Haitian Coalition of Somerville

The Coalition worked in partnership with a local school, Institution Vision Nouvelle, which provided the classroom space and recruited interested community members to participate. The training drew a diverse group with a wide cross section of backgrounds including engineers, doctors, teachers, agronomists, pastors and magistrates.

While guiding the group through activities that identified root causes of issues, Lince also had participants identify the resources that they already had in the community to address them. 

By the end of the first day, participants had identified the following needs in Limbe and possible solutions:

• The on-going risk of flooding and the need for a levee system,
• The high rates of alcohol abuse, and the need for an educational campaign around the risks of alcohol consumption
• The lack of resources for their community’s youth, and the need for a youth center
• The need for a health response to the high rates of diabetes in the in the community. 

For the next part of the session, Lince taught the group the basic structure of a project plan to help them clearly identify their project goals, objectives and subsequent activities, outputs and indicators to measure success.

The participants spent most of the remaining training working in groups and putting together a project plan to address the need that they had identified. 

By the end of the training, many stated that they had never understood exactly what a project was before the training. After the workshops, they understood what steps went into developing a sustainable project and felt empowered to start promoting change in their communities!

The feedback from the training was extremely positive and there were requests for the Coalition to come back to lead another capacity building training. Specific requests were made for a training in fundraising and we are exploring ways to organize a second trip in 2015.

We look forward to a continued partnership with Limbe in promoting stronger communities and positive change in Haiti!

On July 12^th, the Haitian Coalition of Somerville completed our 3^rd session of the Haitian Diaspora in Development, (HDD), workshop series.

HDD serves local Haitians who are actively promoting development in Haiti by training them in the technical skills necessary to implement small-scale development projects in their communities of origin. This series moved beyond previous topics of project planning and management to teach more advanced skills in monitoring and evaluation and how to develop strategic fundraising and communications plan.

For this session we had an outstanding group of 8 individuals and representatives of local, diaspora led organizations that are addressing the needs of their communities in Haiti. Whether they have been providing food and education to orphaned girls, providing literacy training for women, sponsoring Haitian students to complete their education or bringing electricity rural villages, these dynamic members of the diaspora are addressing critical needs in their communities back home. Yet all joined the program with the wish to become more financially sustainable organizations. In response, the series specifically focused on helping participants define their organization’s niche, identify potential supporters and craft their messages to appeal to specific audiences.

Some of the organizations that completed the program included:

• Ray of Hope Children Services, Inc, whose mission is to empower the under-served girls with no parents in Haute Feuille, Haiti and its neighboring towns through education and to enhance their lives by providing food and shelter. Ray of Hope currently provides daily nutritious meals, education and a nurturing environment to 30 orphaned girls in Haute Feuille who have no other support. Find out more at www.rohcsi.org, 

• Jou Novou seeks to improve the quality of life throughout the targeted neighborhoods of Bon Repos, Haiti, by providing people with the tools of education, access to health instruction and care, financial support and hope for a better life. Although services are also open to men, the essence of Jou Nouvo is to provide women with an opportunity to acquire skills so that they may be involved with the schooling of their children and to promote good health habits for themselves and their family. Find out more at http://jounouvo.pidonline.org

• UDH Services, UDH Services, Inc.  of Massachusetts has the mission to rebuild the country of Haiti through motivated and educated future leaders. They provide assistance to students from low income families in Haiti who are eager to obtain their bachelor’s degree at a university. UDH will also ensure that students have access to a proper education by providing them with the school supplies and financial assistance required to achieve their goals. Find out more at http://udhservices.org

• Cote de Fer Planters in Actions whose mission is to find long term and sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty in Cote de Fer, Haiti through economic development strategies that both produce organic foods and protect the environment. Please contact the Haitian Coalition of Somerville for more information about Cote de Fer Planters in Action and how you can help.

• The Michel Foundation aims bring electricity to the rural community of Jereme and subsequently reduce nighttime crime and increase the sense of safety so important to a community’s development. The Michel Foundation also plans to launch a campaign to raise awareness of violence against women. Please contact the Haitian Coalition of Somerville for more information about the Michel Foundation and how you can help.

In November the Haitian Coalition of Somerville will send three trainers to Haiti to run capacity building workshops in the communities of Balan and Limbe. The three day workshop will train 20 Haitians from two local ngos in participatory project planning, management and budgeting.

Please contact Franklin Dalembert at franklindalembert@comcast.net for more information on how you can support the Haitian Coalition and our work to strengthen the capacity of Haitians in Haiti and the diaspora to lead the development process in their country and homeland.