Cornerstone: Gender and Family Focus

In many of Heifer's projects, gender equality is central to success. Men and women must work side by side with equally respected roles and responsibilities for a family to lift itself out of poverty, which is why Heifer confronts issues of patriarchy and gender inequity head on when we begin working with communities. Gender and Family Focus is one of the key elements of our Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development that guides our holistic development approach and is a part of our training program used with our project participants.

One way that Heifer works to develop gender equity is to give animals and resources directly to women. This allows women to gain status not only in their families but also their society. By becoming the owners of livestock and the businesses that come from those livestock women are able to earn and income for their family. Men are invited to participate in the project as well, but only on an equal playing field with their wives and the women of the community. Many projects are directed by women with men playing more of a supporting role.

Below are stories of just a few of our many outstanding female project participants. They come from Africa, Asia, Europe and Central America. They are mothers, daughters, wives and sisters. Most importantly, they are leaders who demonstrate to their communities what is possible when a determined female gains access to greater resources.

A New Role with Heifer

Beatrice Biira, whose life was forever changed by the simple gift of a goat from Heifer International, is beginning a new chapter of her life—as a Community Engagement Officer for the organization. Biira, "one of Heifer's greatest success stories," first learned about Heifer as a young girl performing adult chores and responsibilities in her village of Kisinga, Uganda. She had little to eat and little hope. She yearned to go to school, but her family could not afford the school fees until they received that first goat. She now has a Master's degree and a new job helping others.

Photo by Robert X. Fogarty.

A War Widow's Courage

Sadie Kameri and her three children escaped Kosovo during the war in 1999. When they returned, Sadie learned her husband had been killed, her livestock slaughtered and her home burned. After joining a Heifer project for war widows, Kameri has begun restocking her farm and can now pay for schooling for her children, including university for her son, from the sale of surplus milk.

Brains and Brawn

Muscles, money and brains, Clarice Tine has it all. The 30-year-old mother of two sports biceps chiseled to perfection from hoisting toddlers and hauling water. Her education and street smarts won her the respect and trust needed to be elected treasurer of her community group in Fandene, Senegal. Oh, and she's a domestic goddess, too. Her intricate embroidery fetches good prices from customers in the city.

Finding Strength in India

Like most women in rural Rajasthan, India, Mehrunnisa was once forbidden from leaving her home. After convincing her husband to allow her to join a women's only Heifer project four years ago, Mehrunnisa has paid off all her family's debts and is now helping the women in her project receive training in sewing and embroidery skillswhich will help them increase their incomes.

Haiti Mother Never Gives Up

On Jan. 12, 2010, Roseline Jean Pierre tossed her 7-day-old baby and 5-year-old daughter from the third floor of a Port-au-Prince apartment building then leaped herself as the building crumbled around her. The massive earthquake that day killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Jean Pierre now lives in rural western Haiti, where she's learning to raise dairy cows and hopes to one day earn enough income to build her own house.

Each Year, the Harvest Grows

Esperanza Caal, 22, works on her family's farm outside Sayaxche, Guatemala. Like many indigenous families, the Caals were displaced by European farmers generations ago. Esperanza's father and grandfather decided to change their family's future by laying claim to the swampy land the family now lives on. It took 14 years to make the remote, mosquito-choked plot habitable, but today crops of oranges, mangoes, sweet potatoes, nutmeg, bananas, pineapples and corn thrive in the steamy heat.

The Heart of Enterprise

Ganga Khanal's fierce spirit helped her to break the chains of poverty, heartbreak and betrayal that burdened her in her new life as a married woman in Jirouna, Nepal. With hard work and determination, she transformed her own life into one of self-reliance and self-respect. In the process, she lifted up her entire family and much of her community, teaching all the power of transformation that one woman can achieve with one small opportunity.

Heifer's Superwoman

Huruma Mhapa of Ibumila village, Tanzania, received a Heifer dairy cow in 1993 as part of a women's group project. Today, she has turned that single gift into a model 11-acre demonstration organic farm for raising dairy cattle with the zero-grazing method. She is a regular lecturer at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, trained at least 4,000 farmers directly and hosted 5,000 plus at her farm to share her innovative methods. She won Heifer's top Women in Livestock Development award for Africa in 2011.

Women Taking the Floor

Mame Penda Ndong, a native of Fandene village in Senegal, lives in a nearby city now but comes home most weekends to work on a Heifer project she helped start. In addition to helping raise sheep, Ndong encourages women in the village to share their opinions and not shy away from decision-making. The women do most of the work, Ndong said. It's only fair that they find their voices.

Always There for the Women of Nepal

If a leader can be measured by the achievements of those she guides and inspires, then the record of Sita Poudel's lifework in the Chitwan district of Nepal is already off the charts. She received two goats in 1993 and has worked with Heifer International ever since. She started her own nongovernmental organization, the Women's Group Coordination Committee, that works with nearly 500 women's groups in the country. Her warm heart and perseverance show how far two goats and a passion for helping others can take you.