THE WISE HAITI TASK FORCE EDUCATION IN HAITI INSPIRATIONAL INITIATIVES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..…………………………………………………………………………………………………...4 The cases presented in this booklet are intended to illustrate the general trends at work in the country, and alternative examples could have been included. Through the cases, the aim is to understand the positive underlying factors and forces that contribute to the improvement or reconstruction of the educational system in Haiti.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION Improving the quality of public kindergartens: Tipa Tipa....................................................................................7 How to train teachers on the job to offer quality pre-school programs? Paradis des Indiens Foundation.............................................................................................................................9 How to create and support quality schools in an isolated, destitute region of the country? Collège les Oliviers…………………………………………………………………………………………………………11 How to offer a scientific education that lets the Haitian live on his land? Jérémie Girls School and the Numa-Drouin Center………………………………………………………………….13 How can public-private partnerships promote the quality of education?

TEACHER TRAINING The Fundamental Application Schools and Pedagogical Application Center (EFACAP) of Kenscoff……...15 How to improve the quality of public and private educational service? Haitian Foundation for Private Education...........................................................................................................17 How to improve education, especially in disadvantaged areas, and to structure the private sector? An experimental French-language initiative for remote teacher training (IFADEM)……………………………19 How to offer the country’s teachers quality continuous training?

SPECIAL EDUCATION FOR DISABLED AND STREET CHILDREN Maurice Sixto Shelter………………………………………………………………………………………………………21 What kind of schooling should be provided for children involved in child slave labor? “Kids who take a chance” – TIMKATEC………………………………………………………………………………..23 Can education qualify street urchins to become productive citizens? Kay Sainte Germaine / Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs……...…………………………………………………………..25 A reeducation center How to educate and integrate children with multiple handicaps into Haitian society

HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH Science Department - State University of Haiti……………………………………………………………………….27 How to strengthen a public university to facilitate sustainable reconstruction of the country? Higher School of Computer Electronics of Haiti (ESIH)……………………………………………………………..29 How to develop the sector of information and communication technologies by training Haitian leaders? Water Quality and Environment Laboratory (LAQUE) - Quisqueya University…………………………………32 How to build an advanced research and study program in Haiti? Haitian Education & Leadership Program (HELP)…………………………………………………………………….34 How to help Haitian students succeed in their studies and enter the job market?

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VOCATIONAL TRAINING Ciné Institute………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...36 How to create a film school in a context where skills and tools are scarce? Haiti TEC…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….............38 How to develop a channel of excellence in professional training that meets market needs? Haiti’s professional training center: Canado Technique…………………………………………………………….40 How to ensure the sustainability of a quality professional training institution?

TRAINING INCORPORATED IN TERRITORIALLY BASED DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS Gros-Morne Green Schools Network…………………………………………………………………………………...42 How to give children the power to act in restoring the environment? Association of the Townspeople of Value……………………………………………………………………………...44 How to integrate the development of agriculture and education? The WINNER Program……………………………………………………………………………………………………..46 How to support small farmers in improving agricultural production?

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EDUCATION IN HAITI INSPIRATIONAL INITIATIVES This booklet introduces some 20 initiatives, covering various sectors of Haiti’s educational system that may be considered good examples of “success stories” in a context affected by serious difficulties of all sorts, including institutional, financial, material, etc., and traumatized by the earthquake of January 12, 2010. These initiatives were presented during the seminar on “Rebuilding Education in Haiti: Sharing Success Stories and Global Experiences” held under the auspices of the WISE Haiti Task Force, in Port-au-Prince, on September 28-29, 2011. The presentations of the Haitian initiatives were prepared by the FOKAL foundation, in close consultation with the initiators or managers of the institutions, projects or programs. THE PURPOSE OF THE CASE STUDIES The sole purpose of these case studies is to show why and how some educational projects are being successfully carried out in Haiti and producing positive outcomes. The cases presented in this booklet are intended to illustrate the general trends at work in the country, and alternative examples could have been included. Through the cases, the aim is to understand the positive underlying factors and forces that are contributing to the improvement or reconstruction of the educational system in Haiti. In so doing, we can draw out some useful actionable ideas for public policymakers and for eliciting the support of the international community. In fact, generally speaking, as accumulated experience worldwide suggests, identifying what is at the basis of “success stories” in a given context is essential for proceeding effectively in the reconstruction of education systems in environments that are disorganized or that present persistent weaknesses. It is a question of progressively institutionalizing practices that lead to success, and gradually transforming systems to increase their resilience to shocks regardless of their origin: a financial crisis, a natural disaster, political movements, etc. A VARIETY OF EXAMPLES The cases presented in the seminar cover the following sectors of the educational system: primary and secondary education, vocational-technical training, higher education and research, teacher training, special education (for disabled and street children), and training incorporated in territorially based development projects. The projects are considered success stories because they were implemented successfully and on schedule – which is often not the case in Haiti – and also and above all because the education that they provide, regardless of the sector under consideration, is of recognized quality, resulting in a high success rate in national exams, the employment of their graduates, the integration of their beneficiaries into economic and social life, etc.

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The sponsors of the projects are of diverse origins, including private, religious, public, community, etc. The projects are located in different regions of the country: in and around the capital, but also in the southwestern peninsula, the North, the Central Plateau, etc. Some projects involve thousands of people while others involve only a few hundred. Some were implemented after the earthquake of January 12, 2010, while others began before. Some are recognized successes, with a promising future, while others, though promising, have yet to prove their worth and even to ensure their sustainability. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE “SUCCESS STORIES” Yet, in this disparate set, and among the projects that “work” best, there are seven main recurring characteristics. The projects are: 1. SPONSORED BY LEADERS WHO ARE FULLY COMMITTED: All the projects are sponsored by leaders who are strong-willed and extremely motivated, and who consider the project as their life’s work, devoting to it all their strength and sometimes a good deal of their own resources. Such involvement is crucial for the success of initiatives that require - among other qualities energy, force of conviction, charisma and toughness. 2. ROOTED IN THE COMMUNITIES: The projects are rooted in well-defined territorial or professional communities. The commitment of these communities is critical for bringing about collective ownership, thus facilitating, among other things, the mobilization of resources, the definition of programs, the evaluation of training, the employment of graduates, etc. 3. LINKED TO PRACTICAL MATTERS AND TO LIFE IN SOCIETY: The most fruitful learning occurs in close association with economic activity, employment opportunities, the needs of the population, environmental protection, or simply opportunities to express one’s talents through the arts or crafts. “Practical matters” also include learning to be a citizen and exercising democracy and civility in human relations. The projects that put these at the forefront of their preoccupations are often also the most dynamic. 4. FUNDED WITH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES: Funding resources for the projects originate for the most part from the sponsors themselves, the communities in which the projects are located, from abroad (Diaspora, NGOs or bilateral or multilateral donors), and from beneficiaries who pay for the training. Very little financial help, however, has come from the Haitian state, except in rare cases such as teacher training projects that are statesponsored projects by nature. 5. MINDFUL OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND GOVERNMENTAL DIRECTIVES: Although they hardly benefit from any financial support from the government, the projects do their best to abide by directives and rules formulated by public authorities, notably the Ministry of Education. 6. STRENGTHENED BY FOREIGN EXPERIENCE: Foreign partners play an important role, not only as sources of funding, but also, and especially, by contributing new ideas, and as guarantors of seriousness, providing quality control of a sort. For a number of projects, liaising with foreign partners involves the use of Information and Communication Technologies, including the Internet, video-conferencing, etc., that the project holders spared no expense to acquire. 7. IMPLEMENTED IN A SPIRIT OF PARTNERSHIP AMONG ALL ACTORS: The projects that appear to be the most fruitful and to have the most impact are those that were implemented in a spirit of partnership manifested in concrete procedures, where different partners teamed up to share their contributions, skills and networks: a public body collaborating with a private

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body; a local community mobilizing to welcome a public or private initiative; projects that catalyze foreign contributions, local commitments, and support from Haitian state authorities. SUGGESTIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY The current capacity of the Haitian administration does not enable it to implement rapidly and on a large scale the plans that it has developed, regardless of their worthiness. Haitian society, for its part, also lacks the capacity to deal with a large-scale educational effort at short notice: teachers are lacking, material resources are in short supply, etc. State policymakers as well as actors from the international community that lend technical and financial support must find a way to allocate the resources at their disposal efficiently. One way of proceeding could be to start with the characteristics of projects that “work” and to use them to screen precisely education proposals that may arise, seeking expertise and funding. A kind of “competitive fund” could be set up to provide resources to projects that can clearly demonstrate that: they are sponsored by leaders of quality; they enjoy the support and commitment of a territorial or professional community; they have already found sustainable sources and modes of funding (external and/or internal, and possibly in kind); they abide by administrative regulations; they are strengthened by access to foreign experience. Public financial support should be adjusted based on the nature of the projects. For instance, support for basic education should represent a much greater percentage of the costs of projects than support for vocational-technical education which, by its nature, has a much greater chance of getting funding from the business sector. Thus, by lending support to quality projects that are sponsored by well-motivated and informed communities, rooted in a territory, the trust and pride of the population can be enhanced. Little by little, it might be possible to reconstitute and consolidate the various components of the education system, and to implement the plans developed by the State, such as the “National Pact for Education,” the considerable and legitimate ambitions of which require an approach that is adaptive and progressive. *************** In any case, the projects that are briefly presented in this booklet clearly show the extraordinary vitality of the Haitian population. Impoverished, deprived, stricken and poorly educated, this population is showing the world some fine examples of its resilience: the latter should be expanded and replicated through appropriate action.

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Primary and Secondary Education

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF PUBLIC KINDERGARTENS: TIPA TIPA Program name: Improving the quality of public kindergartens Main partners: Tipa Tipa, UNICEF, Special Education Center, Ministry of Education’s Bureau of preschool education management Year founded: 2007 Number of participants: 20,000 children in 401 public schools How to train teachers on the job to offer quality pre-school programs? The "Improving the quality of public kindergartens" program was begun by UNICEF in 2007 in the context of its strategy to strengthen education in Haiti. The program offers courses for teachers in public kindergartens. UNICEF finances the project; Tipa Tipa has provided most of the trainers and the training methodology; the Special Education Center (Centre d’éducation special, CES) offered equipment and several trainers; the Ministry of Education’s Bureau of Pre-School Education Management (Bureau de gestion de l’éducation préscolaire, BUGEP) identified all the public schools that included kindergartens. One hundred twenty hours of courses were given to teachers of 401 public schools. With an average of 50 children in a kindergarten class, an estimated 20,000 children in this age bracket benefited from the project. The courses are based on standard international modules created by Step by Step International, adapted by Tipa Tipa and conducted by 10 specialized Haitian trainers. The courses have been given each year since 2007 in various parts of the country. Training contents based on a democratic teaching philosophy Tipa Tipa began in 1998. It was then a program of FOKAL (Fondation Connaissance et Liberté, Knowledge and Freedom Foundation) that was created entirely with the funds of the Open Society Foundation and its international “Step by step” program. The objective of Step by Step was to teach democratic values to future citizens right from kindergarten and primary school, in a context of building democracy in Haiti. In dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, learning and teaching are centered on the teacher, who institutes the rules and is the basis for all the decisions made in class. A democratic class is centered on the child, and the students participate in the decisions and all work together. Tipa Tipa encourages schools to reorient toward the children, to have programs suited to the kindergarten and primary levels, where the children learn by practicing and where democratic values direct the school and the courses. Tipa Tipa’s innovative methodology is based on the promotion of key democratic values like respect, independence, cooperation, participation, transparency, rights and duties, and courtesy, values that are essential to the operation of a democratic society. This holistic program encourages children to express their ideas creatively, help each other, and develop a critical mind and a sense of responsibility by learning to make choices, in a reassuring physical and psychological environment. The method promotes collaboration with the parents and community to make sure each child benefits from the conditions most favorable to full development of their potential. These values influence classroom behavior as well as the way of teaching languages, science, mathematics, and social sciences, based on the idea that the child must do in order to understand.

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Response to the earthquake When makeshift camps were set up in the zones affected by the earthquake of January 2010, the obvious need emerged to recreate a normalized context for the children living in tents. Because of their experience and knowledge of the local context, two of the main players in the "Improving the quality of public kindergartens” program - Tipa Tipa and UNICEF - collaborated on a second project, with the support of World Vision, to install suitable learning spaces for the children in the camps. The Tipa Tipa trainers visited the camps with UNICEF kits for young children. Tipa Tipa also trained 250 teachers and group leaders employed by World Vision to work in these provisional spaces for young children in Port au Prince, on Plateau Central and on Gonâve Island. Institutional and state support for pre-school education The original objective of the Step by Step program was to integrate the Ministry of Education or the university system in each town. When financing began to slacken off for its program in 2004, Tipa Tipa became independent of FOKAL while maintaining its relations with the other Step by Step programs around the world, and found funds from international backers (ACDI, UNICEF, BND). In 2007, the organization became a major partner of the Haitian government and UNICEF. Since 2008, it has participated in developing the objectives of the Working Group on Education and Training (Groupe de travail sur l`education et la formation, GTEF) to develop kindergartens in the public system. Tipa Tipa, UNICEF, the CES and BUGEP participated in the Presidential Commission for Education, in charge of proposing a national plan for education, and they managed to influence national policy to include the development and improvement of kindergartens among the country’s objectives. Lastly, the program targets the neediest children and those with special needs, whose parents do not have the means to ensure their education alone. At the same time, the program asserts that a quality kindergarten education is important for the children’s development and their success in the rest of their school life, but also that kindergarten must be accessible to all children, regardless of their parents’ financial situation.

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Primary and Secondary Education

PARADIS DES INDIENS FOUNDATION Program name: Paradis des Indiens Foundation Main partners: Haiti Partage Foundation of Montréal and Haiti, Chaîne de l’espoir de France, Education for All program of the Inter-American Development Bank, Catholic Relief Services, MENPF, families of the town of Abricots. Year founded: 1975 Number of participants: 12 schools, 3291 students and 80 teachers Level: Grade schools How to create and support quality schools in an isolated, destitute region of the country? "In Abricots, everyone is more serious thanks to my school." Michaelle de Verteuil and her husband Patrick left Canada for Haiti in 1975. Michaelle’s family had emigrated from Grande Anse to Canada. The couple decided to retire in Haiti, but they actually began working more than ever. Abricots is a town at the tip of the country’s southern peninsula. Nature is so bountiful there that the native Indians of the island believe that, after death, their spirits come to rest here. The children of Abricots chose the name "Paradis des Indiens" for their school after Mrs. de Verteuil (whom everyone calls Mika, or Mrs. Patrick) created it. For the De Verteuil couple, the work with the school and the community was a continuous learning process. At the time, the zone was accessible only by boat, there was no electricity, and no infrastructure in general. Slowly but surely, they settled into this province, on a cliff overlooking the bay, with their house and their school side by side. They managed to touch the poor children of the zone. Unfortunately, Mr. De Verteuil died five years ago. Multiply success by opening schools in rural sectors In the light of the success of their school, and in the face of rising demand from the population, they began to work with 10 rural communities of the Abricots area in 1996, opening a school in each of them. They began with provisional shelters with straw roofs to cover the classes, while the more educated people in the community did the teaching. Today, Paradis des Indiens is a network of 12 schools for children from pre-K to the last year of primary school, which includes 3,291 students and 80 teachers. Considering that the schools worked well, the Foundation applied to the Ministry of Education for authorization to develop 200 schools to serve all the children in the Grande Anse department. The government did not wish to delegate this function to it. School program The network follows the Haitian government’s official program, which serves as a guide for teaching, but three things are done differently at Paradis des Indiens: 1) all the children do at least one hour of handiwork each day; 2) the children learn French as a second language from kindergarten to the end of primary school, using books adapted to the oral learning of French; 3) the schools are all gardens and the children cultivate plants there for 150 minutes each week. On the whole, the results are good. Most of the children succeed in the national examinations at the end of 6th grade. Mika has some reservations about this "Primary studies certificate", but is still proud of the success rate, which is 98% at the first establishment created and 88% for the whole network. She also feels that the change of attitude toward school in the "Abricots Republic” is an indicator of success. She feels that families used to pay little attention to school rules, the children did not come on the first day of school, arrived late, and did not come when it rained. This is no longer true. In the

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whole town of Abricots, even for the four schools that are not part of Paradis des Indiens, behavior toward school has changed. Everyone begins school on the first day and the population takes education more seriously, this being a requirement at Paradis des Indiens. The funds for Paradis des Indiens come from various sources, and each family contributes $5 to $12 per year. Twenty percent of the families cannot pay these sums, so the Foundation covers the cost of their enrollment. There are a lot of people throughout the world who help on an individual basis. Some contribute their time: a retired Canadian accountant works on the administrative files for six months, for example, and a Canadian-Haitian psychologist was present for a month of volunteer work during our visit. Also, 200 tradesmen and women contribute their talents by manufacturing textiles and pottery that the Foundation buys for resale in shops in Port au Prince or abroad. The Paradis des Indiens Foundation has a local Board of Directors that also tries to improve family revenues and nutrition by developing individual rabbit breeding. The future Mrs. De Verteuil wants to go on improving the children’s education. This year, a computer laboratory and science laboratory were created in the first school of the network. The teachers participated in summer courses in sciences and technology. The children’s garden products bring a little additional financial support. Fruit, vegetables and plants are sold to prepare an end-of-year party. On the last day of school, the money from the children’s participation is used to buy goats and other victuals for a fair on the beach. When Mika is asked about the transmission of Haitian traditions in the school, she says she is proud of the school choir. The children sing and dance for each holiday. She credits Abricots’ mayor, Jean Claude Fignolé, with having helped keep the taste for history alive in the community. She does have reservations about the worship of ancestors and of heroes of the revolution, though. “We must think more highly of the successes of our contemporaries.”

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Primary and Secondary Education

COLLÈGE LES OLIVIERS Program: Collège les Oliviers Main partners: French Cooperation, FOKAL, Chemtec, pupils’ parents Year started: 2010 Number of people concerned: 50 pupils Level: Primary and secondary school HOW TO OFFER A SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION THAT LETS THE HAITIAN LIVE ON HIS LAND? "We don’t know how to live in our country. Look at how different the consequences were of the earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010 and the more serious earthquake in Chile a month later. We need a critical mass of scientists. I want us to have a good school for educating scientists over the coming 20 years." Jean-Claude Neptune’s creation of the Collège les Oliviers is a remarkable example of the strong resilience of Haitian society when faced with the 2010 earthquake, and of the will of one individual to get personally involved in preparing future generations. Jean-Claude Neptune suffered great personal losses in the earthquake – his son and several other family members were killed – and like his two other colleagues who work at the Collège Antillais, his heart was broken and he no longer had the will to invest in education. One of his partners lost her daughter. The physical infrastructures and the capital of Collège Antillais – building, books, equipment, computers, etc. – were all destroyed. Yet, considering the importance of a quality education, especially in the sciences and mathematics, to the successful rebuilding of the country and anticipating future disasters - and strongly encouraged by his daughter Jacaranda Lilavois, a recent law graduate - Jean-Claude finally opened a new school, naming it after his lost son, Olivier. He and his daughter think it is indispensable to emphasize scientific education and the training of the scientific spirit clearly. A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE The Collège les Oliviers is a private school integrating primary and secondary education, set up in Delmas. It accepts pupils by academic examination in the 1st and 7th years. It follows the tradition of excellence of Collège Antillais. Collège Antillais was considered to be one of Haiti’s best schools, presenting 11 classes for the French Baccalaureat with 92% success in the economic and social and scientific curricula. The students received solid preparation in languages too, allowing them easy entry into foreign universities in French, English and Spanish. Since 2006, French Cooperation has offered a scholarship to the Laureate of Collège Antillais, and the first of them has just finished his studies in biology at the Université René Descartes de Paris, the second in law at the Université de Bordeaux, the third is in neurosciences at the Université Sofia Antipolis in Nice, and the fourth has just finished his first year in mathematics in preparatory classes at Lycée Louis Le Grand. Alumni have also been recognized by the American Embassy’s Bureau of Public Affairs, in particular with Fulbright and Laspau scholarships to get Master’s degrees in various French universities (Montpellier, Denis Diderot) and American universities (Missouri, Georgetown). The pupils are mostly sons and daughters of professionals who want to offer their children a quality Haitian education. These parents are quite often involved in the (sometimes arduous) search for quality teachers. Some have given courses to the school’s pupils for years in their fields of competence. Alumni integrate the Haitian employment market perfectly. Some are company leaders, others join the boards of commercial banks. They are university professors, lawyers, doctors, engineers, bankers, linguists, and above all they are involved in the country’s future.

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THE FUTURE During the 2010/2011 school year, Collège les Oliviers had five pupils who all successfully completed the 7th year. The school wants to have about 50 pupils for the 2011/2012 year – 20 1st-year pupils, 20 7th-year pupils and about ten in the 8th year (6th and 7th grades). Collège les Oliviers opened in its first year in the semi-temporary premises sheltering the classrooms. If need be, a second level can be added to the current structure. A small canteen, a playing field and a garden are being created. The school currently has 11 teachers, most of whom worked at Collège Antillais before, but because of financial constraints, they have agreed to teach free of charge or for a third of their former salary. The emphasis on scientific studies at Collège les Oliviers is a choice that corresponds to the observed shortage of high-level Haitian scientists. There is still concern as to whether adequate labs and libraries will be within the reach of this school and many other schools in Haiti because of the prohibitive costs of equipment. Collège les Oliviers is pursuing collaboration with the Institut de Chimie Chemtech, a professional school, to use their laboratories. Collège les Oliviers will very soon be fully financed by the tuition fee paid by the pupils’ parents. At this stage, the greatest obstacle for Jean-Claude Neptune and Collège les Oliviers is to make the school fully operational and ensure its financial sustainability. For practical scientific studies, Mr. Neptune suggests the building of independent laboratories that could be used by several secondary schools, because of the prohibitive costs of such structures. Jean-Claude Neptune is a good example of a Haitian expert whose education, experience and passion for teaching sciences and mathematics can help rebuild the knowledge-base that a stronger Haiti will need. Supporting and multiplying such major reforms in the system would allow all the country’s pupils to receive a quality education in science so they can participate actively in preventing other disasters.

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Primary and Secondary Education

JÉRÉMIE GIRLS SCHOOL AND THE NUMA-DROUIN CENTER Program name: Jérémie Girls School and the Numa-Drouin Center Main partners: MENFP, Fondation Haiti Partage, FOKAL Year founded: 1979 and 2004 Number of PARTICIPANTS: 1,200 students and the population of Jérémie Level: High school HOW CAN PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS PROMOTE THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION? The Jérémie Girls School is a public secondary school for girls in the town of Jérémie in the southwest of Haiti. It was created by the Ministry of Education in 1979 for the best students from among the neediest in the department of Grande Anse. The school has 12 classrooms for 1,000 to 1,200 students. The students attend courses in two groups on two schedules: either from 7 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. or from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The two schedules follow the same program from the 7th to 9th grades of basic school. For the morning classes from 4th secondary grade to Philosophy, the school is currently experimenting with a new Ministry program. Mrs. Raphaël, the school’s principal, feels that testing this new curriculum is an honor for her establishment. "The Minister always calls me when they need to do something in a public school." On the day of our visit, the school was hosting a team from the Ministry of Education, which had come to correct the State exams of last year’s students. A PRIVATE PARTNER The Numa-Drouin Center is a library and multimedia center created in 2004 by a group of seven concerned citizens in the city of Jérémie, including Mrs. Juliette Nicolas Tardieu and Mrs. Eumeline Raphaël. After discussing the possibility of renting premises for the library in the town, the group asked Mrs. Raphaël whether it would be possible to install the library in the school. Relations between the Center and the School were beneficial for both institutions. The Center has a secure space for its activities and the school takes advantage of the resources available at the Center and of its external financing. A WELL-EQUIPPED SETTING In contrast to many public schools in Haiti, which are often poorly equipped and where everything is stripped to the strict minimum for lack of money, the Jérémie Girls School resembles a private school. The courtyard is well-maintained, there is a basketball court, a drinking water reservoir and a library. Mrs. Raphaël encourages her students to get involved in clubs and various activities. So, if there is an event in the town such as an academic or sports competition, or a cultural event, the school is always well-represented. Mrs. Raphaël tries to get the best students in the Department, despite her difficulties recruiting good teachers and the glacial pace of the central administration in making decisions. She wants her students to be proud of what they are, to take care of their appearance and practice tolerance, in particular because of the diversity of religious confessions in Haiti. She feels that the collaboration with the Numa-Drouin Center is a wonderful experience for her students and teachers, who would not otherwise have access to these books, computers and the Internet. She has noticed that her teachers now use the Center as a resource center not only for themselves, but also for their students. The students taking the new experimental curriculum find that Internet access is very useful for this program, in which the students have to work on personal research projects. Again, this resource was not financed by the Ministry.

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AN EXPERIENCE THAT SHOULD BE REPLICATED IN OTHER HIGH SCHOOLS The synergy between the Girls School and the Numa-Drouin Center is an excellent example of the way a public institution and a private institution can help each other to improve the educational services to a community. The high school is a traditional formal institution for secondary education and the Numa-Drouin Center is a center for extracurricular education. Most of the public schools in Haiti have very small operating budgets that prevent them from having well-maintained spaces, libraries, multimedia centers or theaters. The School Principal’s willingness to share its space with the Numa-Drouin Center has contributed much more than a library – it offers the whole community a living space for learning, in addition to the school, for both students and teachers.

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Teacher Training

THE FUNDAMENTAL APPLICATION SCHOOLS AND PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATION CENTER (EFACAP) OF KENSCOFF Program name: The Fundamental Application Schools and Pedagogical Application Center (Ecoles fondamentales d’application et centre d’application pédagogique, EFACAP) of Kenscoff Main partners: Ministry of Education and Professional Training, Inter-American Development Bank Year started: 2005 Number of people concerned: 5,300 children in 20 schools HOW TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES? The Fundamental Application Schools and Pedagogical Application Center (Ecoles fondamentales d’application et centre d’application pédagogique, EFACAP) are centers created under the 1997 National Education and Training Plan with the mission of improving the quality of educational services in Haiti. They are schools of excellence that also serve as centers for continuous training of teachers in a particular zone and as pedagogical support for 20 schools in their zones. There are 38 EFACAPs in Haiti, and the Ministry of Education hopes to create 100 of them. Some EFACAPs get very good results, both for the students at the center and for those at the 19 affiliated schools. EFACAP offers pedagogical support and develops a spirit of solidarity among the schools in each group. THE EFACAP STRUCTURE The EFACAP of Kenscoff was built in 2005 with funds from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). It has nine classrooms, a computer lab, a library, two teacher training rooms, one teachers’ room, offices, a dining room, kitchen, house for the guardian, garden and playing field. It is set apart from other public schools in the country by its cleanliness and flower plantations. It is often buzzing with activity because its team seizes all the educational opportunities offered to it. Being close to Port-au-Prince and with a welcoming atmosphere, the EFACAP is often used for experimental pilot programs. Mrs. Cirta Jean-François is the Director of the EFACAP of Kenscoff. She was educated in an Ecole Normale (secondary teacher training establishment) and selected from 40 other employees of the Ministry of Education and Professional Training (Ministère de l’éducation nationale et de la formation professionnelle, MENFP) to participate in an intensive one-year curriculum for management staff. She is backed up by two pedagogical assistants. The team is called the Pedagogical Application Center (Centre d’application pédagogique, CAP). This pedagogical team advises the EFACAP’s school along with the six public schools and 14 private schools in Kenscoff, Fermathe, Furcy, Robin and Panyòl. EDUCATIONAL AND FOLLOW-UP SERVICES When the EFACAP was opened in 2005, the MENFP had financed 450 hours of continuous teacher training for the 20 schools in the network. There are 5,300 students in all in the network’s schools. The CAP team organizes regular courses at the EFACAP and makes evaluation visits every Friday to the network schools. It works with the schools to establish the annual program, prepare quarterly exams, identify weaknesses, and find solutions when necessary. It takes special care to welcome 15/47

new teachers. During their school visits, they pay attention to the teaching methods and hold meetings with the teacher and principals to discuss their observations and decide on the best way to remedy deficiencies quickly. IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION IN A RURAL ENVIRONMENT The Kenscoff school, EFA, has 450 students. It consists of a kindergarten and a primary school from 1st to 9th grades. Most of the children begin school late. Attendance is a real problem, especially on market days and in those periods when the parents need their children for work. The children have a lot of learning difficulties, but the CAP team watches out for this and tries to absorb these problems by working with the teachers. The school has a 100% success rate for the “Primary studies certificate”, and an 87% success rate at the end of the 9th grade. According to a 2009 report from the Haitian institute of educational sciences training (Institut haïtien de formation en sciences de l’éducation, IHFOSED), schools that benefit from the support of an EFACAP get better results than others. FINANCING PROBLEMS Kenscoff shows what can be done with a good team, even when the financing runs out, because this system is expensive. At Kenscoff, as in most institutions, the operating costs are no longer assumed by the MENFP since the IADB funds for the center ran out. The CAP teams need financing to ensure the success of the children in the network schools. Travel costs for school supports, photocopies for documentation, meals for the training sessions at the CAP have all become very difficult to cover, and make this good team’s tasks strenuous.

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Teacher Training HAITIAN FOUNDATION FOR PRIVATE EDUCATION Program: Haitian Foundation for Private Education (FONHEP) Main partners: Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education (CEEC), Haiti Federation of Protestant Schools (FEPH), USAID, EDC Starting year: 1988 Number of people involved: 100,000 students Level: On-the-job training for teachers; structuring of private education; quality improvement of basic education (grades 1-6) How to improve education, especially in disadvantaged areas and to structure the private sector? The Haitian Foundation for Private Education (Fondation Haïtienne de l’Enseignement Privé, FONHEP) is a non-profit institution that aims to contribute to the structuring of the private sector of education and to the development and improvement of education, especially in disadvantaged areas. It was founded in September 1988 by the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education (Commission Episcopale pour l’Education Catholique, CEEC) and the Haiti Federation of Protestant Schools (Fédération des Ecoles Protestantes d’Haïti, FEPH), and became operational as of August 1989. FONHEP is a secular institution, in spite of the religious nature of its founding members. Workshop 1. Basic Education Haitian Cases: • • •

In-class Distance Education - FAD en Classe (reading and mathematics lessons in Creole) targeting children in grades 2, 3, and 4, using audio lessons In-class Distance Education - FAD en Classe (lessons in life education - EdVie) targeting children in grades 5 and 6, using audio lessons A Still Evolving Experiment in Distance Education targeting 12-to-18-year-old school drop-outs and unschooled children, using audio lessons

Thanks to a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), FONHEP developed a program of In-class Distance Education—FAD en Classe (reading and mathematics lessons in Creole) targeting children in grades 2, 3 and 4, using audio lessons. This was in response to the high demand for education in the 1980s and 1990s, and also taking into account the scarcity of qualified teachers and/or the recruitment of unqualified teachers. It was also intended to compensate for the negative effects of the acute political crisis which contributed to the reduction of the number of effective school days. This program was developed during the 1990s and implemented through 2008 in several départements within the country, including those of the West and the North, which were specifically under the supervision of FONHEP. In those two départements, FONHEP, in partnership with the three sectors constituting its network, including the CEEC, FEPH and the Confederation of Independent Private Schools of Haiti (Confédération des écoles privées indépendantes d’Haïti, CONFEPIH), organized the design, creation and broadcasting of the audio lessons, using the Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) methodology. This In-class Distance Education Program (reading and mathematics lessons in Creole) was

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developed to support the official curriculum of the Ministry of Education, as the audio lessons were based on objectives drawn from the official curriculum. Children in grades 2, 3 and 4 were thus able to receive three weekly math and reading lessons in Creole broadcast over two radio stations based, one in the North département and the other in the West département. The majority of the schools under the supervision of FONHEP that benefitted from this program belonged to the private sector of education. Students in grades 5 and 6 (most of whom were overage) received Life Education lessons (27 overall) that were intended to provide them with the opportunity to reflect on citizenship and their roles as future members of society and future parents. The choice of this case, involving a project implemented by FONHEP over the course of several years, is justified by the need to provide an adequate answer to several problems simultaneously. The program was broadcast to a large number of students spread over many schools, and offered reading and math courses in Creole taught in a uniform manner and targeting children in grades 2, 3 and 4. At the same time, under the guidance of the radio teacher, teachers with little qualification also learned how to work in class and teach the objectives of the official curriculum while improving on their classroom management. The program drew its success not only from the fact that it was based on the IRI methodology but also from the fact that the FONHEP network (including FONHEP’s central office, CEEC, FEPH and CONFEPIH) worked in concert to implement the program, supervise and support the target population within schools - including the teaching team (school directors and teachers) and students - and perform close monitoring of the activities of each segment of the target population using supervision grids. The In-class Distance Education Program makes it possible to offer a large number of students at different locations in the country the same instruction, content and supervision in their learning process. This Program can contribute to the reconstruction of the education system by lending support to the teaching of youths inside classrooms and to the training of teachers who model themselves on the radio teacher. Workshop 2. Teacher Training—Haitian Cases: • •

Training of K-6 teachers to support the In-class Distance Education Program - FAD en classe (reading and math lessons in Creole; lessons in life education - EdVie) Training of monitors, supporting the Distance Education Program, targeted at school dropouts and unschooled children, as part of a pilot program

The implementation phase of the FAD Program included a training component to help the teaching teams make better use of the audio lessons in the classroom. FONHEP offers 13 to 17 days of training per year to teaching teams on the following themes: upgrading in French and Creole, classroom management, integration of parents into school life, evaluation of class activities, school leadership, teaching methods (for Creole, French and math), psychology, school-year program planning, etc. The preparation of the teaching team to handle its classroom activity helps it to develop an esprit de corps and become a team within the school whose members collaborate for improved education for the children. This improved education is facilitated by the accountability and professionalism of the teacher at the classroom level and of the school director at the school level; the establishment and/or strengthening of work relations among the teaching team members; the establishment and/or strengthening or relations between the school and the community of parents.

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Teacher Training

AN EXPERIMENTAL FRENCH-LANGUAGE INITIATIVE FOR REMOTE TEACHER TRAINING (IFADEM) Program name: IFADEM Year started: 2009 Number of people concerned: 419 grade school teachers (first phase) Level: Continuous teacher training HOW TO OFFER THE COUNTRY’S TEACHERS QUALITY CONTINUOUS TRAINING? The Ministry of National Education and Professional Training (Ministère de l’éducation nationale et de la formation professionnelle, MENFP) chose to answer this difficult question with two longstanding partners – the International French Language Organization (Organisation internationale de la francophonie, OIF) and the French Language University Agency (Agence universitaire de la francophonie, AUF) – who organized an experimental French-language initiative for remote teacher training (Initiative francophone pour la formation à distance des maîtres, IFADEM) to seek solutions to the problems of finding teachers, the geographic dispersion of teaching staff, and the need for sophisticated content to strengthen their skills. IFADEM was already successfully developed in Benin, Burundi and Madagascar in 2009-2010. The country’s educational authorities have been engaged at the highest level since 2008 in developing this program to achieve concrete results in the field. The signature of a framework agreement between the Ministry and the OIF on 19 March 2010 reflects the determination to introduce quality continuous training for the country’s teachers. Wanting this initiative to have the best chances of success, the French-language players involved in setting it up have agreed on a gradual process, saying, “time is needed to succeed, not to give in to the temptation of showing quick results that are not necessarily verified. To be real, local appropriation needs to be in the long term.” (Distances et Savoirs, 2010). A phase of concerted effort began in 2008 with the MENFP, its local departments, and also the educational actors in private and public professional training, foreign cooperative organizations and universities. In 2009, the Minister named a National Committee to coordinate the administrative and pedagogical aspects of IFADEM, and to define its ways, means and orientations. The Committee’s mission is to adapt the general IFADEM framework to needs and constraints. It chose the south and southeast for instituting the first phase. The Ecole normale d’institueurs des Cayes and the Ecole fondamentale d’application – Centre d’application pédagogique (EFACAP) of Meyer (Jacmel) will host the digital spaces for the courses. ADAPTED CONTENTS After a French-language test of 367 teachers in 2009, and based on its knowledge of the field, the National Committee decided to split the training program into two by introducing discipline and

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instructional strengthening aspects into the initiative on the convergence of Creole and French. This innovative pedagogy meets the recommendations of the Bernard reform of 1979, which stipulated that "the use of Creole as a language spoken by 90% of the Haitian population is allowed as an instrument and teaching language in schools.” These two aspects are to help teachers on two crucial points where conventional courses are lacking: management of their class and good mastery of national bilingualism in their teaching options. The Committee then launched the production of training booklets with agents of the MENFP, the support of an expert from the University of the Antilles and Guyana (France) and two courseware designers from the Faculty of Applied Linguistics. The earthquake of 12 January 2010 interrupted this process. The difficulties became manifold: the impossibility of organizing the drafting of these booklets in Port-au-Prince, the unavailability of certain actors mobilized to relaunch the school, etc. However, a small group managed to meet in Fort de France to continue designing the booklets with the support of three collaborators from Université Antilles Guyane. Two booklets were published in June 2011: Written Understanding and Oral Understanding (with audio files). A decision was made to add a backpack, a notebook, a grammar book and a dictionary to this educational provision. CREATING TRAINING SPACES In addition to developing contents, training premises have to be created and equipped with computers and an Internet connection. The team managed to start work and install the equipment at the Ecole nationale d’instituteurs of Cayes in the summer of 2010. The following year, it was the EFACAP of Meyer (Jacmel) that was renovated and inaugurated. Today, both spaces are partially in service. In fact, the people selected for maintenance and organization before the earthquake of January 2010 subsequently withdrew, but the process went on without interruption. Two Frenchspeaking volunteers from the OIF were called in as coordinators to train their successors starting in October 2011. ACCOMPANYING REMOTE TRAINING One of the major challenges in remote training is to manage the courses so that the participants benefit fully from their contents and are active in learning. The Ministry’s Departmental Agency assembled and trained a team of 12 trainers in the summer of 2011, who are in charge of managing the tutors. The 20 tutors selected to accompany the teachers in their self-training periods have received courses suited to their future tasks. After this creation process, teacher training can now begin. In August 2011, before classes began, 419 teachers participated in the first training session, to be completed in June 2012, when the Ministry will evaluate this experiment and can choose to pursue it and extend it to new departments, new audiences and new disciplines.

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Special Education

FOYER MAURICE SIXTO (MAURICE SIXTO SHELTER) Program name: Foyer Maurice Sixto Main partners: the Roman Catholic Church, the Fondation de France Year founded: 1989 Number of participants: 300 children Level: Primary, special education for children involved in child slave labor WHAT KIND OF SCHOOLING SHOULD BE PROVIDED FOR CHILDREN INVOLVED IN CHILD SLAVE LABOR? The Foyer Maurice Sixto is both a welcome center and a school for children in domestic service (restavèk in Haitian Creole). Most of these children, from six to eight years of age, come from rural areas in the south of Haiti and are sent to Port au Prince by their parents to perform everyday chores, without compensation. The children at the Maurice Sixto Foyer are not boarders. They come to school from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. They can be taken in as boarders if the Foyer’s staff deems them to be in danger at the host families where they work. Usually, the Foyer staff offers to follow up with the host families or the biological family to resolve any difficulties and thus ensure the safety of the child.

INSPIRED BY MAURICE SIXTO For Father Miguel Jean-Baptiste, his own family history was a determining factor in his willingness to provide help to Haiti’s poorest and most neglected children. This commitment has been a highly respected value in his family for over six generations. One of his ancestors was a member of the slave revolutionary forces that sought to eliminate “white” families. One day, when faced with a white woman who was pregnant and whom he was going to kill, he decided to hide her. He later married her and they built a family that dedicated its life to helping others. When he had grown up, Father Miguel’s involvement with the restavèk was reinforced by the story of Maurice Sixto and a girl restavèk named Ti Sentaniz. This story was often told on the Haitian radio. Father Miguel realized that he wanted to involve himself in actions that protect little girls who are in the same situation as Sentaniz. The Foyer opened in 1989 with 20 children. Today it boasts 300, of whom 70% are girls. Their day at the center starts with lunch taken together, then classwork and team activities, as well as handicrafts and other traditional skills: baking, gardening, cooking, wood and metalworking, and drawing. The school offers grades 1 through 4. In addition to these activities, it has programs that help the children maintain their self-esteem and a sense of safety even in the very strongly felt absence of their mothers.

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The educators and teachers at the Foyer are all graduates of the Ecole normale [teacher training school]. In most cases they teach at other schools in the mornings and the Foyer is their second job. They also undergo training on the special needs of the children and the operating philosophy of the school. RESPONSE TO THE EARTHQUAKE At the time of the earthquake on 12 January, one of the two school buildings collapsed as did the house of Father Miguel. Rather than be discouraged, the Foyer staff determined to provide psychological support to all of the children in the Brochette district where the school is located. They also developed activities that promoted a relaxed attitude and games along with sports, music, theater and dance. Furthermore, the Foyer organized a summer camp day in 2010 and, since the time of the earthquake, provides meals to the children of the neighborhood. THE FUTURE Father Miguel, the founder of the Maurice Sixto Foyer, has built up that institution with the intention of training his successors so that the project can continue. The Foyer has officially become a Haitian NGO and accordingly enjoys certain tax advantages. This NGO is headed by a Board of Directors, an Executive Committee and an Administration. Although he is still available to participate in daily activities, Father Miguel’s time is largely taken up with seeking financing in Haiti and abroad. Donations to the Foyer have increased since it received the Human Rights Award in France in 1992 and 2007. Following the earthquake, the Fondation de France made it possible for the Foyer to purchase another parcel of land and to build new classrooms and other facilities. When these buildings are completed, the Foyer plans on offering higher-level classes. The Foyer Maurice Sixto hopes to continue its development. The methods for developing this type of initiative in other neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince and other cities in Haiti need to be drawn up. A large-scale effort to sensitize families to the mistreatment of children is a major priority of the Foyer’s management.

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Special Education

"TIMOUN K’AP TEKE CHANS", TIMKATEC "KIDS WHO TAKE A CHANCE" Program name: TIMKATEC Main partners: Geomoun, Food for the Poor, CRS, Bureau of nutrition and development, Menonite Central Committee, USAID, other embassies, foundations and churches Year founded: 1994 Number of participants: 500 “street” children Level: Primary and professional training CAN EDUCATION QUALIFY STREET URCHINS TO BECOME PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS? "We want the children to feel that they are in a family. Sometimes it takes years after they’ve left us to see the value of our education. They come back and thank us when they are adults.” Timkatec, a Creole acronym for "Timoun k’ap teke chans" ("kids who take a chance"), was created by a Catholic priest, Father Joseph Simon, in October 1994. He was inspired by the work of Saint John Bosco, an Italian priest who worked with street urchins in the 19th century. Father Joseph Simon had observed the need to create a place to host children from the streets and other vulnerable young people in Pétion Ville. He began with just one building at the outset, and a skeleton team, and took in a few children. Thanks to his devotion to the cause, he has managed to obtain three buildings for boys and girls over these last 17 years. The initial core of the Timkatec philosophy was a global approach to the needs of children in the streets and vulnerable youths, while emphasizing morality and religious education, to ensure the children’s physical, intellectual and moral development. Timkatec tried to offer these children a basic education, social skills, and the respect for human values needed for successful reintegration into their families and society. A PROGRAM THAT MEETS THE NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN AND OF HAITIAN SOCIETY During the 2010-2011 school year, Timkatec welcomed 500 boys and girls, who integrated primary school courses and/or technical training as electricians, plumbers, shoemakers or masons. Timkatec works at three sites. The first has two dormitories that can house 40 boys, and which includes four classrooms with a capacity of 110 students (70 day students and 40 boarding students), a kitchen, bathrooms and administrative offices. The second site has offices, a small house for volunteers, a library, a basketball court and a two-story technical school that can accommodate 200 students. The third site is a primary and professional school for 186 girls with a dormitory for 40 girls. Some children stay at Timkatec for eight years, although its programs are five-year programs: three years of basic schooling and two years of professional training. Timkatec employs 59 people: teachers, cooks, maintenance workers, administrators, etc. In the Haitian context, Timkatec is a unique initiative that provides educational and social value. Father Simon works with the neediest children. Most come from the streets, but some live with parents who cannot meet their elementary needs because of their deep poverty. The street children are either orphans, restavèk (children in unpaid domestic service), abused or abandoned children. These 23/47

children, left on their own, are especially vulnerable to abuse and, living in the street, may develop asocial behaviors. Many children live in the street, but few organizations take care of them. This worrisome situation was worsened by the earthquake of January 2010. Timkatec offers learning based on human values and social integration. The children have the opportunity to open up intellectually and spiritually, and receive basic health care. After the earthquake, Timkatec emphasized this last point by bringing in a psychologist to help the children deal with post-traumatic stress. Since the girls’ school was created, Timkatec offers gynecological care. At the school, the children learn to write in Creole and French, mathematics and basic science, and professional training. In addition, they learn to be more engaged in civil society, to become more thoughtful, more reasonable, and more responsible. For example, the teachers help them by sharing a story with them each day, to strengthen and cultivate their moral values. Timkatec invites the children to respect their environment. Lastly, these educational activities, combined with the relations that Father Joseph Simon and his colleagues patiently develop with the children, allow them to become full-fledged members of society. FINANCING AND THE FUTURE Timkatec has a unique financial model. Thanks to the devotion of Father Joseph Simon, the institution has built up friendly connections in Haiti, North America and Europe, which help Timkatec with funding each year. Little by little, Father Simon has been able to increase the scope of the project. Timkatec shows us that a non-profit institution can be financed by developing and maintaining long-term individual friendships. Timkatec has shown its viability and sustainability over the years and has constantly extended its field of action since 1994. Luckily, the premises suffered only minor damage in the earthquake and no one was killed in the buildings. Timkatec is increasing its class and dormitory capacities by 30% in 2011, and will now offer sewing courses to meet the demand of the textile industry. Father Simon would like to build a vacation center near Petit Goave (south of Port-au-Prince) for Timkatec children and the other children enrolled in the schools directed by the Salesian Fathers. This new center would be a peaceful place, far from the noise and dust of the city, for leisure, reflection and rest. It would include sports facilities and other sites for open-air games. Timkatec is an example of a successful program directed by devoted, passionate and experienced Haitians. The fact that such an institution has been necessary for so long may seem discouraging, and many children cannot be helped. Many die a violent death in the street. It can take years for the children to learn the teachings of Timkatec and to have confidence in their value.

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Special Education

KAY SAINTE GERMAINE / NOS PETITS FRÈRES ET SŒURS A REEDUCATION CENTER Program name: Kay Sainte Germaine - Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs (NPFS) Main partners: Many, worldwide, and their families Year started: 1993 Number of people concerned: 117 children and their families Level: Special school for handicapped children HOW TO EDUCATE AND INTEGRATE CHILDREN WITH MULTIPLE HANDICAPS INTO HAITIAN SOCIETY? Kay Sainte Germaine is a reeducation center managed by Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs (NPFS, Our Little Brothers and Sisters) near their pediatric hospital, Saint-Damien, in Tabarre. Sainte Germaine includes a school for special needs children, a physical reeducation program, an occupational therapy program, a shop for the mothers of handicapped children, a laboratory for manufacturing prostheses and a nutrition program. Sainte Germaine is one of the three programs for the handicapped that the NPFS conducts in Haiti, the other two being Kay Christine, a center receiving abandoned special needs children in Kenscoff, and Kay Eliane, a reeducation center near Place Boyer in Pétion Ville. NPFS, which is part of the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) organization, began its work in Haiti in 1987 under the impetus of Father William Wasson (the Founder of NPH) and Father Richard Frechette. Then they created a hospital for children in Pétion Ville and an orphanage in Kenscoff. In May 1993, Kay Christine opened to serve the needs of abandoned children suffering neurological problems. Noelle Moloney, an Irish volunteer, is the founder of Kay Christine and was joined in 1993 by Gena Heraty, another volunteer. For years, Noelle and Gena worked with a devoted team directed by Finesse Fontilus Jean François, to improve the program. Haitians were trained to become teachers and therapists, and Kay Christine houses 35 children today. CREATION OF THE KAY SAINTE GERMAINE SCHOOL In 2004, Gena and Finesse decided it was time to try to take in children suffering from neurological disorders and living with their families. Since these children were often abandoned because their parents were not assisted enough, they developed the idea of a reeducation center. From their weekly visits to Wharf Jérémie, Kay Sainte Germaine and Kay Eliane were born. The basic principle of these reeducation centers is to provide services to children suffering from serious handicaps, as well as their families, so that the children can grow up to occupy a place of their own in society and have the same advantages as children without handicaps. The Kay Sainte Germaine school for special needs children is one of the rare ones in the country. During the 2010-2011 school year, 82 children were enrolled. Most of these children had never gone to school before, and could not have done so anywhere else. Unfortunately, the Haitian mindset is still not open to integrating these children into conventional schools, and these schools for special needs children have to assume many and varied roles. Some Kay Sainte Germaine children – with special assistance – could go to an ordinary school, but the country has not yet reached this state of mind. DEVELOPING THE CHILDREN’S POTENTIAL The main objective of Kay Sainte Germaine is to give the children the possibility of becoming more independent and developing their potential. In practice, they are encouraged to feed themselves, to 25/47

get dressed and undressed alone, to go to the toilet by themselves, etc. For the most severely handicapped, the goal is to get them to raise their head to see the world around them and feed themselves better. The parents are involved in the process and are supposed to follow up at home. The classroom objectives are also pursued in reeducation: If the object is to help a child hold his spoon better, the child continues the exercise with the therapist. During the week, the children also ride horseback at the Chateaublond equestrian center. One of the school’s biggest problems concerns the furniture. Most of the children need adapted armchairs. NPFS has to go it alone to find this equipment outside the country, and this has been a serious difficulty so far. Recently, the Watson Institute held a conference in the United States that should make it possible to send teachers and appropriate equipment. At Kay Germaine, the approach is holistic. The children who come to the school, and in therapy, are hungry because of their parents’ economic situation, and are often too weak to participate in their therapy. A solution is sought in discussion with the parents. Micro-credits are proposed to the parents to relieve certain problems. After the earthquake, many families had to go and live in tents: Kay Germaine then reacted by renting out small houses for a year or, more rarely, by building small houses. Sainte Germaine has three school buses that come for the children in the morning and take them home in the evening. In a country where there is practically no school transport at all, Sainte Germaine is proud that its students benefit from such a service. NEED TO RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE HANDICAPPED The whole Kay Sainte Germaine team agrees that there is an immense need to raise public awareness of the issue of handicapped children. Campaigns were recently conducted to this end concerning people who suffer from physical handicaps. In fact, a child who has only one leg has a better chance of integrating into society than a child suffering from serious neurological disorders. The other concern of the Sainte Germaine team is the lack of opportunities for the students once they leave the center. The situation is such that NPFS is thinking about creating a shop for finishing students, so they can work. But this will not solve the problem that there are no prospects for these young people, allowing them to live a normal life. NPFS has long been involved with the poor in Haiti, and Sainte Germaine applies this philosophy. NPFS is determined to continue its work to serve these children better.

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Higher Education and Research

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT STATE UNIVERSITY OF HAITI Program name: Science Department, State University of Haiti Main partners: State University of Haiti Year started: 1902 Number of students: 200 Level: University

HOW TO STRENGTHEN A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY TO FACILITATE SUSTAINABLE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE COUNTRY? Founded in 1902, the Science Department’s mission was originally to train works’ foremen and directors of industrial and agricultural operations. Today, it is one of the oldest university institutions of science teaching in the Caribbean. The Science Department is a public institution of higher learning of the State University of Haiti, which currently offers programs in civil engineering, electronics, electro-mechanics and architecture, a university degree (licence) and a Master’s in chemistry (water and environment major), a Master’s in computer science with the University of Nice (France) and a degree in topography. The Department has recruited 200 baccalaureat students by competitive exam each year for the last 15 years. Fifty to eighty students pass their finals each year, about 80% of them in engineering. Young alumni go into the civil service or para-public service, but also into the computer services of banks and the technical services of telecommunications companies. Many of these managers continued their studies abroad, some in prestigious French or American schools: Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Ecole nationale supérieure d’administration et des études économiques, Université Paul Sabatier, Renslaer Polytechnical institute, MIT, University of Illinois, etc. In the difficult socio-economic context of these last 25 years, the Department did not benefit from the support of the state authorities. It managed to increase its staff without financing. Investments were practically zero and the replacement of teachers was not assured for lack of scholarships for the most deserving. Moreover, the courses have not been revised significantly over the last 15 years. With the help of Belgian Cooperation, a licence in chemistry was launched in 2004 along with a Master’s in computer science in 2000 with the University of Nice in Sophia Antipolis. With the rising social demand for education, the Department has to do more and better. Without a development plan, the quality of education, which is the strength of the Department, is in danger. Historically, the Department has played a central role in educating Haiti’s scientific and technical elite. Its premises were completely destroyed in the earthquake of 12 January 2010, confronting the university with a major reconstruction challenge.

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The Department plans four main lines of development: -­‐

Improvement of educational quality;

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Diversification and increase in the provision of courses;

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Improved teaching conditions in the Department;

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Development of research and community services.

RECONSTRUCTION The Department is part of a group of Haitian institutions that work with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to make free teaching resources available to all Haitian students, which can be used individually or by the teachers. The Department makes its server available to the consortium to receive a copy of the MIT OpenCourseWare site, and sets up courses to initiate teachers at the secondary and university levels in the use of these resources. However, the Department’s first phase of reconstruction calls for the construction of new buildings. The State University of Haiti has opted to build a new campus on a 60-hectare plot it owns at Damien on the northern edge of the capital. The University’s Board of Education is in charge of this, in particular the short- and medium-term financing of the basic infrastructures. A layout plan has been prepared with the technical assistance of Florida International University, including the necessary land development works and a building distribution plan. A team of engineers and architects from the Department is trying to estimate the cost of constructing a new Department building with a realistic program. In addition to the physical infrastructures, once its strategic plan has been validated the Department management intends to prepare an operational development plan for the coming 10 years with the help of foreign partner universities and in concert with the State and national partners. To face the reconstruction challenges, Haiti especially has to develop a cutting-edge scientific and technical capacity, and the Department is an indispensable strategic tool here. In the midst of globalization and the explosion of technological developments, the State University of Haiti has to integrate itself into the broad internationalization movement of universities and make its contribution to the human development of Haiti.

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Higher Education and Research

ECOLE SUPERIEURE D’INFOTRONIQUE DE HAITI HIGHER SCHOOL OF COMPUTER ELECTRONICS OF HAITI Program name: Higher School of Computer Electronics of Haiti Main partners: Virginia Tech, Google, Nethope, Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), Cocktail, Microsoft, Voila, AccessHaiti, Carnegie Mellon University, Open Entry Year founded: 1994 Number of students: 1,000 Level: Higher education How to develop the sector of information and communication technologies by training Haitian leaders? Haiti’s Higher School of Computer Electronics (Ecole Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haïti, ESIH) was created in 1994 as a private institution of higher learning, by a group of academics trained in France and the USA, including French engineer Patrick Attié, to train managers and technicians in the technologies of information and communications. It also offers courses in management and accounting. On the eve of the earthquake, it had about 1,000 students, 30% of whom were women, who pay $1,200 per year in tuition fees. The school hosts the students in a set of buildings atop a hill in the center of Port au Prince. More than 90% of firstyear Master’s graduates find a job within less than six months of obtaining their degree. The ESIH has a network of more than 400 alumni holding various jobs in Haiti (banks, public institutions, mobile phone operators, Internet access and service providers, various small and medium-size companies, etc.). The School aspires to offer quality higher education for young people who want to specialize in the new information technologies. The sector is a promising one, with the development of the Internet, but there are very few training courses in Haiti. Such an institution calls for major investments in the equipment that is indispensable for learning. RESPONSE AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE On 12 January 2010, all the buildings except the administration building collapsed. The school lost a teacher and 15 students were buried under the rubble. Some 100 other students not at the site were killed elsewhere. Virtually all the equipment and classrooms were destroyed or rendered unusable. After the disaster, the Board of Directors quickly set up a redeployment strategy to: 1. Set up a temporary structure so that students can end the school year starting 15 March 2010, thanks to the support of Google and Virginia Tech. The students in attendance expressed their joy at finding their colleagues and teachers again after the disaster, and feel that resumption was "the best psychological therapy.” 2. Build new para-seismic infrastructures: an overall plan was drawn up with an estimate by a civil engineer, and a loan was taken out from a Haitian bank at 12% per annum. In August 29/47

2011, 1,300 m² of surface area was built, which was more space than the school had available prior to the earthquake. An additional area in composite materials will be erected thanks to financing by the European Union starting in 2013/2014. 3. Start thinking about energy independence and accessibility for persons with reduced mobility. 4. Start applied scientific research. There are very few teachers in Haiti who hold a doctorate. This causes difficulties in internationalizing the degrees and course content, as well as for developing Haiti’s capacity to design solutions to the problems the country has been facing for several decades. Several ESIH alumni are currently preparing their doctoral theses, and they will be integrated into the institution’s academic staff as soon as they return. A budget is also being prepared to pay them according to their expectations. Financing a research laboratory is also being studied. 5. Develop website and information systems. The institution’s website has been uploaded and information systems are being installed for academic and administrative management of the ESIH, managing student mobility, self-evaluation of the institution, digitization of the library and monitoring of the courses. Some of these information systems have been developed by the students themselves. 6. Re-open the virtual reality and 3D immersion laboratory. The ESIH has been developing this program since 2003. Professionals are trained in technological niches which have high added value. This project was accompanied by the creation of an enterprise. This laboratory, unique in the Caribbean, ceased operating after the earthquake for lack of funds to pay the developers, the laboratory and the corresponding activities. A budget has been provided to re-integrate the team. 7. Consolidate existing partnerships and develop new ones. The ESIH is supported by Virginia Tech, Google, Carnegie Mellon University and the French government for student scholarships, the Lexmark company, the American NGO NETHOPE, Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) for a remote learning pilot, and the Cocktail group. Microsoft donated a laboratory and a trained teacher. Also OpenEntry, Access Haiti and the telephone operator Voilà. HIGHER EDUCATION AS A SOURCE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT In addition to its exemplary capacity to bounce back after the earthquake, the case of the ESIH shows that the development of higher education in Haiti is not only a necessity but also a socially useful and economically profitable activity. Several thousand middle-class Haitian students go abroad to study each year. Between $50 million and $100 million (US) annually are thus injected into the Dominican University by the 15,000 Haitian students who enroll there each year. The quality of the environment attracts most of these students. But, without a high-level scientific and technological elite in Haiti, any talk of development will remain illusory. Training of high-level scientific leaders is a major strategic challenge for the country (energy, environment, health, technologies, telecommunications, civil engineering, urban development, geophysics, water, etc.) and for the survival of its people. If no investment is made in this sector, 30/47

there is a risk of paying a much higher economic and human cost than the investments themselves, as recent events have largely demonstrated. To quote H. G. Wells, “history is a race between education and catastrophe”.

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Higher Education and Research

WATER QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENT LABORATORY (LAQUE) Program name: Water Quality and Environment Laboratory (Laboratoire sur la Qualité de l’Eau et l’Environnement, LAQUE) Quisqueya University, Port-au-Prince Main partners: AUF, Lyons Institute of Applied Sciences Year founded: 1998 Number of participants: 38 Level: University and Research How to build an advanced research and study program in Haiti? "Positive transformation for the welfare of Humanity” LAQUE (Laboratoire sur la Qualité de l’Eau et l’Environnement) is unique in a number of ways. This initiative seeks to advance science in Haiti, and also to establish a doctoral degree program that meets international educational standards in a country that lacks public funds for research. Master’s, doctorates and research programs are rare in Haiti. As a Ph.D. student in water quality science, Evens Emmanuel studied water quality and management on the scale of the Port-au-Prince metropolis and, upon completing his degree, he decided to dedicate himself to making Quisqueya University’s engineering department into a world-class unit. To that end, he created a hybrid doctoral program based on the French and American systems. The program is supported by the French Institut national des sciences appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon, National Institute of Applied Sciences) and uses the American academic credit system, as well as academic publications, as an indicator of its research quality. THE CHALLENGING CONDITIONS OF HIGHER-LEVEL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN HAITI All private universities in Haiti are of recent vintage because they were prohibited prior to the new Constitution of 1987. Quisqueya University was created in 1998 by a group of citizens from academia and business. It is a non-profit educational and research institution. At the outset, it recruited several full-time foreign professors and succeeded in attracting the best local professionals working in the field as part-time professors. The teaching profession is poorly paid in Haiti. These professors work in their professional sectors and teach part-time at the university because they believe in the need to transmit their knowledge to the next generation. Dr. Emmanuel is a full-time professor who has devoted himself to the two key activities of teaching and research. Research in Haiti lacks financing. Dr. Emmanuel decided to become a professor and create a research laboratory in a field of vital importance to the country’s future and that of its population. He has been developing collaborative efforts with other universities and with the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF, the Montreal-based association of French-speaking universities) to validate the curriculum and to offer courses. He and his students undertake low-budget research projects and regularly submit their papers to academic publications in the United States. They are now recognized internationally in their field of research and are invited to make presentations on water management and the environment of Haiti at conferences in the United States. THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE FOR HAITI’S SURVIVAL Haiti is under constant threat of hazards in managing its water and the environment. Last year’s cholera epidemic is but one manifestation of the many threats facing the country, and of the effects of reckless urban development on the natural environment and the population. Moreover, the earthquake of 12 January 2010 completely destroyed Quisqueya University. Dr. Emmanuel lost two family members that day. Reconstructing the buildings takes time, but the individuals involved in the 32/47

effort are highly reliable and the laboratory’s founders remain determined. Some of the former students of LAQUE are now beginning to take over the reins. The Director of the laboratory is one such alumnus. Haiti’s Water and Sanitation Authority (Direction nationale pour l’eau potable et l’assainissement, DINEPA) now seeks the laboratory’s support in training its employees. Although LAQUE at the outset needed to rely on foreign professors for most of its courses, it now has enough scientists to teach the entire curriculum. The alumni have become professors. LAQUE’s administrators have made great efforts to achieve gender equality among the staff: 56 % of the lab’s employees are women and 44% are men. Following the earthquake, investing in science became more important in Haitian society and for the international organizations working in Haiti. The laboratory expects to move into a newly built space, and will receive equipment donations. The subjects of research are multiple and relate to several fields. All of Port-auPrince itself is considered a subject of study. The unsafe practices of water use in homes and hospitals are subjects of concern and study. Equipment is needed to further the study of parasites and viruses in Haiti’s water. The cholera epidemic has triggered such research. There is much work to be done. Quisqueya University now has qualified scientists, but lab equipment is expensive and difficult to install. In addition, the university’s library was destroyed and students need to access libraries, books, and periodicals. Dr. Emmanuel dreams of a national university library that would be open to all local institutions of higher learning, given that the cost of a library for each university in the country is prohibitive. A national university library would allow all students and professors to have access to knowledge. Haitian students need resources to be able to study. Quisqueya University seeks not only to transmit knowledge, but also to create it. The students and professors need to question, observe, and offer new solutions. Life and its framework must be studied and must be able to change. Dr. Emmanuel hopes to train Haitian citizens to address questions globally so as to generate local initiatives. The students must become agents of change and of positive transformation for the betterment of humanity.

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Higher Education and Research

HAITIAN EDUCATION & LEADERSHIP PROGRAM (HELP) Program name: HELP Main partners: MasterCard, Open Society Foundation, Haitian Timoun Foundation, Voilà, Barbancourt, Capital Bank, Digicel, IDB, United States Department of State Year founded: 1997 Number of students: 137 students in 2010/2011 Level: University HOW TO HELP HAITIAN STUDENTS SUCCEED IN THEIR STUDIES AND ENTER THE JOB MARKET? HELP (Haitian Education & Leadership Program) began in 1997 to support Haitian students with low resources. Its Director, Conor Bohan, realized the need to assist a new generation of Haitian leaders to get a good education, when one of his former students came to him in 1997 and asked for help finding the last $30 she needed to enroll in secretarial school. He encouraged her then to pursue her dream and study medicine. She earned her degree in 2005 and began working as a doctor at the Gheskio center of Port-au-Prince with an annual salary of $14,500. Haiti has the highest "brain drain" rate in the world, with 84% of trained people living outside the country. In addition, the number enrolled in universities is very low, and less than half the students manage to complete their course of studies. HELP’s objective is to help usher in a new generation of leaders and professionals who will constitute a middle class, develop the economy, populate civil society and contribute to the building of a more just and prosperous Haiti. Eighty-four percent of the students in the HELP program successfully complete their studies, and all of them find a job afterwards. HELP is the largest university scholarship program in the country today. It specifically aims to help needy students, so it recruits throughout the country: 70% of its students come from the provinces. The program includes a housing allowance, a scholarship, books, enrollment fees, English courses, computer courses, and also an orientation service, job searching and assistance for practical training abroad, as well as an internship period. The students could not access these services in their family or their university. For 2011-2012, HELP has a budget of $1.2 million (or $8.500 per student), employing 21 people in Haiti and 7 in the United States. HELP receives funds from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), from bilateral cooperation of the US State Department, from international NGOs and from the private sector, with Voilà, Barbancourt, Capital Bank and Digicel. HELP receives no funds from the Haitian State. For HELP’s Director, one of the foremost obstacles to the country’s development is the absence of well-trained professionals. And yet, a lot of young high-school graduates cannot go to university for 34/47

lack of financial means. This situation is exacerbated by the social and economic barriers in Haitian society. Investing substantially in higher education should be a priority for rebuilding the country. Unfortunately, few backers finance the university sector. The earthquake of January 2010 highlighted the disastrous effects of these human resource problems in the country, particularly in engineering, urban development, architecture, and also medicine. Immediately after the earthquake, HELP assisted 90 students in the field of emergency and disaster management to find internships in international organizations. The American Red Cross and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti applauded the remarkable work of these young people and their excellent handling of the situation. For their part, the students were able to become players in the rescue efforts rather than remain powerless victims. Over its 14 years of existence, HELP has experienced many financial difficulties and also problems stemming from the country’s political and environmental situation. The institution has managed to overcome these obstacles by remaining focused on the accomplishment of its long-term mission, and using its scholars’ assessments to improve its functioning. The students are involved in program management. They can work as interns at HELP, as tutors, or participate in organizing the annual recruitment, which calls for many field visits. PERSPECTIVES One of the institution’s greatest problems each year is its financing. The university sector receives very little support in Haiti, while many organizations are at work on primary and secondary education. HELP is thus trying to develop a persuasive argument for politicians, investors and development players to raise their awareness of the advantages of supporting the university sector. HELP would like to be able to integrate 250 students into its program by 2015/2016. The fund-raising staff has been expanded. With the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, HELP has also instituted a program that consists in having alumni pay 15% of their salary back to HELP during their first nine years of professional life. This would enable the institution to cover 40% of its costs and generate a long-term resource. Haitian universities should have the means to draw inspiration from certain HELP tools, in particular for student accommodation and access to scientific laboratories, but also for access to the job market through internships and individualized monitoring. HELP has begun to work with the Montreal-based Association of French-speaking Universities (Association universitaire de la Francophonie, AUF) on the reform of university programs and, in partnership with FOKAL, has created an initiative to help Haitian universities cooperate better with foreign universities. HELP is a pioneer in higher education in developing countries, through its experience, its success stories and its long-term vision. It remains faithful to the idea that a good level of education for those most in need will be one of the major factors of change in Haitian society, for the betterment of all.

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Vocational Training

CINÉ INSTITUTE Program name: Ciné Institute Main partners: FOKAL, Brana, Voilà, The Gould Family Foundation, Hedge Against Poverty, InterAmerican Foundation, We are the World Foundation, the Spanish Embassy and Escola Superior de Cinema Audiovisuals de Catalunya Year founded: 2008 Number of participants: 75 students Level: Professional school HOW TO CREATE A FILM SCHOOL IN A CONTEXT WHERE SKILLS AND TOOLS ARE SCARCE? Ciné Institute is the only cinema school in Haiti. It was created by an American entrepreneur in partnership with many foreign organizations and collaborators. It offers Haitian students the opportunity to learn filmmaking techniques with teachers from the whole world, and thus send messages back to the world through their films made in Haiti. Thanks to its revenuegenerating branch, Ciné Institute is working to ensure its financial autonomy and offer job perspectives to its students, thereby contributing to the country’s economic development. Ciné Institute was created in June 2008 by David Belle, an American filmmaker. The motivation came to him after holding the Jacmel Film Festival (the first major international film festival in Haiti) three years in a row, and realizing that the public was particularly interested in films relating to the realities of Haitian life, while the quality of locally produced films left much to be desired. Since then, the school offers training in cinema and multimedia, and exposes Haitian youth to a vast range of micro-enterprises in the audiovisual field. The selected students receive free study scholarships for two years. They attend the courses offered every month by professional filmmakers coming from around the world, and attend periodic workshops. The students participate actively in producing feature films and documentaries, as well as advertisements for commercial firms and video clips. Like other institutions, Ciné Institute was affected by the earthquake of 12 January 2010. Having lost two of its buildings, It operated under a tent for a few months before moving into an adequate space in May 2010. Ciné Institute’s first graduation ceremonies were also postponed until the summer of 2011. AN INDEPENDENT INTEGRATED STRUCTURE SERVING THE COMMUNITY The Ciné Institute management team includes a board of directors of 4 people, a consulting

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committee of 14 members, and 30 teachers recruited from among Haitian and foreign audiovisual professionals, working on a rotating basis. The integrated structure of Ciné Institute is in itself innovative. The school has four distinct branches: Ciné Lekol, Ciné Services, Ciné Klas and Ciné Klub. Ciné Lekol, the main branch, is a professional school with a two-year curriculum. Ciné Services is the entrepreneurial part generating revenues for Ciné Institute, offering elaborate video services, for which the students of Ciné Lekol are employed. Ciné Klas and Ciné Klub offer projections for the Jacmel high school students, which are followed by debates on key themes, and weekly projections of films from around the world for the Jacmel community. The revenues generated by Ciné Services also cover the operating costs of Ciné Institute. The remaining funds are used to pay the students or the temporary teams employed in the community when they work on the projects, such as actors, cooks, logisticians, etc. The Ciné Institute management plans to increase its financial revenues over the long term, with a 75% increase in revenues from Ciné Services. SPARKING A NEW GENERATION OF HAITIAN PROFESSIONALS Ciné Institute is a unique example of higher professional training in Haiti that gives its students practical tools leading to a job. The students are snapped up by advertising and communications agencies, by companies shooting Haitian and international films, and by the media. In a country where the unemployment rate is high among the young, Ciné Institute has shown its capacity to generate work and promote employment, thereby helping to reduce poverty in Haiti, in the Jacmel region in particular. According to Ciné Institute’s representatives, the knowledge of several computer programs, audiovisual skills, financial management, leadership, work scheduling, the capacity to generate business plans and projects, and marketing are the main skills that the students acquire. At the same time, Ciné Institute continues to deepen its curriculum and currently plans to introduce a course in finance and management. Admissions are rigorous and competitive. Each year, Ciné Lekol selects 25-30 students out of 100150 applicants. This large number of applications shows that the demand for audiovisual training greatly outstrips current capacities. In addition, Ciné Institute stimulates and uses the students’ interest, enthusiasm and creativity to employ new technologies to express their worldview and tell the world about Haiti – its people, its culture and its heritage. A group of students like this can go a long way towards changing Haiti’s poor image abroad, with a potentially major impact on the development of the whole country. The concept of Ciné Institute as a professional school is surely difficult to replicate in Haiti, but its integrated structure, its many partners and its involvement in the community are traits that can be reproduced elsewhere and improved. Ciné Institute aspires to become a full-fledged school of art recognized for the quality of its teaching.

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Vocational Training

HAITI TEC Program name: HAITI TEC Main partners: Foundation of Haitian Industries (La Fondation des Industries d’Haïti, FONDIH), Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie d’Haïti, CCIH), Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Professionals of the North (Chambre de Commerce, d’Industrie et des Professionnels du Nord, CCIPN), Association of Industries of Haiti (Association des Industries d’Haïti, ADIH), Tourist and Hotel Association of Haiti (Association Touristique et Hôtelière d’Haïti, ATH), Association of National Producers (Association des Producteurs Nationaux, APRONA), Professional Association of Banks (Association Professionnelle des Banques, APB), American Airlines, University of Saint Thomas of Miami presided by Monseigneur Franklin Casale, Mr. David Lawrence of the Miami Herald, and several educational institutions of Florida. Year started: 1999 Number of students: 2,002 students graduated since 2000 Level: Professional training HOW TO DEVELOP A CHANNEL OF EXCELLENCE IN PROFESSIONAL TRAINING THAT MEETS MARKET NEEDS? In 1997, a group of employers’ associations, chambers of commerce and enterprises came together to remedy the crucial problem of lacking qualified resources in the country, especially competent middle managers. Several American partners, including American Airlines, Saint Thomas University (Miami) and the former Chief Editor of the Miami Herald decided to support the initiative. The Haiti Tec Foundation was created in 1999 with the mission of managing a professional and technical training center of excellence (SONAPI) right in the industrial park of Port au Prince. Little by little, other backers partnered with Haiti Tec, such as the Embassy of Taiwan, French Cooperation and Belgian Cooperation. The Board of Directors has 20 members from the business and educational sectors, including foreigners. The center has 65 employees, including 30 contract workers. Trainer recruitment and maintenance is one of Haiti Tec’s big challenges in its struggle against the major lack of human resources, and the high turnover of teachers who are very much in demand. PHYSICAL STRUCTURE The center’s building is in the heart of the capital’s industrial zone, and can host 1,500 learners. In addition to the classrooms and administrative offices, there are four computer laboratories, telecommunications laboratories, two electronics shops, a refrigeration shop, a plumbing shop, a shop for civil engineering techniques, a welding shop, a computerized system techniques shop, an autotronic laboratory, a draftsmen’s shop and a media library. COURSES The teaching is based on a skill-oriented approach to meet market needs and enable the students to find a job after their training. Haiti Tec has developed a service for students and a placement service in charge of holding conferences, outings, professional insertion of the students and following up on them once they have graduated. These services also collect information about continuous training 38/47

demand for company managers. Haiti Tec thus meets its leading purpose by training competent professionals who can get a job quickly. Alumni from Haiti Tec can be found in 215 companies in the city. The strong involvement of the private sector in creating the institution has allowed it to draw support from a broad network and use this network to benefit the companies and students. The training center responds to calls for bids from national and international organizations and from NGOs to conduct courses and complement its budget while following its basic principles. The various curricula also integrate an "entrepreneurship" aspect that has enabled 7% of the alumni to start up their own company in the country. FINANCING The center financially supports some of its students recruited on the basis of excellence. One thousand and three students, mostly from Gonaives, Cité Soleil and Marmelade were thus able to take the training course despite their own low financial resources. Alumni make the training known to younger people, thereby strengthening the network and stressing the quality of the training. This also makes it possible to recruit pupils from the provinces, and not just the capital. The center is not subsidized by the State. The financial resources come from provisions from the members and from donations. These funds account for 8% of Haiti Tec’s budget. Ninety percent of receipts are from the institution’s costs and compensation in the framework of its course. Lastly, the institution can contract bank loans. The administration wants transparency, so an audit is performed each year. Many of its employees are former students, which makes it easier to appropriate the values and philosophy of the institution. Haiti Tec faced great difficulties starting in 2003 because of the political turmoil and the insecurity of the district. Little by little, the institution has managed to return to the number of students there were in 2003, and has endeavored to diversify its financial resources. Today, Haiti Tec has 376 young people in special programs financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Haitian government, 198 students in NGO management or technical programs, and 552 students are participating in short continuous training programs. These programs reflect the determination to find specific financing and projects to support professional training without basing all the financing on donations or tuition. THE FUTURE Haiti Tec has managed to raise its head after the dark years of 2003 to 2007. The institution wants to pursue its commitment to quality training of young professionals by updating its programs, exploring new training curricula, and continuing to subsidize poor students. To facilitate student transport to the center, the management wants to find another location. Lastly, the public-private partnership at the heart of Haiti Tec’s principles remains a driving force and a horizon for the institution’s future.

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Vocational Training

HAITI’S PROFESSIONAL TRAINING CENTER CANADO TECHNIQUE Program name: Canado Technique Main partners: Brothers of the Sacred Heart, Agence Canadienne de Développement International (ACDI), Haitian State Year founded: 1973 Number of students: 800 per year Level: Professional training HOW TO ENSURE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF A QUALITY PROFESSIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTION? Haiti’s professional training center (Canado Technique) is a professional school in Port-au-Prince offering technical diplomas in various disciplines. Its aim is to educate young technicians for immediate entry into active careers. The current intensive curriculum lasts two years. Canado Technique is Haiti’s largest technical training institution. Canado Technique was founded in 1973 as a special section of the Canado-Haitian Middle School, to meet the needs of fast-growing Haitian industry. It was established by the religious Order of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Initially, the Order planned to withdraw from the school over the long term once it had been taken over completely by the Haitian State. But Haiti’s professional training center is still managed by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart today, with a limited participation by the Haitian State which pays some teachers’ salaries. In addition to these two entities, the Canadian Agency for International Development (Agence Canadienne de Développement International, ACDI) has also been deeply involved in Canado Technique. Canado Technique’s pupils can choose from a range of specialized professions: electricians, telecommunications engineers, industrial mechanics or computer technicians. The school also offers a secretarial program. Unlike many other similar schools, Canado Technique lets its pupils participate in morning or afternoon classes. The length of the program has recently been shortened from three to two years of intensive training (about 1,800 hours) in response to today’s job market needs, so the students can enter the job market as soon as possible. No distinction is made between theory and practical training. Instead, the objective is to link these two components. Admission to Canado Technique is highly selective: only those students having the highest grades are admitted. In 2010, the admissions rate was about 20%. Canado Technique has 800 students: 400 for the morning session and 400 in the afternoon. The students come from all around the country and include both girls and boys. With the new program, Canado Technique actively seeks out female students and encourages them to apply. The school employs 50 teachers, who are mostly Canado Technique alumni. Once recruited, they obtain special training by the Canado Technique staff in the subjects they are to teach. Other courses are periodically organized so that the teachers can adapt their program to the latest technological changes. Additional courses are at times taught by professional instructors from Canada. ENSURING JOBS IN THE JOB MARKET The special skill-oriented education offered at Canado Technique makes it unique in Haiti. Its directors make regular visits to companies to ascertain what qualifications are required, and compile all the information they collect to implement it in their schooling programs. Canado Technique’s program responds to the job market situation, ensuring that its graduates find a job and that the companies are able to recruit competent staff. During their studies, the students learn both the 40/47

theoretical and practical aspects of their subjects. These two aspects are not treated as distinct but are integrated. The school reproduces work situations so that the transition from studies to work is as smooth as possible. Negotiations are under way to identify student internships with companies and factories. Also, the afternoon course offer lets students who are already at work improve themselves in their field, because many students have to work to pay for their studies. Canado Technique is an example of cooperation among three specific entities, two of which are governmental. The Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the Canadian government through the Canadian Agency for International Development, and the Haitian government are all involved in the school’s management and success. Prior to the earthquake, the Canadian and Haitian governments agreed to undertake an ambitious project to modernize technical education in Haiti and create a network of ten well-equipped professional technical schools. This plan was revised after the quake, however, when the two governments decided to use the bilateral aid to modernize Canado Technique itself. Thanks to the cooperation between Canada, Haiti and the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the new two-year program began last year, new buildings were erected and the facilities were modernized. PROMISING HORIZONS, STATE SUPPORT TO BE DEVELOPED Canado Technique is a good model for the development of other professional technical schools in Haiti. Its program has proven to be well-suited to the new realities, such as the demand for certain types of jobs that came to the fore after the earthquake. Canado Technique’s alumni will be playing a major role in Haiti’s long-term reconstruction process. Cooperation among the Haitian and Canadian governments and the Brothers of the Sacred Heart has worked well so far; however, in order for the school to serve as a real model for other institutions in Haiti, greater participation is needed from the Haitian government. Until now, Haiti’s government has contributed to certain teachers’ salaries, and has channeled the Canadian government’s funds to Canado Technique. Stronger involvement would allow Canado Technique to develop better.

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Training Incorporated in Territorially Based Development Projects

GROS-MORNE GREEN SCHOOLS NETWORK Program name: Gros-Morne Green Schools Network (Réseau des Ecoles Vertes de Gros-Morne) Main partners: Prime Minister’s office, Catholic Church, FOKAL, expatriates originally from GrosMorne Year started: 2000 Number of people concerned: 8,000 pupils in 40 schools Level: Preschool and primary HOW TO GIVE CHILDREN THE POWER TO ACT IN RESTORING THE ENVIRONMENT? Forty schools, or a total of 8,000 pupils, have created an oasis at Gros Morne in northwest Haiti by contributing to reforestation in this zone. They have bought land – at least a quarter of an acre per school – that they have replanted with the purpose of using it for the benefit of the school. The children have participated in reforesting the territory, built a source of revenue for their school, and fashioned civic identities for themselves. Sometimes the children walk a five- or sixhour round trip to get the trees they need to reforest their school’s land. This "tree friends" project began in 2000 with a group of children aged 4 to 15. With a teacher, they learned to make a nursery, compost, and to plant and water the trees. Their interest in reforestation led Gaston Jean, who first dreamt up the idea, to involve a network of schools in this activity. The network now includes 40 institutions. Since 1992, Gaston has been part of a community organization engaged in the “Green Schools” project. “This project helps the kids learn new tools, to love their environment and their country, and encourages them to participate actively in improving their own living conditions,” he says. When he decided to return to live in his native town, at the age of 46, Gaston made an unusual choice. Nearly 85% of Haitians who have professional training abroad, and those who stay in the country, usually work in Port-au-Prince where nearly all the universities are. Gaston has a degree from the Ecole normale supérieure (which trains secondary school teachers) of Port-au-Prince and is now a science teacher in his zone. A VULNERABLE ZONE Grand Plaine is in the northwest of the Artibonite department in the Artibonite valley where most Haitian rice is produced. But the valley is under-exploited because farmers are left on their own and do not have the resources to invest in their crops. They are very vulnerable, and more often exploited than helped. At Gonaïves, the department seat, dozens of people died in the 2004 and 2008 floods. It was also along the Artibonite river that the first cases of cholera were diagnosed in 2010. Both the needs and the potential of the country’s largest plain and largest river are immense.

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SOLIDARY ACTION Gaston has a feeling of accomplishment and pride when he sees each person’s motivation, how the zone’s population welcomed and supported the project, and the number of trees that could be planted in so little time. “With this project, we have been able to raise the awareness of many people to the deforestation problem. We have managed to plant many trees, and the schools have green spaces that we call ‘the schools’ little forests’.” Over these last two years, the project’s budget was $39,000 (US), coming from expatriate Haitians, Prime Ministers Jacques Edouard Alexis and Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis. FOKAL (Fondasyon Konesans ak Libète) offered the greatest support. The Catholic Church of Gros Morne also offered support with its nursery. THE FUTURE Gaston says he dreams that "What we want for the future is to have more schools in our network, with nurseries closer to the schools, to plant more trees in the mountains, to preserve the creeks, to provide courses and equipment to the schools so they can improve the children’s education." He also wants to teach sustainable methods to wood merchants and coal manufacturers. “Money is our only limit,” says Gaston. It was recently heard that five of the trees had been damaged by hurricane Thomas, which hit Haiti in November 2010. The energy created by this project to save such a beautiful and fragile environment, eloquently expressed by the long walks the pupils sometimes make to find seedlings, gives faith in the leadership capacity and commitment of the young Haitians. Efforts and sacrifices can galvanize people and work miracles. In Haitian creole, they say that such generous efforts can make stones bleed – that is, bring life where there is none.

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Training Incorporated In Territorially Based Development Projects

ASSOCIATION OF THE TOWNSPEOPLE OF VALUE Program name: Association of the Townspeople of Value (Association des paysans de Value) Main partners: FOKAL, Tipa Tipa, USAID, UNICEF, ACDI Year founded: 1986 Number of students: Inhabitants of the town of Value (4,500 people) Level: Adult literacy, kindergarten and primary school HOW TO INTEGRATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND EDUCATION? The case described below is a development project in a hill country community some 50 kilometers from Port-au-Prince. It demonstrates how it is possible to make a community of several thousand people live and even flourish in a rural context, albeit a challenging one, that is based among others on developing education, thus avoiding the exodus from rural to urban areas that is often harmful in many ways. The project began 25 years ago. It was 1986 and the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier had just fallen. Abner Septembre and Yvon Faustin, two young university graduates, had decided to return to their native town in the mountains behind Petit and Grand Goave southwest of Port-au-Prince. The town’s name is Value, the surname of a former owner of the surrounding area, which covers a square of about 10 km by 10 km, or some 100 square kilometers of sharply sloping hillocks. About 2,500 people lived in the area, dispersed in isolated hamlets. The two friends created the Association of the Townspeople of Value (Association des paysans de Value, APV). One of its first tasks was to acclimatize the "American" pigs that were to replace the indigenous "black pigs" that had been slaughtered wholesale a few years earlier following an epidemic, thus creating a serious economic problem for small farms. This successful technical assistance in breeding American pigs established the APV’s credibility and attracted growing numbers of farming families as members. ACTION IN AGRICULTURE

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The APV realized that, to continue with consolidating the agricultural world, people had to be taught to read and write. An adult literacy campaign was thus launched, with centers set up at various points strategically located at the center of the farms. To beef up their educational system, and also to maintain active communications with the families which were a source of continuous information, the APV created a community radio station. It also undertook to build a road to connect the village to the national highway some 10 kilometers away, so as to promote the economic development of the area. The farmers were thus able to diversify their production of vegetables, cereals and fruit. A fruit preserve production facility was installed for processing and marketing raw products, thereby generating more substantial revenues. Unfortunately, this facility was badly damaged by the 2010 earthquake. A dairy project is now being studied, but it will require clean water and thus special equipment that will have to be bought. Eco-tourism businesses have also been launched, with varied degrees of success. A hotel was built with some 20 comfortable rooms. It hosts a regular clientele, especially in the summer, and has a seminar room. EDUCATION IN ACTION Adult education quite naturally extended to schooling for children, and some 20 schools have been established on the site, with teachers living nearby. The community radio has also contributed to this educational effort, using remote learning programs (provided principally by USAID, for learning to write in creole, and mathematics). Courses on entrepreneurship and company creation are also given to the young. It is interesting to note that most of these young people do not migrate to the city when reaching adulthood, and those who do, return regularly at the weekends. The APV runs the school at the center of the community which admits 300 kindergarten and primary school pupils. Its principal is pleased with the pass rate of his pupils in the primary studies exam. His team is focused on tackling absenteeism and the considerable distances the children have to travel to school. They would like to create a canteen that uses only local products. Most parents are unable to help their children with their schoolwork, so the school takes over by encouraging the children to succeed and some of them succeed in enrolling at the university after secondary school. The pupils’ parents are nonetheless involved in school management through a committee that supports the school management. Former community members are invited to come to the school and share their stories of yesteryear. The children take part in gardening and participate in a tennis program. Some of them even reach international status in the sport. Unfortunately, the school’s hopes for expansion have suffered a setback with the total destruction of its building in the earthquake on 12 January 2010. UNICEF and Tipa Tipa helped set up temporary shelters and finance reconstruction of certain buildings after the disaster. Today, paying the teachers’ salaries is still a major challenge for the school. AFTER 25 YEARS: Looking back on these 25 years of effort, the project’s founders feel that one key to success has been the global, systemic vision that inspired them. Along with the beliefs that have carried them through all these years, agreeing to live on the same limited means as the townsfolk they have supported has been critical. However, the low salaries paid by the Association preclude retaining high-level professionals in the initiative unless they are stakeholders in the project. The resources invested in the community’s development come essentially from revenues generated by the APV, although occasional supporting funds have been provided for targeted operations. As we have seen, the community has increased in number over the years, and that is evidence of the operation’s success. Strong motivation, a clear concept, a well-conceived educational effort that is effectively integrated into the local lifestyle and work, and action carried out with perseverance, constancy and stubbornness for more than two decades have been the engines of its success.

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Training Incorporated In Territorially Based Development Projects

THE WINNER PROGRAM Program name: WINNER Main partners: USAID Year started: 2010 Number of students: 2,500 Level: Ongoing training HOW TO SUPPORT SMALL FARMERS IN IMPROVING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION? The WINNER Program is backed by funding from USAID over the next five years and is comprehensively building a long-term plan to improve the living conditions of small farmers, mitigate the threats of floods, and invest in sustainable economic growth and environmental protection. The Program has targeted specific geographic areas: Cul de Sac, the Matheux chain and the Mirebalais region. In fact, Haiti’s small farmers are hindered by a lack of investment, difficult access to the market, and a lack of modern production equipment, among other factors. To attain its objectives, the Program has adopted a farmer-based approach to reverse the process of economic and environmental decline in the targeted areas by providing funding and education to halt the degradation of natural resources. The Program focuses on farmers as the driving force in developing a more modern, lucrative form of agriculture that will be more environmentally friendly. The "Extension Farmer” project is one of the Program’s pillars and will provide training for at least 2,500 farmers over five years. This program is intended to equip the trainees as actual extension agents in charge of disseminating modern agricultural practices in their communities to increase production and improve the living conditions of the rural population. Candidates for this program are proposed by Farmers’ Associations, and must pass a pre-qualification exam prior to admission. These courses are conducted in “rural sustainable development centers” established by the Program in its target areas. The Program is supported by the Faculty of Agronomy of the State University of Haiti and the University of Florida. THE CURRICULUM At the start, the trainees are given four basic courses on general agriculture, managing small agricultural enterprises, environmental management, and family planning and nutrition. Then, depending on their own interests and the specific features of their agricultural areas, they choose among the following specializations: cereals and vegetable crops, market gardening, cattle breeding, soil conservation and reforestation, post-harvest management, and agricultural mechanization. The farmers who have undergone the training offered in rural centers become promoters of agricultural modernization and environmental management in their communities. They receive six

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months of practical and technical training in new agricultural production techniques and soil management. Following this training cycle, they must pass an examination to be awarded a diploma that is issued jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Environment. The Program hopes to recruit young farmers who are alumni of the Damien School of Agriculture or Quisqueya University who will provide support in farmer training and supervise the farmers’ post-training performance for the first three years. Of the 1,264 program participants, 760 have already completed the cycle and received their diplomas. In addition to their extension services and their specialization in various crops, these trained farmers provide advisory services to the members of the growers’ organizations. These services include taking into account sloping terrain, exposure, rainfall, soil fertility, and the value of biodiversity, so they can propose crops suited to each type of terrain. The advice on the benefits and limitations of growing certain kinds of crop encourages optimum mixed production for each farmer. The trainees can thus put their new knowledge into practice and bring its benefits to their community. This training initiative for farmers is part of the President Obama’s "Feed the Future" program to reduce poverty and hunger in the world by supporting specific strategies identified by each country for agricultural development.

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