Senior officials of development organization Heifer International recently spoke with DhakaTribune's Abdullah Al Dulal about their goal of alleviating poverty and hunger by ensuring that smallholder farmers have the skills necessary to maintain sustainable livelihoods
What is Heifer International's mission? How does it connect with Bangladesh?
Surita Sandosham, President and Chief Executive Officer, Heifer International CourtesySurita Sandosham: The mission of Heifer International is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. Heifer does this by providing appropriate training and related services to small-scale farmers and communities worldwide. Currently operating in 19 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, Heifer invests in agricultural value chains to provide farmers the opportunity to earn sustainable living incomes and better integrate rural women, youth and Indigenous populations in more inclusive markets. In doing so, vulnerable rural households are more resilient to shocks, allowing them to thrive, not just survive.
What are the primary area of focus of Heifer International? Is Heifer International exclusively working in the livestock sector?
Surita Sandosham: The primary focus of Heifer International is to accelerate smallholder farmers' path to sustainable living incomes — so they can afford necessities like nutritious food, shelter, clean water, education, access to health care and more. Our programs prioritize women's empowerment, food security, climate-smart agriculture and economic empowerment. Heifer International supports entrepreneurs across the agricultural sector, so we don't exclusively work in the livestock sector.
How does Heifer International's development model build social cohesion and solidarity in farming communities?
Randi Hedin, Chair- Board of Directors, Heifer International CourtesyRandi Hedin: Heifer's 12 Cornerstones a set of 12 core values for Just and Sustainable Development, which is the framework of the Values Based Holistic Community Development model. A key component of the model is “Passing on the Gift” ® (POG), whereby beneficiaries pass on resources, knowledge, and skills to other group members they received, thus build social cohesion and solidarity among farmers and their communities.
How does the organization aim to support farmers to reduce their environmental impact and build resilience to climate change?
Mahendra Lohani, Senior Vice President Of Asia Program, Heifer International CourtesyMahendra Lohani: Heifer International promote agroecology and work with farmers to protect local ecosystems, deploy soil and water conservation techniques and reduce carbon footprints.
Heifer International support smallholder farmers and their communities for building technical and financial capacity, adopting CSA practices, and reduce stress on water and restore local ecosystems, while ensuring sustainable production, productivity, and income.
What is the concept of climate-smart agriculture, and how can its implementation benefit Bangladesh's agricultural sector?
Mahendra Lohani: Climate-smart agriculture refers to an integrated approach to farming that addresses the challenges climate change poses to food security. Heifer International promotes agroecology and works with farmers to protect local ecosystems and biodiversity, deploy soil and water conservation techniques, and reduce carbon footprints. In Bangladesh this looks like providing drought-resistant seeds to farmers and training on environmentally-friendly farming practices
Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an integral part of Heifer Bangladesh's work. It enables farmers to build income-generating and farming businesses, while protecting and restoring the environment, ensuring long-term agricultural productivity and income.
How does Heifer International encourage women farmers to take on leadership roles?
Neena Joshi, Senior Director of Programs-Cooperative Development-Asia Program,Heifer International CourtesyNeena Joshi: Gender equity remains at the very centre of Heifer's work. We support women to develop the skills they need to take on leadership roles at the group and community levels and monitor through performance indication data to ensure women increase their decision-making power over productive assets. Women deserve to enjoy the benefits of market development. Therefore, we incorporate gender strategies beyond the farm, extending them into leadership positions in cooperatives, enterprises and value chain activities.
What are your focuses and priorities in Bangladesh, and how can Heifer International align with the government's development goals and priorities?
Nurun Nahar, Interim Country Director, Heifer International Bangladesh CourtesyNurun Nahar: Our main focus in Bangladesh is to build sustainable food and farming businesses for women smallholders that strengthen rural economies and a pathway to Living Income. Following are priorities in Bangladesh:
- Strengthen social capital and rural institutions development
- Adaption of climate resilient farming practices
- Micor, small and medium enterprises development
- Inclusive market system development
- Empowering women and gender equality
- Increase food and nutrition security
Our development priorities are very much aligned and contributing to the Government of Bangladesh's 8th Five Year Plan (8FYP).
How important is it to form partnerships among various stakeholders, including the government, in order to achieve Heifer International's goal in Bangladesh?
Nurun Nahar: Heifer Bangladesh is implementing programs in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), local NGO partners, private sector, and civil society organizations (CSO). Applying Heifer's public, private, and participant partnership (4Ps) model, which contributed to bringing substantial improvements in the quality of life of rural farming families in a sustainable manner.
