Principle No. 1

Orphanages need to be phased out of existence. There is a reason there are no longer orphanages in the United States - they are an archaic and harmful solution to the problem of children in need. If children in the U.S. do not suffer in orphanages any longer why should they in Haiti? The solution is two-fold - support of families in poverty and provision of foster care. We know that more than 80% of children in Haitian orphanages have a living parent and are in the orphanage for financial reasons. The conundrum is that most U.S. NGOs support the children via sponsorships focused on individual children at the orphanage. This model does not work when the model transformed into a family support model. However, the transition has been successfully made in Haiti from child-centered support to family support donations. The other part of the solution - foster care - has also been shown to work in Haiti. The cultural and financial reasons to not use foster care in Haiti are surmountable. Making a transition from orphanage to family-centered care is an enormous shift for any organization, but there are groups experienced with such transitions who can offer assistance in this multi-year process.

Principle No. 2

Organizations that provide care for children in Haiti are responsible for the quality of education. It is not enough to provide a roof and a hot meal every day. This would not be acceptable in the United States and should not be acceptable in Haiti. Turning a blind eye to the educational practices is akin to a type of child abuse.

Principle No. 3

Education is best done in the younger grades, completely in Kréyol - Haiti’s mother tongue. Teacher training is also best done in Kréyol. To do otherwise in both cases is to ignore the multiple studies and experts who point to Kréyol as the most effective way of transferring knowledge. However this has rarely been the case - this page explains more in depth the reasons for the fact that most education in Haiti is delivered in a mishmash of Kréyol and bad French.

However - knowing this and then implementing it is a different thing. There are a litany of reasons to not change from the cost, the sourcing of Kréyol text and curriculum and the need for re-trained teachers. This is not an overnight or even something that can be accomplished over the course of a school year. But it still needs to be done for the good of the students.

Piti piti zwazo fè nich li

( Little by little, the bird builds its nest.)

Principle No. 4

The fourth principle is to show respect for Haitian citizens, the country, and its government. This is important for students’ psychological health and to promote a love of country. It also negates some of the prevailing negative class issues.

Here are some examples of what this type of respect looks like:

●      Education in the mother tongue

●      Respect for the Haitian flag

●      Singing the national anthem in Kréyol

●      Teaching Haitian history

●      Haitians in school leadership positions

●      Following the Haitian national curriculum

●      Filling out the annual governmental school survey

●      Become accredited by MENFP

●      Avoiding criticism of local religions and religious leaders

Another key way to show respect is to become a registered Haitian charity. This is a more onerous and expensive process than doing so in the United States, but it is still a valuable step. It improves relations with governmental authorities and indicates to both the government and donors that you are in it for the long haul. Many times, donors with greater resources will expect this in addition to being registered in the U.S.

And lastly, showing respect is having the community direct the curriculum as much as possible. This can be hard to understand for an organization where the service providers are much more formally educated than the average community member. But consider having an organization from New York city tell a local school district in Ohio what the children will be learning. To our ears, that sounds outrageous - local control of schools is a bedrock belief in American society. Haitians should be given this same opportunity as part of learning how a democracy works. I understand that many Haitian parents will want their children educated in French, but this is an opportunity to respectfully explain in detail why this is not the best course of action.