Heifer International: passing on the gift.

Heifer International's approach to humanitarian aid sixty years ago was simple. In the words of founder Dan West: "Not a cup, but a cow." Doling out milk in a relief line after the Spanish Civil War, West realized that the gift of a productive and renewable resource--a cow--would long outlast a handout. Since Heifer's initial shipments of dairy cows to farmers in war-ravaged countries, the organization has worked with dozens of countries, refining and expanding its work with livestock in communities as a model of humanitarian aid.

Today, small-scale livestock projects are still the basis of Heifer's approach, but its work has taught us something else: the most effective developmental work is holistic. A successful project may begin with a source of nutrition and income, like a cow, but it is sustained by access to a host of other resources, such as education, land, credit and training in animal care. Helping communities to secure these for themselves is the most important way we can help--it gives our projects the ability to go on without us.

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What then is the best way for Heifer to help communities get what they need and make it last? The model we designed is one of partnerships between Heifer and the communities we serve, as well as among those communities. Heifer deliberately networks across and between them to connect them with experts and resources, encouraging a sort of cross-pollination of information between various groups and strengthening their existing bonds. This allows it to make the best use of the resources in any given area and extends the reach of our own resources.

The work it does with the most impoverished communities at first may address the more basic needs of food security and shelter, and when those needs are satisfied, its programming focuses on initiatives like micro-enterprise, environmentally-friendly farming and market-oriented production.

At this stage, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Heifer are susceptible to "mission drift", extending their efforts outside their areas of expertise. But farmers can learn more from other farmers than from us. Our organization can serve as a clearinghouse for developmental and educational resources that a community might not otherwise find, and one primary role has been to help communities form relationships with local services and experts and with each other. One of its key principles, "passing on the gift", requires that project partners give their livestock's offspring to other struggling families; this formalizes the notion of sustainability and strengthens relationships between project partners. Over time, these and other relationships may contribute as much to the sustainability of a project as, say, the prudent use of farmland.

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How then might the United Nations partner with organizations to encourage holistic and sustainable development? I believe that one of the best roles of the United Nations may be just that--a partner to Heifer and other developmental, educational and humanitarian aid organizations, in the same manner as Heifer partners with its projects. The world Organization is well placed to act as a guiding institution for the kind of deliberate networking that can contribute to a more efficient and effective use of global resources, and a more strategic and cohesive initiative to solve the problems we are all working on. As a facilitator of like-minded institutions worldwide, the United Nations could head up a global approach to help them take full advantage of their institutions' partnership opportunities. And while these organizations and their partners stand to benefit greatly from UN resources, we do not always know of their availability. Knowledge-sharing at an institutional level will improve this. With a more fluid, thorough exchange of ideas and resources, all our work can be done more effectively.

As NGOs like Heifer partner with the United Nations, they would become, in effect, part of the UN implementation arm--a unified, worldwide effort to put policies into practice through extant channels. And information flow works both ways. Organizations working in the field would become, either directly or indirectly, advocates for the communities they serve, contributing ground-level knowledge to the processes and policies that protect them. With the United Nations in such a partnership role, not just other farmers would share this information but also NGOs, educational and developmental organizations and policy makers.

Sue Bertrand is Vice President of Heifer International's Global Services, whose team is responsible for large programme initiatives, including gender equity, agro-ecology, HIV/AIDS work, urban agriculture and micro-enterprise.

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