Heifer Nepal Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Heifer International is proud to announce its 20^th anniversary of working in Nepal as a sustainable development non-profit leader in smallholder agriculture. Heifer Nepal has achieved two decades of uplifting vulnerable families, guiding their path to self-sufficiency and resilience through a values-based holistic community development approach.

At the request of Nepal’s government, Heifer started working in the country in 1957, providing high-yielding, improved breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs for cross-breeding along with hatchery for poultry. The livestock were placed in Singha Durbar Livestock Farm and Chitlang Sheep Farm, which were later moved to a livestock farm at Khumaltar. After a long gap, in 1993, the first community development project, “Baruwa Goat Raising Project,” was implemented in Gitanagar, Chitwan, benefiting 25 families.

Heifer established its branch office in Nepal in 1997 by signing the first formal agreement with the Social Welfare Council. Since then, Heifer has supported more than 250,000 poor and vulnerable families in 41 districts of Nepal. With support of more than 100 implementing partner NGOs, Heifer’s programs are able to organize families into self-help groups and federate these groups into more than 200 women’s cooperatives and three district unions.

By 2023, Heifer Nepal plans to bring 500,000 families from a state of poverty and vulnerability to sustainability and resilience through engagement in competitive, sustainable and inclusive goat and dairy value chain enterprises. This will bring economic growth, improved livelihoods and food and nutrition security.

To achieve this goal, Heifer has been following two major pathways: empowerment and institutional strengthening, and sustainable production and market systems. On one hand, Heifer Nepal uses the values-based holistic community development approach for empowerment of individuals. The approach unveils and nurtures women’s leadership; strengthens social harmony; builds grassroots institutions and enables them to emerge as strong players in the community and the value chain.

On the other hand, the approach creates production support systems, including inputs, technology and financial services. It also creates business hubs and market accessibility for rural farmers to enhance production, meet economy of scale and develop farm enterprises.

Heifer International would like to heartily express our sincere thanks to Government of Nepal- its Ministries, departments, divisions, and district and local chapters, implementing local partner NGOs, donors and collaborators, and media for walking together with us in this 20 years’ journey, and helping us to help the communities in need. We are committed to continue our development journey in Nepal and hope this partnership will remain in the years to come.