8/4/2019 An NGO's Letter to US Senator Patty Murray

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October 3, 2011

The Honorable Patty Murray, Co-Chair

 Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction

448 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington D.C. 20510

Support for a Strong International Affairs Budget

Dear Senator Murray:

As you may know, Heifer International, a 67-year old 501(c)(3) organization based in Little

Rock, Arkansas, works with small farmers in more than 50 countries as well as in the United

States to eliminate hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. Its model organizes the

rural poor and marginalized, engages them to help themselves by marshaling their own

resources in effective ways to improve their nutrition, raise their incomes and create new

livelihood opportunities for themselves. Gifts of livestock, seeds or technical assistance

supplied by Heifer are then “passed on” to others. Farmers accept responsibility, rather than

relief, to first help themselves, and then to help others, through a partnership approach to

 joint problem solving.

Over decades, the name “Heifer” has come to be associated with meaningful ways forindividual Americans, their families, churches and school groups to help people who are

willing to invest in their own long-term solutions to global poverty. With more than 500,000

donors from every state in America (most giving less than $200 yearly), 50,000 Facebook

fans, nearly 100,000 Twitter followers and a YouTube channel that has produced 130 videos

with more than 160,000 views, Heifer reaches out to its generous contributors who

enthusiastically respond to the challenge by supporting its self-help model of development.

In recognition of the organization and its leadership, Jo Luck, Heifer’s outgoing CEO and

President was co-awarded the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa last year.

The success of this model does not only attract individuals, but garners significantinstitutional support as well. In 2007, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a

Heifer-led consortium in East Africa its largest program to date—a $44-million, decade-long

investment in a modernized dairy sector in East Africa, allowing 1 million poor farmers in 3

countries to eventually contribute to the economic growth and political stability of their

region. In other countries and regions, corporate partners—Green Mountain Coffee,

Danone, Elanco, Starbucks and the Walmart Foundation, among many—help link our

strengthened farmer groups to emerging markets domestically and internationally.

8/4/2019 An NGO's Letter to US Senator Patty Murray

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It is this partnership approach to development that lies at the heart of USAID’s new

approach to emerging issues—global food security, climate change and disease prevention.

Heifer has welcomed USAID’s new Feed the Future program—an innovative multi-country

investment in improved global agricultural productivity and security for smallholder

farmers, and is already partnering with the agency in selected countries.As you know, programs like Feed the Future are funded through a part of only 1.4% of our

entire federal budget—a modest investment, but one with potentially enormous payoffs in

return. Helping poor farmers to secure food security for themselves and their countries

reduces the need for more expensive, stopgap, short-term relief efforts later on. It lays the

foundation for strong governments, healthy economies and trading partners. It facilitates

leverage for significant investments from other governments and private donors whose

cooperation is needed. Perhaps most importantly, by securing the goodwill of millions, it

shows Americans as participants—rather than bystanders—in building a global future.

Through this letter, Heifer International adds its support to the many voices now calling for

maintaining our country’s robust international engagement. Most of our current and former

military leaders, all current and former Secretaries of State, and more than 50 leading U.S.

 businesses—from Caterpillar and PepsiCo to Microsoft and Walmart—have joined in this

call, speaking out powerfully in favor of a strong, secure International Affairs Budget.

I ask you and other members of the Committee to adhere to the State Foreign Operations

Committee-determined level of $53.343 billion for the International Affairs Account for

FY2012. We all understand that meaningful reductions in the deficit are critical for our long-

term economic security, but this small slice of the federal budget has already been asked to

 bear huge, disproportionate cuts that entail costs to quality and delivery, while providing

minuscule benefits to lowering the deficit. If the lower House levels are adopted, theresulting 2-year, 20 percent cut to global development programs and the operating funds

needed to sustain them will seriously jeopardize America’s leadership and its ability to

leverage funding from others to fight hunger and poverty all over the world.

Thank you for soliciting this important feedback at this critical time.

Yours sincerely,

Pierre Ferrari, President and CEOHeifer International

PF:cbl

cc: The Honorable John Boozman (R-AR)

The Honorable Mark Pryor (D-AR)