Heifer International is a global development organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Working with farmers and their communities to identify and invest in business opportunities that deliver living incomes, Heifer International creates solutions to local challenges designed to build inclusive, resilient economies. Since launching in 1944, Heifer International has assisted more than 46 million people, with millions more now on a pathway to living incomes
While passing out meager rations of powdered milk during the Spanish Civil War, Indiana farmer Dan West was distraught when the milk ran out with children still waiting in line. He realized that they needed “not a cup, but a cow.”
Heifer International was born from that simple idea of empowerment, and for 75 years the organization has worked tirelessly to give families a hand up, rather than just a handout.
Heifer International’s mission is to work with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth. Dan West was a farmer from the American Midwest and member of the Church of the Brethren who went to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War as an aid worker. His mission was to provide relief, but he soon discovered the meager single cup of milk rationed to the weary refugees once a day was not enough. And then he had a thought: What if they had not a cup, but a cow? That “teach a man to fish” philosophy is what drove West to found Heifer International.
Heifer International Nepal started working in Nepal in 1957 with the gift of high-yielding improved breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs for cross-breeding and parent stock of poultry, along with incubators, upon request from the Government of Nepal. With the aim to end hunger and poverty, Heifer International Nepal signed the first General Agreement with the Social Welfare Council in September 1997. To date, Heifer International Nepal has supported 400,000 families, and established more than 15,000 self-help groups and 277 Social Entrepreneur Women Cooperatives (SEWC), strengthening agriculture production and market access.
Heifer International Nepal aims to bring families from a state of poverty and vulnerable to sustainability and resilience through their engagement in competitive, sustainable, and inclusive goat, dairy, and vegetable value chain enterprises, adopting the Values Based Holistic Community Development (VBHCD) approach.
Heifer commits to supporting the target of achieving self-sufficiency in the goat and dairy sector. Heifer is currently working in 50 districts with more than 40 local Non-Governmental Organizations as local partners, civil society, private sector, and academia. Heifer works closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, and provincial and local governments in implementing the projects. Heifer’s engagement with local government and collaboration with municipalities and rural municipalities help to promote sustainable agriculture practices and livestock development and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Heifer’s approach of strengthening SEWCs to sustain the outcome of intervention has not only increased the outreach but also bolstered the outcomes that are achieved during the project period. Heifer applies the market system development approach in livestock, dairy, vegetable, and local poultry to facilitate market linkages, achieve lasting changes, and increase economic opportunities for smallholder farmers.
We at Heifer work in partnership with different sectors and organizations. As of now, Heifer International Nepal has 14 Collaborative partners and 60 Implementing Partners.
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