Our third and final mission in Haiti is to equip adults for successful employment. Ultimately, our goal is to assist them in obtaining local jobs, or creating their own businesses, to secure their future and stimulate the economy.
Haiti’s current unemployment rate is alarming. Only 60 percent of employable adults are able to maintain regular employment and, still, most struggle to make ends meet. On average, teachers in Cap Haïtien live on less than $1200 USD a year. Teachers in rural areas, such as Marmalade, live on a fraction of this.
We recognize that the next generation of Haiti’s young business leaders rely on the efforts of their teachers and instructors to achieve success. We also recognize the teachers’ desire for a regular income, so that they can focus their energies on their students, rather than on whether or not they can afford to feed their families. Therefore, we’ve made a commitment to the Institution Nouvelle Etoile de Bethlehem and Institution Mixte Martin Luther to subsidize the salaries of the full teaching staff, as well as those in major supporting roles.
Our partnership with One Hen also supports our efforts to employ the people of north Haiti. Our Educate initiative explains that the One Hen, “Yon Poul” program is designed to educate children in sustainable business and social entrepreneurship. However, in order to convey these ideas to the children, we must first equip the educators.
Help for Haiti has successfully managed the training of over 20 instructors in the One Hen program. Now, these teachers are not only prepared to run the program with their students, they are also qualified to guide training sessions for their fellow teachers in the future! The One Hen program has the potential to self-propagate throughout all of Haiti. Our hope is that it will serve as a source of continuing education for teachers, while also equipping students with skills in math, literacy, strategic sales and marketing, business management and more.
The final part of our employment initiative is to work with those in the community who are employable, right now. With the help of your shoe and clothing donations, we jumpstarted a small business called Se Pa Pe’Pe’ with four women in Cap Haïtien. For two years we coached the women in business development and management. Now, the women are making plans to develop their own products to sell.
Your generous donations also provided the funds to hire local contractors to rebuild the Institution Mixte Martin Luther school in Marmalade. Soon after, the same contractors added a large retaining wall to ensure the school’s structural integrity amidst heavy rainfall and wind. In the near future, we hope to employ the contractors to add additional classrooms and a playground to the school.
The development of employment opportunities in north Haiti is the long-term ultimatum for lasting, positive change in the country. Read about our most recent One Hen Teacher Training, and our work with Se Pa Pe’Pe’.
Donate to support a local teacher’s yearly salary as they prepare children for employable adulthood.
