Our partner communities lead the way in attaining their hopes and dreams
Perhaps the most powerful and lasting impact of our work is that it results in strong communities able to identify their own goals, pursue their own strategies and achieve their own success.
Community-led from the ground up.
COFHED’s vision and mission has always prioritized the importance of ideas and dreams of its partner communities. As we work together, these dreams inevitably come to life based on the hard work and vision of the local people who we partner with. This focus on putting them in a position of power is what we call, “community-led innovation and initiatives” and it’s at the core of everything we do at COFHED.
Rather than dictating projects, priorities, and deadlines, we act as a catalyst, fostering community participation and leadership amongst rural Haitians. We support them in harnessing their resources, ideas, knowledge, and expertise as they consider and analyze the issues that affect them.
Because of this, any positive change in the communities (whether a shift in mindset, a project, or a new process) must arise out of the conscious desire and decision by the entire community to make it happen. In this way, the community takes ownership of its own work andaccomplishments and their collective dreams come true, which ultimately drives true, long-term change.
How our partner communities take the lead
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Micro-Credit Programs
Microcredit Organization of Active Women for the Development of Lougou (MOFADEL) is a female-led microlending enterprise in Lougou community with nearly 500 members. Qualified members can now get a loan up to $1,500.00 USD. MOFADEL represents a pillar of hope not only for Lougou but for eight surrounding neighborhood communities as well, as it is a locally-run finance operation invested in bettering the local region.
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Emerging Leaders
One of our objectives in collaborating with communities is to progress from a dependency relationship to one of self-sufficiency. That’s why we encourage emerging community leaders to enhance their skillset, enabling them to lead and catalyze change within their respective communities. Thus far, over a dozen teachers have returned to their local schools to educate their students. Additionally, nurses, agrotechnicians, bank technicians, engineers, masons, and other professionals have gone back to serve in their respective communities.
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Agroforestry
Our partner communities have been working on various agroforestry activities related to agrobusiness and farming. They’ve already planted the following trees 221 plantain, 139 moringa, 150 cacao, 150 papaya 38 cedar trees and 17 pounds of beans, two pounds of corn, yams, and pineapple. We have an ongoing collaboration with Université SEED International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (USITA) in Les Cayes. These students support some of our partner communities, work in our nursery and our model forest gardens.
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Community Education
Our partner communities of Lougou and Raymond now feature top-notch schools with nearly 700 Pre-K to 12th grate students who are taught by 33 locally-trained teaching staff. These schools have such a good reputation that students travel far and wide from the surrounding region to attend.
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Violence Prevention
Aggression and violence are prevalent issues in Haiti. However, the way in which they occur suggests that it is not viewed as a problem due to societal norms deeply ingrained in the culture. Several clubs have started in Lougou and other communities to help educate local people about the vicious cycle of violence and help the youth lead the way in doing better in the future.
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Health and Wellness
Our partner communities of Lougou and Raymond are home to locally-run clinics with medical professionals from the respective communities. They have been instrumental in drastically improving the villages’ health, offering proactive health advice, conducting check-ups and improving the general wellness in the areas.
Community-led success story: Rebuilding schools in the wake of the 2021 earthquake
The August 2021 earthquake devastated our partner communities in countless ways, including the loss of many major buildings such as schools. In the immediate aftermath, the villagers had set up temporary school structures so that there was minimal disruptions to their students’ educations.
Still, the temporary structures left much to be desired in terms of features and comfort, so the communities stepped up to advocate for themselves and forge partnerships with aid organizations to rebuild these schools. While AHAAMES (Association Haïtienned'Assistance Agricole, Médicale, Educative et Sociale) and UNICEF led the reconstruction in Raymond and Lougou respectively, local craftsmen and construction workers from the communities themselves labored tirelessly to make the buildings even better than before, with new earthquake-resistant features.
We think the results speak for themselves – Lougou and Raymond both have beautiful new school buildings in which their overjoyed students and staff wrapped up the 2023 academic year. Moreover, the villagers have incredible pride in their achievement, having set out to replace these essential buildings that were ruined in the natural disaster, and successfully completing the job.
And that is the proof that sustainable change has the power to transform communities and mindsets.
Community-led success story: Emerging leaders graduating to bring their skills back to their communities
One of the most powerful aspects of our innovative community engagement model is how it equips a new generation of leaders within our partner villages. Here’s just a sampling of young people that have opted into bettering themselves and their community through education and training.
26 students funded
12 of them are in college
8 of them are in vocational school
5 of them are nurses who have graduated
