World Ark Magazine - March/April 2009 - (Page 30) “this match enables Heifer china to demonstrate its expertise in livelihood and community development for the families in the earthquakeaffected areas.” – Song Gang Children attend kindergarten class in a Heifer International tent in Xiushui Village in Anxian County, China, after the earthquake damaged their school. work and community involvement. heifer works to help community members form groups built on their own cultural strengths and values so they can easily access resources for long-term development and sustainability. it is especially significant that the groups are a priority in this rehabilitation project where survivors continue to suffer from the pain of the catastrophic loss of family members and trusted friends. –project– HigH points Heifer selects rural communities to receive animals including chickens or ducks, geese, rabbits, goats or pigs, beef cattle, honeybees and silkworms, depending on which animals are most adaptable to areas in need. By 2013, target families will receive about 21,000 goats or pigs and 50,000 small animals or poultry to improve family nutrition and income. related training will focus on animal-keeping skills such as disease control and feeding; barn building; handling market fluctuations; marketing and passing on the gift. participants sign a contract before receiving support vowing to pass on animal offspring and training that they received to another 9,000 families within seven years. Beneficiaries also pass on skills and knowledge learned from the project to the new recipients through group discussion and individual interaction and will help the new project families form community support groups as well. The foundation of the project involves the setup of these groups to join individuals in the common goal of sustainability. The groups will help assess community needs, establish savings and credit activities for income generation, and organize regular activities. community group members, usually numbering about 20, must show a commitment to helping themselves even before heifer delivers animals. The groups are to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, threats to success and development opportunities and work in tandem with a local chinese partner to come up with plans to solve problems specific to their villages. This involvement, which uses villagers’ own visions for the future, helps participants take ownership of their challenges and triumphs. personal leadership training, psychological guidance and counseling and heifer cornerstone training help people reconnect with their traditional cultural values and the neighborhood they live in, while increasing happiness and harmony. finally, additional heifer training includes topics such as human nutrition, natural disaster preparation and response, education on the interconnectedness of the disasters, the environment, hygiene and daily life activities, and grass and tree planting to support reforestation and flood control. a special project office, Sichuan earthquake rehabilitation Umbrella project office, with one director, four officers, a number of community facilitators and volunteers, is responsible for the project. “This match enables heifer china to demonstrate its expertise in livelihood and community development for the families in the earthquake-affected areas,” said Song gang, the project director, who has a master’s degree in sustainable international development from Brandeis University in waltham, mass. as an added bonus, “it may provide local government a better way in doing disaster rehabilitation,” he said. www.he i f e r .o r g 30 m a rch / ap r i l 2 00 9 | world ark PHOTO COURTESy OF HEIFER CHINA. http://www.heifer.org
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