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 Delegation of VBHCD Approach and Triadic Model

From April 26-29, Dr. Padma Singh, Asia South Pacific (A/SP) Director of Programs, and Mr. Noel Mace, A/SP Program Officer,
	made a visit to Heifer Cambodia. The purpose of the visit was to become familiar with the Heifer Cambodia team projects, and also to share the values-based holistic community
development (VBHCD) approach and triadic model to ensure a common understanding among Heifer Cambodia staff, project partners, and farmer groups. On the first day of the meeting, Country Director (CD) Sen Sovann and his team warmly welcomed the two delegates, emphasizing that the team is very delighted that the A/SP Council and Programs have Dr. Padma who has strong experiences in government, private and development sectors to help us reach Heifer’s goal and mission. The staff also shared their understating about the VBHCD and triadic models, what had been done so far, in particular the transfer of these models to potential and existing partners and the internalization of the Cornerstones by all stakeholders, and the challenges they had faced during program implementation. The participants agreed that a model of development is not about input, but that what matters is changing the levels of impact. Meanwhile, Padma stated that the VBHCD approach looks at the whole community where not only the poor, but also middle-income and rich people live together. So when the Cornerstones are internalized among them, it will be like magic to achieve the mission of ending hunger and poverty and caring for the earth. Accompanied by the CD and field staff, the two delegates visited two project sites in Battambang and Banteay Meanchey Provinces where they were impressed by the full participation of a woman group with willingness to change their lifestyle, and the use of Golden Talent Award for whole community’s benefit. On the last day of the visit, a sharing workshop for reflection was organized with participation of the staff and 13 existing project partners. During the workshop, Dr. Padma delegated the VBHCD approach to the participants, indicating its components. He gave clear definitions on the terms of values-based, holistic, and community development along with helpful examples. Meanwhile, participants shared their common understanding about community development which they are carrying out at the field level. Then Mr. Noel gave a presentation on shared leadership and the triadic model. These were enthusiastically supported by the participants, especially the project partners, as they agreed that these models are very helpful in building their capacity and giving them opportunities to learn from each other to implement projects. “It was really inspiring to see the commitment and seriousness of your team towards Heifer's mission and enthusiasm of project partners to translate VBHCD into reality,” wrote Padma to the Heifer Cambodia team, adding, “Reflection of all staff and project partners about gravity of VBHCD and their commitment to get deeper level impact in the community is a testimony of internalization of the development approach adopted by A/SP.” back to top