A Locally Led System In Haiti

our network

Roots of Development provides direct support and services to a local aid structure made up of effective, community-driven Haitian organizations. These organizations serve a wider network of local leaders and community groups across all ten of Haiti’s departments.

our shared vision and values

We partner with Haitian-led, community-powered groups and organizations that share our vision, values, and approach to aid and development.

Roots and our partners believe that community-led approaches, anchored in the Haitian tradition of Konbit, are simply more effective in the long run. Our research shows that community-led approaches are set apart from conventional ones by their ability to strengthen social cohesion and foster community ownership, both of which build trust.

SUPPORTING COMMUNITY-LED CHANGE

Supporting Community-Led Change, or SCLC, is our approach to working with local groups in Haiti that we have refined over the course of more than twenty years.

SCLC borrows elements from Community-Led Development, Supporting Community-Led Response, Trust Based Philanthropy, and Konbit, and incorporates feedback from our local partners as well as research done by the Share Trust, ALNAP, and others.

SCLC means meeting community groups where they’re at: bridging the humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development sectors; providing unrestricted support for community priorities; and supplementing with technical and advisory support that allows local organizations to focus on doing what they do best.

OUR local partners

Rasin Devlopman

Rasin Devlopman, in addition to being a founding member of Gwoup Konbit, is our original local partner, based on the island of La Gonave. Their mission is to strengthen the capacity of local leaders so that they are better equipped to manage their own development and improve quality of life on the island. In addition to improving quality of life through community-led projects, Rasin strengthens civil society by fostering leadership and offering support to other groups and initiatives on the island. Rasin serves as a prime example of the practical implementation of Konbit’s values and principles, a laboratory through which to test and learn from these approaches in a contained environment like La Gonave.

Click Here for Rasin's Website

Gwoup konbit

Gwoup Konbit is a national social movement based on Konbit–a deeply Haitian tradition of mutual aid and solidarity stemming from rural agriculture that can be traced back as far as the country itself. Gwoup Konbit is reviving Konbit within Haiti in order to bring into fruition a society built on Konbit’s values and principles. The five values of Konbit are: solidarity, responsibility, collaboration, reciprocity, and participation. The twelve principles of Konbit are: sharing, transparency, trust, respect, equity, ethics, perseverance, flexibility, adaptation, innovation, interdependence, and sustainability.

Click Here for Gwoup Konbit's Website

Rasin and Gwoup Konbit are our entry points to a broader network of more than 500 Haitian-led mutual aid groups, community-based organizations, and civil society actors that:

Spans all ten departments in Haiti

Implements locally led initiatives across every sector

Can distribute and manage millions of dollars per year.

Together, Roots, Rasin, Gwoup Konbit, and our shared network represent an alternative to the conventional aid system–one that is powered by collective action, Haitian culture, and communities themselves.

How do we choose our partners?

We use the model on the left, based on our research published July of 2026, to illustrate how local collective action strengthens community ownership, social cohesion, and trust, forming a positive feedback loop that lays the foundation for overall wellbeing.

Our partners are Haitian-led, community powered organizations that deeply understand this dynamic and reflect it in their thoughts, words, and actions. They understand that it’s not enough to effectively implement projects that improve quality of life–they must also, through their processes, build the collective outcomes that lead to long-term change.

the la gonave community leadership & development center

As part of our long-term strategy to bring Haiti to the forefront of conversations about locally led approaches to aid and development, we have partnered with Ayiti Community Trust to help our partner Rasin Devlopman construct a Community Leadership & Development Center on the island of La Gonave, Haiti.

This 10,000 square-foot, million-dollar facility is specifically designed for bringing together community leaders on the island and across Haiti and the world to learn, exchange ideas, and create real change. Construction is currently underway on Phase One of the Center.