Project Racine, Haiti

Location: Haiti, focused on 5 regions: Lescais, Cape Hatian, Plateau Centrale, Jackmel, Kenskof
Project Start Date: June 1, 2009 (For phase incorporating permaculture & microenterprise components). Project was begun in 2007 by IAHF.
Expected Completion Date (i.e. when expected to become financially self-sufficient): 2014

Project Concept:

Our Vision: To generate sustainability and abundance on all levels, starting from within.

Our Pledge: Through our programs, we pledge to catalyze the planting of 1,500,000 trees in Haiti by 2014. This is to be done in the form of three key approaches:

a) Family Food Security Gardens promoting fresh, organic nutrition.
b) Community agroforestry on existing sites providing community services e.g. Churches, Hospitals, Schools.
c) Large-scale Agroforestry initiatives – public/private agroforestry inititives based on permaculture principles.

Our Mission and Approach

1. Inspire individuals, cultivate community leaders. Through a program of youth leadership training developed by the International Association for Human Values, we provide practical tools to help young Haitians adults (18-25) manage trauma, anger and stress, rid themselves of hopelessness, and become powerful community organizers and leaders.
2. Train and support sustainable designers. Through training in Permaculture design and support for implementation of Permaculture-based systems, we provide practical tools and resources to support the ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable reforestation of Haiti.
3. Train and support entrepreneurs. We provide training in advanced leadership and entrepreneurship, source capital to support the start-up and expansion of microenterprises, and partner with local microfinance organizations to support young Haitians in developing businesses that offer market-based solutions to the root causes of environmental degradation.

Detailed Project Description:

Background

The Republic of Haiti is the least-developed country in the Western Hemisphere and ranks 154th of 177 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index (2006). Ninety-eight percent of this primarily agricultural country has been deforested, leading to catastrophic soil erosion and vulnerability to severe droughts, flooding, and landslides. A malnourished country, approximately two-thirds of Haitians lack steady jobs and the country lacks the skilled worker base necessary to expand its economy. Chronic political instability, corruption, and urban violence are persistent features of life in Haiti. People here, nonetheless are creative, capable and ready to take action to co-create a new future.

The time is ripe for Haitian leaders to emerge, leaders rooted in clarity and conviction. The strength and power to transform Haiti lies inside its youth, who have been bogged down by by a lifetime of trauma and stress. Project Racine provides Haiti's next generation of leaders with tangible tools to remove their doubts and fears, sustain hope, and inspire impactful action all around them. And we provide tools for Haitian young adults to put their leadership training into action, through sustainable land and micro-enterprise development projects that can restore Haiti's ravaged environment and build prosperity.

Project Racine was initiated in 2007 by the International Association for Human Values, an international non-governmental organization that partners with governments, educational institutions, other NGOs, corporations, businesses and individuals, to implement programs of personal development and human values in everyday life.

Program Description

1. Inspire individuals, cultivate community leaders

The Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) is a 10-day course in which participants learn powerful breathing and meditation techniques, including the Sudharshan Kriya, to:

• Relieve stress and trauma
• Balance emotions
• Rid the system of toxins
• Promote greater self-understanding

YLTP also trains students to organize and teach the Breath Water Sound (BWS), a 3-day free workshop on stress relief, nutrition, hygiene, the environment, and community service. Organizing and teaching BWS develops leadership, community organizing and public speaking skills

Since 2007, 225 Haitians have completed the YLTP, and YLTP graduates have conducted BWS workshops for over 1,000 Haitians.

2. Training & Support for Sustainable Design

Project Racine offers Permaculture Design Certificate courses for Haitian young people, in association with youth leadership training. The two 10-day courses in 2009 will be offered in English/Creole.

The capstone of the course is the collaborative design of a permaculture site that serves as a regional catalyst and hub for sustainable reforestation. Each site is expected to catalyze the planting of 300,000 trees in its region over a 5-year period. Each hub is expected to stand alone as an economically sustainable venture. Project Racine supports the hubs with technical assistance and, through micro-finance partners, financing for start up and growth.

3. Train and support entrepreneurs

Project Racine offers a 10-day course for Haitian young adults in micro-enterprise development. This course provides training in all aspects of starting up and running a successful business. This course includes the following topics:

• Overview: Why start up a business?
• Development of a Business Concept and Business Plan
• Planning and Management skills; to manage people, physical resources, finance
• Financial skills: keep accurate records, make budgets, calculate profits and losses, manage cash flow
• Credit skills: borrowing money, dealing with banks or other creditors, interest
• Communication skills: speaking, writing, listening, reading
• Marketing skills; research, sales, entrepreneurship
• Technical skills: the applied physics, chemistry, biology, craft and artisan skills of a chosen profitable and productive enterprise
• Legal, tax, governmental compliance

The course also integrates practical spiritual knowledge based on the Youth Leadership Training program, which is a prerequisite. The capstone of the course is the development, in teams, of business plans that the students can implement. The plans are aimed at market-based solutions that address root causes of deforestation and environmental degradation in Haiti. For example, students may develop businesses utilizing technologies developed by the D-Lab at MIT that are aimed at sustainable production of charcoal for cooking energy, as well as simple water purification. Project Racine supports these ventures with technical assistance and, through micro-finance partners, financing for start up and growth.

Project Duration & Schedule:

2009 Project Schedule

Present focus (May/June 2009): Project Planning & Fundraising

2009 Haiti Program

For summer 2009 we are offering three training sessions:

Advanced Leadership & Micro-Enterprise Development: July 1 - 15. Approximately 20 Haitian graduates of the YLTP will join us.

Participants will gain:

• Skills and knowledge necessary to develop and run successfully a micro-enterprise
• Principles and practices for ethical, sustainable business and community leadership

Participants will help:

• Develop and teach course modules
• Work with student teams to create and write business plans
• Support Haitian leaders upon return, including helping to find investors for microbusinesses

Youth Leadership Development & Sustainable Agriculture Training: July 17 - August 7

Participants will gain:

• Leadership training, including how to manage stress and your emotions. Participants will learn how to teach a free trauma-relief program called Breath Water Sound.
• Permaculture design training, including how to build sustainable systems of agriculture and run agricultural businesses. You will learn how to teach a 3 day agricultural workshop and receive a Certificate in Permaculture Design.

Participants will help:

• Develop and implement permaculture designs
• Support the development of sustainable agricultural businesses upon return

Youth Leadership Development & Sustainable Agriculture Training: August 9 - 30.

Participants will gain:

• Leadership training, including how to manage stress and your emotions. Participants will learn how to teach a free trauma-relief program called Breath Water Sound.
• Permaculture design training, including how to build sustainable systems of agriculture and run agricultural businesses. You will learn how to teach a 3 day agricultural workshop and receive a Certificate in Permaculture Design.

Participants will help:

• Develop and implement permaculture designs
• Support the development of sustainable agricultural businesses upon return

We are inviting University Partners to join us in Haiti this summer to participate in these programs, partner with the Haitian youth leaders, and support the project's success. No prior experience is necessary, just an earnest desire to learn, work hard, and contribute.

2009 - Key project Milestones

• Initial fundraising target of $175,000 met.
• 3 Sites identified and designed for regional Project sites. Each site supports a nursery, as well as facilities and resources to underpin the three key program areas.
• Translation of core permaculture training text into Creole
• Development of microenterprise training module.
• Identification of key partners (public/private) in Haiti and elsewhere.
• Production of detailed project ‘business plan’ model.

2010 – 2014 Project Milestones are under development, but here are some highlights:

2010

• 5,000 trees planted in each of five regions
• Establish major project fund as a non-profit
• Rainforest Alliance certification of agroforestry programs

2011

• 50,000 trees planted in each of five regions

2012

• 70,000 trees planted in each of five regions

2013

• 100,000 trees planted in each of five regions

2014

• 100,000 trees planted in each of five regions

Project Needs:

Current needs are:

1. Assistance in project ‘marketing’ – help spread the word!
2. Capital for project implementation
3. Identification of any Creole speaking permaculture teachers
4. Local plant resources for regional nurseries (to be determined during summer program)

Other Info:

Further details of the strategic 5-year plan for the project are under development, we’ll update as they are completed.