February Town Hall

Before an animal is given, Heifer provides training in animal welfare and management which includes how to provide feed and/or fodder for the animals. Even after the animal is given, participants receive training and support by local country staff.

In many cases, farmers are taught how to grow fodder sustainably on their land and are given the training and tools to prepare it properly. Heifer also connects farmers with cooperatives where they can purchase low-cost feed and mineral nutrients for animals.

Fodder, like elephant grass, requires little maintenance and can be cut and fed to animals without disturbing the environment. We teach our farmers rotational grazing practices which prevents soil depletion and can help rejuvenate the land. Chickens and pigs can be fed scraps to reduce farm waste, and their manure is used as fertilizer to grow vegetables.

Yes, we teach our farmers regenerative farm practices. Caring for the earth is a major component of our work. Our expert staff work with farmers as they integrate climate-smart agricultural practices on their farms to increase resilience and crop production.

We support biogas plants that provide clean energy to local households, and irrigation projects that use water more efficiently. We also teach farming practices like rotational grazing which prevents soil depletion and helps rejuvenate the land. We also work to reduce farm waste by feeding scraps to animals like chickens and pigs, and we use animal manure as fertilizer in gardens to help grow vegetables and fruit.

We promote agroecology and work with farmers to protect local ecosystems and biodiversity, deploy soil and water conservation techniques, and reduce carbon footprints.

Learn more about the regenerative agricultural practices we’re utilizing at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas.

Investing is women is key to ending hunger and poverty. When women have control over their assets and incomes, they reinvest in their families. Everyone eats more nutritious food. Kids go to school. Families get better access to health care. That’s why we invest in women farmers and business owners, equipping them with the tools and expertise they need to make their businesses thrive and grow.

Check out our call recap with Heifer’s multimedia producer, Phil Davis, to hear about some of the women who have found financial health. You can also read more success stories in our Strength in Sisterhood Collection.

Passing on the Gift® is a key component of Heifer’s work. The idea is simple. Each family that partners with us on a project commits to passing on a cow, goats, chickens, seeds, supplies for an irrigation system or even an energy-efficient oven – whatever makes the most sense for them and their neighbors once they've established their business.

This effectively turns the recipient into a donor themselves as they pass on any input, training and knowledge. It creates a network of trust and builds new partnerships, suppliers and even customers – all invested in seeing their businesses thrive and grow.

We’ve found that our project partners don’t always stop at one gift that’s passed on, but that gifts are passed on up to nine times on average. This ripple effect continues the impact of your initial gift long after the project is over.

Heifer’s country staff hosts trainings and workshops on a variety of topics, including animal welfare, horticulture, business management, gender equity and more. They start these training opportunities before animals are given and all throughout the project life cycle.

Our colleagues in the field are local and live close to the communities we serve. They are experts in veterinary care, business management, farming and so much more. The relationships they build with our project partners are based on trust and respect. And this extends throughout the project life cycle. They are often called when there are problems to help families assess their next steps and they support the self-help groups and cooperatives.

While Heifer works with people of all ages in our projects, we do have specific projects aimed at younger people. In Uganda and Tanzania, we have the East Africa Youth Inclusion Project. In Uganda, more than 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30 followed closely by Tanzania. They often have limited access to education and job opportunities. Agriculture is the biggest source of income.

We’re working with youth to build new businesses and access new markets in the agriculture sector. This includes financial and technical training and identifying income-generating opportunities within their own communities. Learn more about the project at Heifer.org.

You can also read more about our work with women on our website.

The biggest commonality that we see is that our project partners are smart and know what they need. They often just need a hand up in the process of achieving their goals. And that is where Heifer comes in.

We find that social capital rises for those in our projects. Women find their voices. Farmers become business owners and entrepreneurs. They do find their strength and are supported to pursue their dreams.

We’ve found that the community members usually know what they need, but they need support to get where they want to go. That’s where we come in. We work alongside our project participants, including local farmers and business owners, as they mobilize and envision their futures. We focus on working with the local communities to help guide the inputs and training that they need to support their ideal futures.

We provide training, education, market connections, inputs and so much more to ensure that the work is locally led and sustainable after we leave.

We invest in women farmers and entrepreneurs because we know that they are key to ending hunger and poverty. When they have control over their assets and incomes, they reinvest in their families and in their communities.

The families highlighted on our call were people that Phil met while visiting projects. More generally, we want to highlight as many families as we can because it shows the impact that your support makes.

When we visit projects, our country staff help us identify families that show various aspects of our work, and families across the spectrum of their Heifer involvement, including those just joining a project to those that were part of projects many years ago. The beauty in telling these stories is that it highlights the immediate and long-term transformation of Heifer families.

We had the opportunity to meet Mr. Donat Bigirimana who joined a Heifer project over 20 years ago. He has a thriving farm business that includes cattle, goats, pigs, chickens, a banana tree farm and more. He has passed on animals and training more than 22 times. It is a testament to his commitment to Passing on the Gift® and his joy in helping his entire community succeed.

Since 1944, we’ve helped 46.4 million families move out of hunger and poverty. In FY23, we had 798,406 active households in our projects.