A Cow, Not a Cup
From that philosophy of “a cow, not a cup,” Heifer International began more than 60 years of work providing livestock to impoverished people. The cornerstone of Heifer’s work is “Passing on the Gift,” which means that recipients agree to share the offspring of animals obtained through Heifer as “living loans” with others in need. Sometimes, these donations extend across borders. In Nepal, for instance, a desire to express the value of “Passing on the Gift” led a group of women to donate income from their new water buffaloes to buy geese for farmers in China. Over the years, Heifer has learned many lessons about the peaks and pitfalls of livestock development in more than 100 countries worldwide. Above all though, it has learned the important role that values have to play in changing communities. When Heifer began giving goats, water buffalo, and other livestock to people in developing countries, it encountered many obstacles. Although filling a need, successes were not uniform. For instance, if farmers had never owned livestock, they needed training in animal care. If fodder or shelter was seasonally inadequate, that could be fatal to a project. And, if the communities didn’t take ownership of the projects, that too could be a major barrier to progress. In the mid 1990s, the organization took a step back to examine the most important elements of its most successful projects. What worked? The answer was surprising. The key ingredient could be boiled down to one word: values. Out of this analysis, “The Cornerstones Model: Values-Based Planning and Management” was born—a paperback that identified 12 core values as key to quality livestock projects and how to apply them.
These cornerstone values were meant to answer the question: “What are the most fundamental things upon which you build your life?” As the answers to that question are not the same for every community, Heifer staff conducts exploratory sessions designed to help community groups identify their own shared community values. Those then become the basis for strategic plans to implement projects like livestock development, water quality, and sustainable agriculture. But it isn’t enough to simply know one’s values without a way to apply them to daily life. So, Heifer’s staff teaches farmers how to use their values to formulate action plans. Heifer trainer Raj Kumar from Nepal, for example, uses exercises to ensure that participants align their values with every activity they are measuring. Kumar gave an example from his home life. His daughter had come to him to confess that she was failing math. Instead of punishing her, he asked her to These approaches can be applied at larger scales and it makes all the difference to development work. Actions flow from shared community values, which foster teamwork and cooperation. Rather than blaming each other for failures, participants combine their individual strengths to make progress on common goals. When a farmer in Uganda or Thailand improves their economic situation under Heifer programs, it is this commonsense use of values that is most often cited as the reason for their success. Ray White Public Information Director, Heifer Project International  COMMUNITY SPACE: Join the Discussion!
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