoes.

Rural Women in Africa

Flora Monga of Zambia has big plans for her farm. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Asked if the animals produce milk she says “Yes, about two and a half liters per day.” Not enough to sell for any significant income, but more than enough to satisfy her big family. She beckons to her grandchild on the other side of the yard and shows off her healthy, beautiful face.

Flora tells me that for the purposes of the project she insisted the animals be given to her using her maiden name. I ask her why, and she smiles at me wryly; “Because I wanted it to be in my name,” she says. Her husband, Benson, is very supportive. The manure they collect from their animal shed, added to the increased capacity to cultivate land that draft animals provide have meant many happy returns for the family. She tells us about the grain mill they bought last year to grind their maize, a machine that cost approximately $1,600. Then she ushers all of us into the new house she and her husband are building, a three bedroom brick and concrete house with a tin roof, a far cry from the mud and thatch hut they once called home. There are bags of cement in the hallway, waiting to be used to finish the house. In one room, bags of grain from the farm are piled high almost to the ceiling, ready for market.

Under a tarp in the foyer is a brand new milling machine that the couple just bought with cash, for which they paid 23.5 million Zambian Kwacha, the equivalent of $4,700. With this she will be able to grind not just her grain but that of her neighbors for a fee. She names off her sources of income: 2,000 Kwacha ($4) per meter of land ploughed when she rents out her animals, 1,500 Kwacha for every five kilograms of grain ground. From the grain her neighbors grind, she keeps the bran to feed her animals as it is of no use to her neighbors. This reduces her feed costs.

I ask her about the bag of charcoal in her hallway, asking her what she will do about her fuel needs. She tells me that her next plan is to buy and install a solar panel as an alternative source of energy. “We want to be drinking cold water in this house,” she adds as if in prophecy. I smile at her and nod, and we exchange a high five. I know that from a woman like this with big dreams and big plans, a declaration like that is bound to happen, because she will make it so.

Disaster Reduction and Gender in the Philippines

Posted on by
0

Today is the United Nations International Day for Disaster Reduction. This year’s theme is Women and Girls – the [in]Visible Force of Resilience.

The rural poor suffer greatly from disasters of all kinds every year. It is because of their poverty and often precarious living conditions that they are particularly vulnerable. In many of Heifer International’s projects, we provide training and support in Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) Efforts.

Gender roles vary widely between cultures. Although women’s social, economic and cultural position in many societies makes them more vulnerable to natural hazards, they are important agents for change, development and advocacy. For more than four years, Heifer Philippines has worked hard to incorporate women in disaster reduction efforts.

Disaster Reduction: Disaster Drill at a school

Students perform a disaster drill as part of their Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction Plan. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Evelyn Martinez, 39, is a mother, wife, village leader, educator and ardent advocate of CMDRR in Lamba, a coastal village in Legazpi City, Albay. Lamba is a quaint village of 1,286 residents who have suffered countless typhoons, floods, landslides and the fury of the most active volcano in the country, Mayon Volcano. Mayon’s eruptions in December 2009 displaced 12,000 people, causing serious, longterm damage.

“We lacked knowledge and skills, we just left everything to fate, we were scared and helpless, we just looked at these hazards face on and admitted to ourselves that there was nothing we could do to help ourselves. Looking back, our community just realized that lack of knowledge is vulnerability, and vulnerability kills. When Heifer came to our community and extensively trained us on CMDRR, life was never again the same. We are no longer vulnerable, because we understand everything that needs to be done before, during and after hazard events.”

Evelyn became very active in all disaster reduction trainings. In fact, she was chosen to be the CMDRR committee chairwoman in their barangay (village).  She is one of the most knowledgeable resource speakers on disaster reduction in Lamba. She trains other project members, other communities, academics and anybody who wants to learn from Lamba’s disaster reduction experience.

Disaster Reduction Plan

Evelyn shares the risk and capacity map, indicating families living in high-risk areas and where families should go for safety during a disaster. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Heifer Philippines’ view on gender roles in disaster reduction is elaborately explained in one of the United Nations documentation on Women and DRR, to wit:

Women and children are particularly affected by disasters, accounting for more than seventy five percent of displaced persons.  In addition to the general effects of natural disaster and lack of health care, women are vulnerable to reproductive and sexual health problems, and increased rates of sexual and domestic violence.  Moreover, gender roles dictate that women become the primary caretakers for those affected by disasters – including children, the injured and sick, and the elderly – substantially increasing their emotional and material work load.  Women’s vulnerability is further increased by the loss of men and/or livelihoods, especially when a male head of household has died and the women must provide for their families.  Post disaster stress symptoms are often but not universally reported more frequently by women than men.

With this reality, the Heifer project families of Lamba took specific gender roles in relation to disaster reduction to heart. Before and during typhoons, Evelyn and the women in the community:

  • Secure family assets, clothing and important documents
  • Prepare food, medicine and first aid kits
  • Prepare other members of the family, especially children, pregnant or nursing mothers, the disabled and the elderly, to evacuate if needed

Older children are tasked with assisting their mothers in food preparation, taking care of younger siblings, running needed errands ensuring their own safety.

These roles are clearly defined and well explained to all families. When facilitating trainings, Evelyn ensures nobody is left out. Everyone has a role to play and can contribute, no matter their conditions.

These roles were put to the test when a strong typhoon hit the community in 2010. Everyone remained safe.

In addition to specific disaster risk reduction trainings from Heifer, the overall improvements in families’ livelihoods has dramatically increased their resilience. Self-help groups form savings groups to ensure that no matter what happens, after each hazard event, the community can easily bounce back. They also plant climate-resistant crops such as sweet potatoes and other root crops to have a secure food supply. They have planted mangroves along coastal areas near their community, which act as windbreakers, protecting the village from destructive winds.

Disaster Reduction: planting mangroves in Lamba

Heifer project participants plant mangroves in Lamba as part of the community's Disaster Risk Reduction efforts. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

“Preparedness is the key. We cannot be complacent. Hazards can come anytime.  We are prepared, and we know what to do”, Evelyn proudly shared.

“We used to lack knowledge and skills on how to deal with hazards and were always scared out of our wits whenever the typhoon season came, leaving our livelihoods and our very lives to fate. Damage from typhoons caused more hardships to our already poor community. Through the Heifer project, we learned a lot from the Cornerstones and through trainings such as CMDRR. We learned how to take care of our livelihoods and safeguard our lives against disasters and avoid suffering the indignity of just waiting for relief. We have become a disaster resilient community.”

International Day of Peace 2012: Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future

Posted on by
0

International Day of PeaceToday is the International Day of Peace, when the United Nations calls on “combatants around the world to put down their weapons and try to find peaceful solutions to their conflicts.”

This year’s theme is “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future.” From the UN’s website:

It highlights the fact that we cannot possibly think about building a sustainable future if there is no sustainable peace. Armed conflicts attack the very pillars of sustainable development, robbing people of the opportunity to develop, to create jobs, to safeguard the environment, to fight poverty, to reduce the risk from disasters, to advance social equity and to ensure that everyone has enough to eat.

I absolutely agree that armed conflicts make sustainable development efforts difficult, if not impossible.

But I think the reverse is also true: we cannot possibly have sustainable peace without sustainable development. How could peace possibly be sustained when 925 million people in the world are hungry?

Are you peaceful when you miss lunch by an hour? I know I’m certainly not. Imagine if you were starving, or watching your children, your elderly, your community starve.

Since I don’t have to fight to feed my own family, I work to help impoverished families around the world gain the ability to feed themselves and lift themselves out of poverty using methods that last. Deep down, I believe it’s the best way I can personally help bring peace to the world.

What do you do to promote peace? Tell me in the comments section below.

Shamshad Akhtar is Right: We Need to End Poverty Faster

Posted on by
0

Recently, the United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) appointed Shamshad Akhtar as Assistant Secretary – General for Economic Development.

DESA News interviewed Akhtar, where she shared her thoughts on her new position, the current global situation, and work that still needs to be done. She said, “we need to eradicate poverty at a faster pace.” I couldn’t agree more. There is so much work that needs to be done, and it has been more than once that I’ve mentioned that we can all DO MORE.

We recognize this at Heifer and it’s why we are working (and making progress) at increasing the impact we have in the countries where we work. Why just help 100 families at a time, if, using the same successful model on a larger scale, we can help 1,000 families – or more? Haiti’s REACH project will ultimately help 100,000 people achieve a sustainable livelihood.

Pierre Ferrari participates in a Passing on the gift ceremony in Haiti.

Photograph by Dave Anderson, Courtesy of Heifer International

Akhtar also mentioned potential for new financing and green growth. These are very critical elements that Heifer is paying close attention to and taking action to implement in our project work. At the end of last year, Dr. Mahendra Lohani, Vice President of Asia/South Pacific Program; Dr. Shubh Mahato, Heifer Nepal Country Director; and Neena Joshi, Heifer Nepal Senior Program Manager; met with the CEO and the Chief of the Microfinance Service Department of Rural Microfinance Development Center (RMDC) to discuss how the two organizations can collaborate to speed up the economic development process among the poor and deprived communities in Nepal.

Here in Little Rock, Heifer has installed a 25-kilowatt solar panel array that provides supplemental electric power to Heifer’s headquarters building and the Murphy Keller Education Building (Heifer Village).

Solar Panels installed at Heifer International's headquarters

Photograph Courtesy of Heifer International

The solar panels reduce Heifer’s reliance on fossil fuels and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to caring for the Earth. The array consists of 100 panels, making it one of the largest such systems in Little Rock.

These are steps in the right direction, and there are definitely more to come. But as you’ve heard me say before, we can’t do it alone. I am confident that working with Shamshad Akhtar, the UN, and other like-minded organizations, we will see great reductions in hunger and poverty.

I’m very excited to see and share, Heifer’s progress and the postive movements from around the world. Akhatar said it best:

I think it is a very exciting period for all of us who are engaged in the development business. Our task is to focus on economic, social and environmental sustainability with the objective of reducing poverty, alleviating stress on the basic services and making sure people are fed properly. We cannot achieve these goals unless we equip countries to manage and implement development programs at high governance standards and ensuring programs that benefit people.

To read more of Akhatar’s thoughts on her new role, access the DESA News.

 

 

Let’s Hear it for the Girls!

Posted on by
2
Mother and daughter do homework.

Maricon Alagano, 35 years old, helps her daughter Krystal Fate Alagano, 9 years old, with her homework in Babalag village, Philippines. Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.

Great news on the education-for-everyone front: Girls have finally reached parity with boys in primary school enrollment. In 1999, only 91 girls per 100 boys enrolled in primary school; in 2010, there were 97 girls per 100 boys enrolled (close enough to call it parity, according to the United Nations Millenium Development Goals 2012 report.

Enrollment overall–both girls and boys–has increased in many countries and regions, notably in sub-Saharan Africa (from 58 percent to 76 percent between 1999 and 2010).

From an article in the Guardian:

“These results,” said Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, “represent a tremendous reduction in human suffering and are a clear validation of the approach embodied in the MDGs. But they are not a reason to relax.”

Parity in enrollment is definitely not a reason to relax quite yet. While there appear to be reductions in barriers to enrollment of girls, sustained attendance is what will make a real difference. Between boys and girls, it is usually girls who are required to stay home temporarily or even drop out of school when the family has a need (like taking care of an ailing family member).

Bolivian students get a lesson in nutrition from Heifer.

Students at the Unidad Educativa Juan Yore Torres school participate in a healthy food lessons in La Paz, Bolivia. Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.

Improved access to education is a significant result often seen in Heifer project communities. Families with improved farming practices need less of their children’s time in the field. Families with increased incomes can afford school tuition, books, uniforms, shoes and other necessities associated with regular attendance. Many families who formerly only educated their sons have begun enrolling their daughters, and both boys and girls are able to attend for more years than before Heifer’s intervention.

Rio+20: Empty Promises Won’t Fill Empty Bellies

Posted on by
0

“The Future We Want” is not the future Heifer International believes we will see following last week’s Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. Lots of issues were raised, lots of solutions proposed, but in the end, malaise and more of the same won out, leaving smallholder farmers—still—to fend for themselves.

The document that came out of Rio+20 will do little, if nothing, to improve the lives of those like Ltengerwa Lochokwe of Kenya. Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.

Despite the bold title and the sheer size of the gathering—nearly 50,000 participants, including more than 100 heads of state or government—no enforceable commitments on climate change or any of the other global challenges—empowerment of women, access to water, sustainable development, health issues—came out of the summit.

There was unilateral recognition that progress needs to be made toward greener development, but no big-ticket items got more than lip service. Still, progress was made, but it was made via unofficial channels—the places where most progress gets made today.

For example, Microsoft said it would roll out an internal carbon fee on its work in more than 100 countries, part of a plan to go carbon-neutral by 2030. A Latin American soft-drink bottler pledged to obtain 85 percent of its energy needs in Mexico from renewable sources, and a group of development banks announced a $175 billion initiative to promote public transportation and bicycle lanes in the world’s largest cities.

Important progress to be sure, but not where it can do the most good, the official channels of governments and leaders—powerhouses of influence who have the resources to create revolutionary change, not the evolutionary change we have, unfortunately, become accustomed to.

Heifer believes these one-off solutions don’t go far enough. The solutions—pledges really—proposed at the Rio+20 summit do little for the millions of smallholder farmers who daily struggle to eke out a living for themselves and their families.

Heifer is not alone is its disappointment in the outcome of the potential-ridden summit. Organizations such as Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, Amnesty International and World Vision all have issued statements on how short the summit fell from providing true solutions, or even commitments to decisively act in the future.

So much need yet so little resolve, and so much potential, energy and entrepreneurship just waiting for a hand up such as provided by Heifer. Men and women like Laban Kipkemboi Talam, a dairy farmer in Kenya, and Dolores Delgado, of Peru.

Absent the help of organizations such as Heifer International, Talam and Delgado would still be scraping by, hungry and poor, with little hope or opportunity for a better life. Today, though, Talam has seen his milk output grow through better management of his cows. He has received training and help that will allow him to continue to improve his farm and his life. Delgado, who was given guinea pigs and today practices agroecological production—environmentally beneficial farming—is looking to expand her business, and it is a business—small, but productive and growing.

What answers do the outcomes of the Rio+20 provide to them and others like them? What assurances or protections do struggling farmers in Haiti have as the climate warms and they move deeper into another hurricane season? What about the pastoralists who are suffering from disastrous drought in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa?

Empty promises do nothing to quell empty bellies.

These types of conferences promise social justice (which includes environmental justice) to small-scale farmers who lack more than resources—they lack a voice, too. Yet Rio+20, like so many other conferences of its kind, ended with no clear solutions. The official documents, the official records speak to solutions, but commit to nothing.

At Heifer, we are committed to working with smallholder farmers, giving them a voice, giving them dominion over their future, giving them tools they will use, with their own energy and ingenuity, to bring an end to hunger and poverty and to cool the planet.

Serve the Public for UN Public Service Day

Posted on by
0

Once a week we will be featuring a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Today’s is a different sort of activity that anyone can do, and very fitting as we observe United Nationals Public Service Day today, June 23.

According to the UN website, UN Public Service Day celebrates “the value and virtue of public service to the community; highlight the contribution of public service in the development process; recognize the work of public servants, and encourage young people to pursue careers in the public sector.”

Courtesy of Heifer International

We can celebrate in our own way by giving back in seemingly small ways that can add up to have huge impacts (much like a gift from Heifer can impact entire communities). Pick up some garbage along the road. Help your neighbor with yard work. Hold the door pen for someone else. Read to a child, or to the elderly. Return a shopping cart. Call someone you haven’t talked to in a while. Help someone load their groceries.

After you have done your “service project” let us know how it went. Imagine if everyone spent the day, or even an hour, doing service for another. What kind of a difference do you think you made? What kind of a difference do you think we all could make?

Read more about how Heifer’s Cornerstone, Passing on the Gift and see how one act of kindness can multiply for generations.

Let’s Talk… Rio +20

Posted on by
0

From June 20 to 22, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will be hosting the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development. The event is also known as Rio+20 because it was 20 years ago that the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, or Earth Summit, took place in the same city.

In 1992, of course, the world was a different place. Just before the Earth Summit, I had been living in West Germany. In those days, we had seen a man to walk on the moon but still could not imagine the Berlin Wall falling. But something considered impossible happened in 1989, and I watched the distinction between the First World and the Second World crumble with the wall.

In the wake of such a historic and inspiring event, the Earth Summit was brimming with optimism. The event was unprecedented in its size and potential for impact and was meant to aid governments in rethinking economic development and also to come up with ways to prevent the depletion of natural resources and production of pollutants.

One of the products of the meeting was Agenda 21, a comprehensive blueprint for sustainable development that combined environmental, social and economic elements. Previously, development was one dimensional, and the elements were considered separately.

Unfortunately, not all of the Earth Summit was inspiring, as many major players, including the United States, refused to sign key environmental agreements.

At this year’s Rio+20 Conference, according to the event’s website, “world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.”

The conference will “focus on two themes: 1) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and 2) the institutional framework for sustainable development.”

Today’s backdrop isn’t post-Cold War optimism. Rio+20 comes in the wake of massive public protests: the Occupy movement and outrage at the corporate bailouts in the United States, the Arab Spring demonstrations, the indignados movement in Spain and others around the world. Potential food crises and rebellion threaten many countries globally. The participants in this year’s U.N. summit must be bold enough to confront the root causes of the public outcry and seek sustainable solutions, and all the key players must be on board for lasting changes to take place.

Heifer International is chiming into the discussion on sustainable development via our Heifer Brazil staff, who will be attending the People’s Summit, a major meeting that is parallel to Rio+20 and organized by networks of NGOs and social movements.

Together with Heifer partner organizations, staff members will engage in advocacy in the areas of sustainable agriculture, livestock, food security and food sovereignty while also accompanying the farmers’ social movement Via Campesina in its actions to advance agroecology and social justice. As an organization, we will specifically push for the following:

-A transformation of agriculture and food systems to ensure food and nutrition security, protect natural resources and support equitable development for all.

-Integrated crop/tree and livestock agriculture and rotational grazing of livestock to improve/restore grasslands and curb land loss and soil degradation.

-Sustainable livestock production systems including global support for strong animal health and welfare guidelines and practices.

-Strengthening linkages between urban and rural areas for food and nutrition security.

In terms of sustainable development, the three pillars defined in 1992 (environment, social,

Heifer Brazil project participant

economic) are incredibly important. But I think the social element should be defined to include culture. When I say culture, I don’t mean folklore, but rather the unique elements that indigenous peoples bring to a geographic area. They often bring an unparalleled knowledge of the local natural environment as well as a healthy respect for the nature that sustains them.

Additionally, we want everyone to know that the answers to many of these complicated issues are present at local levels. Farmers, fishers, indigenous peoples, campesinos—these individuals and their organizations have the solutions and they are themselves part of the solution. Their voices just need to be heard, and at Heifer, we want to do our part to make sure those voices are heard.

In the coming weeks, we will make sure to keep you updated on Heifer Brazil staff members as they participate in Rio and support small holder farmers who are speaking out. Stay tuned!