December 11th, 2025
Dear Friend,
On August 14th, our partners at Gwoup Konbit launched a national campaign to mobilize thousands of people across all ten departments of Haiti around the values and principles of Konbit—a historical Haitian form of collective action and mutual aid.
This campaign marks a new phase in a journey that began over four years ago, when more than 300 community leaders, practitioners, and organizations across Haiti joined forces to co-create the Konbit Guide, a tool rooted in Haitian experience and built through shared reflection, dialogue, and practice.
The objectives of the campaign are to:
- Train community leaders in all 10 departments of Haiti and the diaspora on Konbit.
- Strengthen collective memory around the values and principles of Konbit.
- Make the Konbit Guide accessible in various formats (written, oral, visual, and digital).
- Create a national database of groups and organizations practicing Konbit.
- Stimulate community cooperation through the Konbit Fund and the Konbit Seed Grants program.
In November, in collaboration with our other partner, Rasin Devlopman, Gwoup Konbit brought the national campaign to the island of La Gonave! With approximately 100,000 inhabitants, the island offers a living laboratory for experimenting with the application of Konbit values and principles.
LAUNCH AT THE ANNUAL FORUM
Each year, Rasin convenes people from across La Gonave to discuss and collaborate on a topic important to the development of the island. On November 22nd, more than 80 leaders, professionals, students, farmers, and engaged community members came together in Anse-a-Galets to discuss the application of the values and principles of Konbit on the island of La Gonave.
KONBIT IN THE COMMUNITY
For several days following the forum, the Rasin-Gwoup Konbit teams traveled around La Gonave to meet community members where they are and reach more audiences with messages about Konbit.
On November 23rd, the Gwoup Konbit and Rasin teams spoke to more than 350 congregants of the Wesleyan church in Anse-a-Galets. They spoke about the importance of Konbit in religious spaces and how the values and principles of Konbit are reflected in the bible.
On November 25th, they spoke to 600 students of the School of Saint François d’Assise about the five values of Konbit—solidarity, participation, collaboration, reciprocity and responsibility.
On November 26th, the Gwoup Konbit-Rasin team traveled to the Faculty of Nursing at the Wesleyan University of Haiti, where they met with 63 students studying nursing. The exchange focused primarily on the importance of Konbit values and principles in nursing and how they can be used to strengthen ethics and greater commitment in the practice of the profession.
Also on November 26th, they held a friendly soccer match in collaboration with a local team, Piwouli FC. The match, which ended 1-1, was an opportunity to show how sports can serve as an educational space to put into practice the values and principles of Konbit.
And, on November 27th, they spoke to 250 students of the Joli Verger school in Fond Nègres about the values and principles of Konbit, leading them in a chant of “Nou se avni” (we are the future).
Together, these accomplishments illustrate a growing momentum toward a unified vision: leveraging the Konbit philosophy as a modern and scalable model for social cohesion, community empowerment, and sustainable development—one that positions Haitian communities at the center of their own transformation.
SUPPORT KONBIT: A RECIPE FOR CHANGE
Konbit is the backbone of our work in Haiti, a philosophy of collective action that has been passed down for centuries by generations of Haitians. It is what makes our work in Haiti successful, despite the many obstacles—our Recipe for Change.
This month, all donations to our Recipe for Change campaign are MATCHED 100%, doubling your impact and making this incredible work across Haiti possible! We’ve already raised more than $15,000, but there’s still plenty of match left that we need to secure. The end of the year is coming up fast—make your tax-deductible donation today at rootsofdevelopment.org/recipeforchange/.
Sincerely,
Chad Bissonnette
President & Co-Founder