Cornerstone: Training & Education

Heifer never gives someone an animal without preparing them for it. Each of our project participants must go through extensive training in animal care, feeding, and health before they are given a Heifer animal. But the animal is only one piece of the larger puzzle—it is the catalyst that begins a whole chain of change for families living in poverty.

Heifer works with families to learn a new way of living. Through our Cornerstones and Values Based Holistic Development trainings we help families gain a new mindset and way of relating that will free them from the psychological and social effects of years of poverty.

A Heifer facilitator provides training to a group of Zambian women

Through Training and Education we help families move:

• From patriarchal social relationships to families in which both men and women are seen as equal partners.
• From the exploitation of natural resources to stewards of natural resources.
• From families mired in illiteracy to literate adults with the resources to send their children to school.
• From people left without a voice to people able and ready to powerfully advocate for their concerns.
• From high interest debt and poor money management to good money and business management.

Heifer's Training & Education cornerstone is the channel through which all of our work passes. It is what makes the achievement of self-reliance and sustainable livelihoods possible and gives project participants the tools to teach others for generations to come.