Launched in 1944, Heifer International supports smallholder farmers to sustainably address hunger and poverty in their communities while caring for the Earth. The organisation operates in 19 countries with over one million households actively participating in Heifer programmes.
In 2021, Heifer set out to strengthen project management, increase transparency, and enable more data-driven decision-making. This called for a modern system that could streamline processes, standardise reporting, and improve visibility across teams and countries.
At the same time, the To enable this shift, Heifer needed a flexible, user-friendly programme management system that could improve efficiency without enforcing top-down control.
”We want to put the communities we work with at the centre of our programmes. So we need real-time feedback from our frontline staff — not just in quarterly reports — to inform our programming.” Lyna Manga, Heifer Senegal Nutrition Specialist in support to the Country Signature Program Coordination
The Challenge: Strengthening Project Management and Enabling Local Decision-Making
The Solution: A Flexible, Reliable System Tailored for Global and Local Teams
Heifer chose NGO Online, known internally as IPMS (Integrated Programme Management System). Customisable and user-friendly, IPMS supports everything from task workflows and document management to strategic planning and reporting via Power BI dashboards.
IPMS was deployed across the global organisation in 2023. As Heifer’s operations evolve, NGO Online’s flexible, customisable setup makes it easy to adapt business processes and reconfigure roles to enable greater autonomy for country teams. For example, any member of a project can assign tasks, log risks, and add recommendations, without requiring approval from a project leader.
Partnership with NGO Online’s developer, Precio Fishbone, has been key to getting a system that meets Heifer’s specific, evolving requirements.
“The Precio Fishbone team are very collaborative and understand our needs. We appreciate their willingness to improve the core product, not just one-off customisations.” Clayton Beer, Heifer International Senior Director of Programme Management Systems
At Heifer Senegal, IPMS is now part of everyday workflows, and helping local staff take greater ownership of projects.
The system replaced fragmented processes with a centralised, accessible platform. “Before, documents were scattered across inboxes and folders,” says Lyna Manga, Nutrition Specialist at Heifer Senegal. “Now everything’s in one place, and we can take the right decision at the right moment.”
“Every month, project managers upload their planned activities into IPMS,” says Lyna. “It helps them allocate staff time, manage workloads, and align more easily, because everyone can see activities across all levels, for the rest of the year. It saves us a lot of time.”
“Now, I have my project in my hand. I know what’s happening, what’s planned, what risks are emerging. IPMS helps me support the team better and keep stakeholders involved.” Abdoulaye Ndiaye, MEL Lead, Heifer Senegal
How Heifer Senegal is Using IPMS to Improve Efficiency, Collaboration, and Project Delivery
The team uses IPMS to improve collaboration and knowledge management. “We log meeting decisions and follow-ups directly into IPMS,” says Lyna. “It’s a very useful tool that makes our work easier,” adds Abdoulaye Ndaiye, MEL Lead at Heifer Senegal.
IPMS’s flexibility is enabling Heifer Senegal to streamline internal processes. “We were using DocuSign to validate TORs for financial approvals,” says Lyna. “Now we’re exploring how to move that into IPMS, based on staff feedback.”
“It’s never easy to get people to adopt a new system. But with support from Lyna and the country director, we built confidence in using IPMS — and now we have project teams doing most of their work through it. That’s a big success.” Abdoulaye Ndiaye, MEL Lead, Heifer Senegal.
Today, more than 500 Heifer staff across 78 projects in 19 countries use IPMS. It has streamlined project management, improved data quality, and made learning and decision-making more visible and consistent.
Both at the country and global levels, teams report major time savings thanks to easy access to up-to-date, reliable data — no more digging through inboxes or local drives, or chasing others for updates. This also enables Heifer staff to make more data-driven decisions and benefit from cross-project learning.
“Now we always have access to accurate data sets and don’t have to chase information anymore: it’s amazing. Before, if I needed an M&E document, I’d have to call Abdoulaye and hope he had a connection. Now, I just open IPMS.” Lyna Manga, Heifer Senegal Nutrition Specialist in support to the Country Signature Program Coordination
For Heifer, IPMS has become more than a tool — it’s a core enabler of organisational change.
“Context matters. Communities’ empowerment matters. IPMS helps us capture feedback from the field and address the real needs of the people we serve.” Lyna Manga, Heifer Senegal Nutrition Specialist in support to the Country Signature Program Coordination
The Outcome: More Visibility, Faster Decisions, and Empowered Country Teams
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