Schools Not Slavery for Rural Haitian Children

More Girls and Boys are Free, Safe, and Heading Back to School Thanks to Your Generous, Kind, and Thoughtful Support.

Thanks to you, in 16 rural communities on Lagonav Island, young children are sharpening their pencils, cracking open fresh new notebooks, and heading back to school. That’s because your generous support for Schools Not Slavery is ensuring that every child in each of these 16 communities is enrolled in a quality school and no child is sent away to the city, where they risk becoming enslaved.

You made the first day of school on Lagonav Island a joyful and fulfilling day for girls and boys at 23 schools -- many of whom are brand new to Beyond Borders’ Schools Not Slavery Network. That’s because 20 schools graduated this past academic year from the Schools Not Slavery teacher training program -- also because of your support.

Now, we’ve added these new schools and expanded the reach of our work to protect and educate every child -- an accomplishment made possible by your support.

I’m lucky because I have the chance to visit Lagonav and talk to teachers and students and see inside the kind of classroom that your support for Schools Not Slavery makes possible.

I get to see students devouring their Creole-language textbooks and classroom walls decorated with their work. And thanks to the training that your partnership supports, their teachers are committed to nonviolent classroom management and encouraging the unique creativity and curiosity of each student.

Outside the classroom, your partnership trains the local Child Protection Brigade and the local chapter of the Adult Survivors of Child Slavery Network to protect these same girls and boys from slavery and abuse.

And in addition to making sure every girl and boy is free and in school in these 16 communities, your generosity continues to support work to lift the very poorest families out of extreme poverty and to organize women and men to prevent violence against women and girls.

Thank you again for all that you are doing to promote liberty, dignity, education, and hope in Haiti.

Building the Movement to End Child Slavery

Here’s the work that your generosity is making possible in support of the movement to end child slavery: 

• Trained 1,934 child rights activists (1,266 women) using a nine-session grassroots, community mobilization methodology
• Trained 216 Child Protection Brigade members (73 women) to facilitate Open Space to mobilize their communities
• Used Open Space to facilitate town hall meetings with 1,169 residents (771 women) across 14 communities
• Supported 16 communities to hold awareness-raising activities with 1,754 residents to mobilize the movement to end child slavery and commemorate World Day Against Child Labor
• Delivered training to 28 Child Protection Brigade members and six volunteer Adult Survivor of Child Slavery organizers on how to provide psychosocial support to children experiencing trauma as a result of slavery or abuse
• Supported 62 child protection cells in 14 communities to roll out use of the Performance Assessment Tool to self-monitor their work and evaluate their effectiveness as local change agents for the advancement of child rights
• Supported Child Protection Brigades as they intervened to protect three children in crisis (one girl)
• Supported Child Protection Brigades to identify and recognize 34 residents (20 women) who practiced stepping up to protect children
• Held an Open Space meeting with 82 members of the Adult Survivors of Child Slavery Network (63 women) from Nan Kafe, Fonnèg and Chen Kontan groups
• Organized a workshop on child rights with 11 local government representatives (11 women)
• Organized a two-day training to build the advocacy skills of 28 Child Protection Brigade members (13 women)

Building the Movement to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

Here’s the work that your generosity is making possible in support of the movement to prevent violence against women and girls: 

• Community mobilization for the prevention of violence against women and girls in seven Lagonav communities, with two in the Action Phase and five in the Support Phase of SASA!*.
• Convened 417 SASA! network members and Community Activists at bi-monthly network meetings for exchange, continue skills building, and planning
• Held monthly meetings with 91 Community Activists to reinforce community activism skills and encourage volunteerism for the achievement of SASA! community mobilization activities
• Shared preliminary results of Awareness Phase rapid assessment with 72 SASA! network members
• Conducted Support Phase training with 43 SASA! network members in Fonnèg

* Created by our friends at Raising Voices and adapted for Haiti by Beyond Borders, SASA! (Start, Awareness, Support, Action) is a ground-breaking, internationally-recognized model of community-mobilization to stop violence against women and the spread of HIV. Engaging all actors in the community — women, men, cultural and religious leaders, local officials, police, health-care providers — SASA! fosters critical reflection on gender and power and instigates local-level activism.

Building the Movement to Guarantee a Quality Primary Education for Every Child

Here’s the work that your generosity is making possible in support of the movement to guarantee a quality primary education for every girl and boy: 

• Conducted monthly observation and coaching visits with 25 schools to support application of nonviolent, participatory teaching methods and classroom management techniques, and school gardening skills learned at workshops
• Disbursed monthly subsidies to 25 schools to increase fiscal stability and facilitate educators’ salary payments, to ensure participation in training and attendance at work/school
• Supported two hub schools to establish regional model schools to promote nonviolent, participatory education
• Continued accelerated education classes for nine students (six girls); seven students demonstrated readiness to advance to the seventh grade
• Supported five schools to conduct advocacy activities to promote the importance of Haitian Creole as language of instruction; 535 community residents participated
• Held a one-day workshop with 45 teachers (14 women) on how to prepare student assessments

Building the Movement to Lift Families Out of Extreme Poverty

Your gift supports a variety of economic initiatives designed to empower the 110 families in Beyond Borders Family Sponsorship Program to lift themselves out of extreme poverty AND ensure that they can provide for themselves long after the 18-month sponsorship ends. Here’s the work that your generosity is making possible in support of the movement to empower the very poorest families to lift themselves out of extreme poverty:

• Held program launch ceremonies in three Cohort 3 communities, convening 156 participants and family members (112 girls and women)
• Held three days of refresher training with 110 program participants, covering the following themes: the importance of goat farming; how raising pigs can contribute to families’ economic development; how owning a donkey can be useful to a family; and, the importance of small business management
• Procured, gave deworming treatment, and distributed 80 goats; livestock distribution continues
• Conducted weekly home visits with participants to track and encourage progress against socio-economic outcome indicators, coaching participants and discussing productive asset growth and management; backyard vegetable gardens; and, plans and goals for future
• Distributed 11 of 24 weekly cash subsidies of 350 HTG to remove immediate pressure from participants so that they can focus on growing new skills and building their livelihoods
• Conducted training on Village Savings and Loans (VSLA) with 100 Family Graduation Program participants, distributed materials, and facilitated the creation of three VSLAs with 140 members
• Facilitated a nomination and selection process to identify candidates to serve as volunteers members of Community Development Committees (formerly known as Village Committees); Community Development Committees serve as local solidarity support mechanisms for Family Graduation Program participants during and after their participation in the program; the hope is that they will also play a role in leading initiatives for local economic development
• Delivered training to 20 Community Development Committee members (five women) to orient them to their function and build knowledge of the program; these themes were covered: Objectives of the Family Graduation Program, Definition of Community Development Committees, Village Committees’ importance and the roles and responsibilities of its members, How to organize committee meetings and record minutes, Simulation of a Committee meeting
• Facilitated creation of four Community Development Committees comprised of 131 members (112 women) that include community leaders, school teachers, rural police officers, Child Protection Brigade members, and religious leaders
• Improved the food security of 29 families by providing training and materials to cultivate backyard vegetable gardens, rainwater harvesting systems were installed for the same 29 families to increase access to water for irrigation of home gardens and household use 

Thank You Again!

We are deeply grateful for your kind, thoughtful, and generous support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative. You are changing the trajectory of life for vulnerable children and families in 16 rural Lagonav Island communities through your support and solidarity. If you have any questions about what you read here, please contact Brian Stevens, Beyond Borders’ Donor Engagement Director, (305) 450-2561, b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

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