Welcome to Madeleine’s Corner blog
The latest news, insights and thought leadership from our co-founder and country director, Madeleine Avignon.
COJAD, a youth development organization in Acquier, describes their community in these words:
Acquier is located in the 3rd section of the Commune of Maniche. It is a large community nestled up in the mountains. It has about twelve localities and 160 homes. It should be noted that it is a very beautiful village. However, it is really vulnerable. In terms of infrastructure, there is no school, no health dispensary, no electricity, no safe drinking water etc. The roads are more or less accessible. In the said locality, there are two grassroots organizations: Acquier’s Peasant Organization (OPA) and the Acquier Youth Combine for Development (COJAD). These organizations do the best they can to support the village, but lack the necessary means to bring about lasting change. Faced with such a situation, the COJAD Committee is asking for your kind support in helping to provide a social framework for the development of Acquier so it can breathe in an air of a genuine and sustainable development.
Why does COFHED continue to press on?
July 30, 2020
When we look at the landscape of Haiti, one can easily find many examples that describe the vulnerability of the country and its 10 million plus people. Many of the stories we hear, know and experience may easily transcribe into hopelessnes and give us reason to doubt that Haitians can’t possibly reverse what they believe about themselves and what others come to believe about Haitians.
But we believe in a different story. That’s why we want to keep pressing on. We believe that Haitians can make change happen and use their resiliency to change the narrative of persistent poverty and dependency, and reject for themselves the factors that fuel more poverty in their lives. From the very start of our partnership with the community of Lougou, we see courage, strength, resilience, knowledge, assets, vision of change, and not weakness, dependency, and helplessness which sometimes may be perceived by others.
In their push toward transformation, our Haitian sisters and brothers are seeing themselves as who they truly and fully are in their God-designed humanity. COFHED’s role as catalyst is to awaken what is really true inside each community member so they can display their worth and their power within to bring their own vision of wellbeing into reality.
As a Haitian-led organization, we want to be seen as we see our partner communities. We want people to know that we have the resilience, knowledge and capacity to walk alongside rural community members to affect change. We connect directly with entire communities and make sure every life is valued and can be at the table expressing what matters most to them. We listen to community members to learn how to engage them effectively, and that’s what gave birth to Our Train the Trainer program (TTT). In this program, community members as trainees learn how to be effective catalysts working alongside their community as allies, trusted mentors to engage women, men, youth and children in listening to each other, naming their strengths and assets, becoming ‘insiders’ with rights and responsibilities.
Through our experience as catalyst, we have seen changes that rural Haitians are able to produce in the midst of unthinkable difficulties. That’s why we are confident that the time has come more than ever for Haitians to change the epithet attached to Haiti from “poorest country in the western hemisphere” to “vibrant rural and urban communities” where resiliency refers not only to the capacity to endure misery and poverty but also to the higher ability to design and implement a way out for a bright and sustainable future.