Ouanaminthe, Haiti

Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.  With 99 percent of the population of African descent, it has suffered military dictatorships and invasions since its declaration of independence during the 18th century.  The current crisis is recovery from the January 2010 earthquake, added to the challenges already faced by the global rise in the cost of food over the past several years.  The food crisis has been exacerbated by years of migration from the countryside into the city, abandoning traditional farming, hoping for a better life and for educational opportunities that didn't exist.  This has made investing in rural communities, particularly in education, more vital than ever.  Education has been largely neglected throughout the rural areas.  Haiti received the lowest grade out of 186 countries in UNESCO's 2007 Education for All report.

Pwof Ansanm (Teachers Together) was established in 2004 as a non-profit organization interested in supporting rural teachers in Haiti who are motivated to improve the quality of education in their communities.  The mission of Pwof Ansanm is to promote cooperative initiatives in Haiti that address educational needs.  This network of educators believes the role of education is to empower individuals to improve their lives and communities through understanding their physical and social world and then focusing on solving the problems.  For two years, the program focused on working with teachers in Jérémie, Haiti, to help them bring a professional pedagogy program to the area. 

For the past three years, Pwof Ansanm has been working with a group of teachers in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, supporting them in their efforts to improve education and challenging them to develop their own initiatives to positively affect their educational system.  In addition to providing intensive teacher training (to about a third of the secondary teachers across the city), Pwof Ansanm also includes civics, debate, and children's rights in the training seminar given two times a year.

Although many educational projects have been implemented throughout Haiti, the exchange of experiences and materials is minimal.  By using existing resources in Haiti, coordinating international volunteers, and supporting projects initiated by Haitian educators, new methods and new technologies can be used to immediately alleviate some of the extreme problems of the educational system. 

The earthquake was a test of the organization, and the teachers' group has risen to meet some of the intense challenges that Ouanaminthe faces.  There are hundreds or thousands of returning students all needing space in already overly crowded schools.  The schools are 90 percent private and require tuition and supplies.  The teachers' group immediately created a small library where they could share resources between teachers and schools.  Now they have started an "afternoon middle school" for the at-risk returning students who have no resources to enter the regular school system.  The school has three classes with 25 students each and opened on March 1, 2010.  The teachers opened it with no promise of salary or financial support.  Pwof Ansanm seeks financial support for the school – they need $3000 for the teachers to have a small salary for the rest of the school year.  Because of the volunteer efforts and the rapid response of this newly-formed group of teachers, these middle school students will be able to complete their school year.