Heifer Project International
Mission: ". . . To work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth."
In China since: 1985
Annual China budget: $3.04 million
Number of staff: 30 national and 0 expatriate
Mainland China contact:
Chen Taiyong
Country Director of Heifer China Program
Cheng Peilin
Director for Communications & Networking
C-5, Shanghuanjing, No.8, Wuxing 2 Road, Wuhou Science & Technology Park,
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 610045, China
Tel.: +86 28 85373997
Fax. : +86 28 85373667
Activities in Other Countries:
Around 50 countries worldwide
Religious Affiliation:
Christian
This organisation grew out of the experiences of an American farmer who served with a church service organisation as a relief worker during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. He concluded that instead of giving out free milk to poor children, it would be better to help poor families provide for themselves. Heifer Project International was founded in the United Sates in 1944 and has gone on to provide livestock, training and related services to small farming families in many developing countries. It sent its first shipment of dairy cattle to China through the UN Relief Service in 1947.
HPI returned in 1985 to help rural families through a livestock loan and development program. Project beneficiaries are given high quality breeding animals and appropriate training in animal husbandry. When their animals breed successfully the beneficiary families are required to ‘pass on the gift.’ They do this by giving young animals to other families in their community, and sharing with them the knowledge and livestock raising skills that they have learned. This rural development model has become quite well known internationally, and is sometimes referred to as a ‘cow bank’.
By 2003 HPI had provided Chinese farmers with more than 4 million animals, including ducks, chickens, pigeons, rabbits, pigs, sheep, water buffalo and yak. Projects have been heavily concentrated in western provinces, and usually span 3-5 years, although sometimes animals are also provided as a form of short-term emergency relief after natural disasters. HPI supports the process by offering management and skills training to local partners – usually, the Animal Husbandry Bureau but in many cases also the Women’s Federation – and to project beneficiaries. Over 100 foreign experts have been invited to provide training and more than 60 local, Chinese staff and technicians have been sent abroad to attend/give training lectures.
A recent program concentrated on Gaixin village, Sichuan province, and has brought an automatic water supply system for livestock. This system helps alleviate the burden placed on women for the raising of animals. The project also brought electricity to the village, built a public toilet and has implemented a program to prevent animal diseases. In addition to this, the Baoshan Mountainous Livestock development project in Yunnan gave 43 farmers 84 crossbread cattle and 166 goats. Villagers in Touyan Village, Xinchang Township, Dayi County also received 460 rabbits on June 9, 2006.
A case study of this work is included in Myriam Bartu's "Searching in the dark" for the credit switch". This can be downloaded by subscription here- “Searching in the dark” for credit switch
Although based in the USA, HPI’s operations in China are managed by a Chinese staff and have strong local identity.
In the year ending June 30, 2003, HPI’s total income was USD 58.94 million. Of this, 69% was donated by individuals, 18% by church congregations and 8% by businesses and other NGOs.
CKC 4/07
Links
http://www.hpichina.org
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