October 24, 2024
UPDATE ON HAITI
- The multinational police force led by Kenya has been in Port-au-Prince for four months. Limited gains have been made. The hospital and airport were retaken, but the hospital has not reopened.
- Gang activity has calmed in some neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, allowing residents some normalcy, but they’ve seized three key roads leading into the city and laid siege to outlying areas, killing dozens.
- The Kenyan force is outnumbered; though 2,500 police were promised, only 400 have been deployed. They and the Haitian national police are up against an estimated 15,000 gang members. Kenyan President Ruto has said he’ll send a total of 600 additional officers by the end of November.
- The Dominican Republic said it plans to deport up to 10,000 Haitians a week, a significant escalation of the deportation rate. Approximately 67,000 Haitians were deported from the Dominican in the first half of 2024. Activists have long criticized the treatment of Haitians and those of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic.
- Here in the US, Former President Donald Trump and his running-mate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance continue to repeat lies about Haitian migrants in Ohio. Here’s what’s really going on.
PROJECT UPDATES: GWOUP KONBIT
Leaders de Demain launched the 6th edition of The Challengers, through which 12 youth strengthen their personal and professional development through workshops and competitions.
Le Paradis Haitien held a conference on “Essential tools and mechanisms for building and maintaining peace in a community.”
Leaders de Demain has been traveling around Haiti, conducting workshops with youth on arts & culture and personal responsibility.
Gwoup Konbit founding member Konbit San Pou San hosted a blood drive on September 28th. 78 people participated in the drive.
PROJECT UPDATES: RASIN DEVLOPMAN
Today is the anniversary of the founding of Rasin Devlopman! Congratulations to Rasin for seven years of community-led impact on La Gonave.
Rasin Devlopman awarded six young women certificates of completion following the conclusion of their apprenticeships in tiling and plumbing as apart of the initiative “Yon Fanm, Yon Metye” (One Woman, One Profession).
In the 4th section of La Gonave, the Volontè pou Chanjman installed solar powered street lights .
In the first section of Anse-a-Galets, the Volontè pou Chanjman initiated a road improvement project to connect two communities.
Rasin Devlopman’s Volontè pou Chanjman began a new workshop on “Social Business.”
GLOBAL ADVOCACY UPDATES
While our special guests were in town in September for our Annual DC Event, we worked with the Movement for Community-led Development and Unlock Aid to arrange a briefing on Capitol Hill for Dr. Moses Isooba, Louino Robillard, Dr. Cassandra Jean Francois, and Gunjan Veda to speak with congressional staffers about the importance and impact of locally led development.
We will be breaking ground on the La Gonave Community Leadership & Development Center next month! Click here to learn more about the Center and how you can support.
Gwoup Konbit Co-Founder and Rasin Devlopman Program Director Louino Robillard was honored with the “Grand Prix REZEV NASYONAL” from Voix et Cœur d’Haïti.
The 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson. Read how their institutions hypothesis relates to our work in Haiti here.