CORNERSTONE: GENUINE NEED AND JUSTICE
HOW IT WORKS:
This Cornerstone helps guide Heifer's work so that we provide livestock and training to those with a genuine need. This means lacking adequate nutrition and money for medicine and education. In many cases, poverty is a result of discrimination and racism. Heifer seeks to facilitate justice by empowering those who are disenfranchised because of their ethnicity, sex or social status.
IN ACTION:
Genuine need exists everywhere, not just in developing countries. So does discrimination and bias. Be generous with your time and resources, and be mindful of respecting people from different backgrounds.
Cornerstones: The Quintessential Way of Life
What is the significance of Cornerstones? Why are these given so much prominence? Vineeta Sharma, administrative officer for Heifer India, gives her thoughtful take on Heifer's 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development.
Phan Phearum Finds Precious Gift in Raising Goats
Cambodia
My family and I are grateful to Heifer and Chetthor for their good deed. I never forget to thank them. I look after these precious gifts very well with my husband and my children.
A Cow Can Change Lives
Uganda
I no longer behave like I used to, the way I used to handle my wife. Considering gender awareness, I have benefited from the project and our family relations have greatly improved.
Confidence to Live a Better Life
Bangladesh
Now my cow shed is better than that house in which I lived. When my husband received Cornerstones and Gender and Justice training, he also understood me. Everybody, including my husband, now asks my opinion and suggestions for decisions−without my decision nothing happens.
Meeting the Children of Heifer Nepal
Nepal
I see children everywhere at Passing on the Gift® events, door-to-door visits, hanging around their mothers and marching in rallies alongside women. These children are growing up around strong, independent women who have a voice and opinions to bring change in their community.
A Cow Brings Hope into Life of Fear
Armenia
Life in Chinar is very dangerous. Every day my wife takes our two kids to the kindergarten with a feeling of fear in her heart. The other day the nurse in the kindergarten told my wife that every time when the shootings start she turns on the music very loudly so that the children don’t hear the shootings. Thanks to Heifer we now have a cow and a calf.
A Visit to Bolivia's Chocolate Forest
Bolivia
World Ark Senior Editor Austin Bailey and Heifer Americas Program Assistant Jason Woods share about their recent trip to Bolivia's "Chocolate Forest."
Selling Agroecological Products at the Market in Ecuador
Ecuador
We sell the horchata for 40 cents a glass and can earn about $150 in a day. It is a source of income. It helps with the costs of school for my son and food for home.
Seeing the Nature of Heifer's Work
Vietnam
I was amazed to see firsthand the holistic view of development that Heifer propagates. The projects are not limited to passing on a cow; rather, Heifer's 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development encompass every aspect of life, from diversifying incomes to empowering women and families to working together to end poverty.
Once a Recipient, Now a Donor
Nepal
I received two goats from Heifer International and applied the knowledge I acquired during Improved Animal Management training while raising them. After receiving the animals I have passed on two goats. My small effort has helped my family have a better life. I hope other women will be able to achieve bigger success by working harder.
Aol Josphine, Gulu Women Dairy Farmers Project
Uganda
Aol Josphine in Acet Central village, Uganda. She is a participant in Heifer International's Gulu Women Dairy Farmers project. See more photos.
An Amazing Woman
Vietnam
Following the small concrete path, we were surprised to find a lively painted thatched house peacefully surrounded by green paddyfield, pig pen, hen house and garden of flowers.
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
United States of America
American poverty is the great silent shame of our time.
Volunteering in honor of Mandela
South Africa
July 18th is Nelson Mandela International Day, a day when thousands of people in South Africa and across the world will give their time to volunteer to help others.
Crisis in the Sahel
Senegal
Though it hasn’t received much news coverage here in the United States, there’s another part of Africa facing a food crisis.
Disaster Reduction and Gender in the Philippines
Philippines
The rural poor suffer greatly from disasters of all kinds every year.
Social Justice in Philippines
Philippines
Social Justice is personified by a husband in the Philippines who, after attending trainings on Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, values his wife’s work and begins helping provide for his family.
Women’s Empowerment is Key to Turning Oppression Into Opportunity
Nepal
At Heifer International we believe there is no development strategy more beneficial to society than the one that involves women as central players, and at the same time engages men to encourage a more accepting view of women’s participation.
Cows in Malawi are a Daughter’s Piggy Bank
Malawi
Baptista and Belia Mzukani have big plans for their daughter, Esnart.
International Day of the Girl Child: Little Soldier Girl
Malawi
October 11th is the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child, a time to recognize the challenges girls in many developing countries face and to find ways to help them reach their potential.
Technology, Partnerships and Women Will Advance African Dairy Industry
Kenya
Elizabeth Bintliff, Vice President for Heifer’s Africa Program, presented a keynote address at the April 2012 8th African Dairy Conference and Exhibition held by the East and Southern Africa Dairy Association.
Heifer's Long-term Approach to Natural Disasters
Haiti
In late October, Hurricane Sandy barreled through the Caribbean Sea and up the eastern seaboard leaving a path of destruction.
REACH: Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti
Haiti
The future of Haiti begins in its soil but will come to fruition only in the marketplaces of the Caribbean, Central and South America and beyond.
Access to Water in Haiti is Crucial
Haiti
From the time he was a child and on into adulthood, Louis Desira walked to a river two kilometers away from his home in Maniche to get water for the day.
A Spotlight on Poverty in Canada
Canada
While poverty in Canada doesn't look like poverty in un-industrialized nations, it exists nonetheless.