SIX MONTHS OF KONBIT SEED GRANTS
April 16th, 2025
In September of last year, Gwoup Konbit launched their second round of Konbit Seed Grants for Social Change. Through the program, small groups, associations, and organizations across Haiti can apply for microgrants of 150,000 Gourdes (a little over $1,000) to fund projects that address needs they’ve identified in their communities.
In the first year of the program, which ran from May 2024 to April 2025, a panel of judges selected 13 projects—one per month, plus one bonus, representing six of ten departments in Haiti—to receive grant funding, out of more than one hundred that applied. Gwoup Konbit also held 10 trainings throughout the year for the seed grantees on Konbit values and principles.
Since the kick-off of the second round in September, Gwoup Konbit has received 175 applications, representing 64 communes in all ten departments of Haiti
They’ve also held seven training sessions, attended by 164 people, and awarded 14 grants (two per month) to organizations in seven departments.
Since the beginning of the program in May 2024, Gwoup Konbit has given out 28 grants to locally led groups and organizations across all ten departments of Haiti, with projects ranging from school garden planting to vocational training and mentoring to an arts and culture festival. Explore all the winning projects in the interactive map below!
SPRING TO ACTION UPDATE
We have TWO WEEKS left in our Spring to Action campaign! Our teams have been working hard to raise money for essential community-led projects in Haiti, and thanks to their commitment and our supporters’ generous donations, we’re more than 20% of the way to our goal of $49,020!
If you haven’t given to a team yet, please donate now! You can help get us over the finish line and meet our goal before the campaign ends on April 30th! Plus, we have two prizes up for grabs.
- The team with the most donors on 4/24 will get a $2,000 BONUS from board member Florence Rouzier, and
- The team that wins the competition by raising the most money at the end of the day on 4/30 will have their total MATCHED thanks to longtime supporters Mark and Jamie Summers.
Each team has selected one of Rasin Devlopman’s community-led projects on the island of La Gonave to fully fund through their efforts this month—from women’s motorcycle courses to youth swim lessons to community dialogues.
On April 8th, as a follow-up to our recent article, the Funders Coalition for Haitian-led Development (FCHLD) hosted a webinar examining the $125 million in humanitarian response funding the US government has given to the UN’s Regional Pooled Fund for Haiti. Experts explored the function and strategy behind the UN’s Country Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) around the world; the funding’s restrictions, including the six-month implementation timeline; how decisions are made about where and to whom the money will be distributed; and what the impact will be on communities in Haiti.
The recording of the webinar is now available on Substack in English and in Creole.
Stay tuned and subscribe to our Substack (@haitifunders) to be kept up-to-date with the Funders Coalition for Haitian-led Development. As we get more information and news pertaining to aid and development in Haiti, it will be on our Substack first.