Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti

Your Generosity Supports a Growing and Energetic Haitian Women's Movement

Thank you for your generous support for Beyond Borders ‘Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti’ project on GlobalGiving.

Your generosity is supporting an energetic and growing movement of people committed to addressing the root cause of violence against women and girls: the imbalance in power between women and men and girls and boys.

The Impact of Your Generosity in More Than 100 Haitian Communities

We see the impact of your generosity with every new community, school, church, and girls' club organized and trained to prevent violence against women and girls and balance power with men and boys.

Thanks to you and people like you who care, Beyond Borders' Rethinking Power program has equipped groups like these in more than 100 communities throughout Haiti with the tools they need to prevent different types of violence against women and girls: physical, verbal, psychological, sexual, and economic.

Their Determination + Your Generosity = A Powerful Haitian-Led Movement 

The determination of these trained local activists and the generosity of people like you is building a powerful movement to prevent violence and balance power so that families and communities can thrive. 

Thank you again for your solidarity, your care, and your concern. More communities are committed to preventing violence and balancing power between women and men and girls and boys because of you.

16 Days of Activism to Prevent Gender-Based Violence

The annual 16 Days of Activism is a time when activists in Haiti and around the world mobilize, beginning on November 25th – the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – through December 10th – Human Rights Day.

The Rethinking Power team and community activists in the southeast organized a series of events that complemented a country-wide campaign supported by the Delegation of the European Union in Haiti.

Together with local elected officials, the Rethinking Power team led community discussions about how to prevent VAWG. A peaceful march was held on December 5th in which hundreds of men, women, and children took to the streets to demand an end to violence against women and girls.

Additionally, representatives from 10 Haitian women’s rights organizations came together in a virtual round table to share about their work to end VAWG. We are encouraged to see that now in Haiti violence prevention has become just as important as advocacy work for survivors.

Thank you for your generous support for this kind of movement-building work!

Convening Movement Leaders to Strategize for 2024

This past December, thanks to the generosity of people like you and the European Union, Beyond Borders brought together leaders from more than 10 Haitian women's rights organizations to strategize about advocacy and violence-prevention plans in 2024.

These grassroots leaders are holding planning meetings and developing action plans for a series of community-wide violence-prevention activities to build momentum and support.

As momentum is key in norm-change and movement-building – especially in the early stages – the kind of grassroots leadership these activists are showing is critical.

Thanks to you – and continued support from the European Union – Beyond Borders’ Rethinking Power team is keeping in close touch with these activists to ensure their continued success.

They join grassroots leaders in other communities across Haiti who are organizing to prevent violence against women and girls -- using an approach proven to cut intimate partner violence by more than half, community-wide.

By The Numbers: The Latest Movement Building Work You Make Possible

In the last quarter, your support has made it possible to complete initiatives like these:

• 400 people participated in one-to-one chats with activist staff during an awareness-raising campaign to prevent violence
• 24 religious leaders were trained in leadership skills aimed at promoting and facilitating the leadership of women in churches
• 38 school teachers and staff were trained on how to integrate Power to Girls into their curriculum
• 150 Girls Group meetings were organized with 400 girls between the ages of 10 and 19
• 15 participants from 11 women’s organizations participated in a three-day workshop on best practices for violence prevention and organizational management
• 3-day technical support visits were conducted with three partner organizations located in three geographic departments

Your generosity, your solidarity, your care, and your concern makes you part of the movement to prevent violence against women and girls and balance power between women and men too. Thank you for your faithful support!

What People Are Saying About The Impact of This Work

One of the best ways to convey the impact of the work to prevent violence against women and girls that you are making possible is by sharing with you what community members themselves are saying.

“My husband used to be very violent with me. Now, thanks to the person I have become, I don’t let my husband do whatever he wants to me anymore.” ~ Allah, program participant

“If it was not for the SASA! methodology* that [we] are now using, this organization would have fallen apart. Before, I sidelined men in our work to prevent violence against women and girls. Thanks to this methodology, we are working together with men.” ~ a member of the partner organization AFASDA in Cap Haitian

“I was not a tolerant guy. The Rethinking Power team taught me that women have the same rights as men. I can say now that I will never beat another woman until the day I die.” ~ Renold, Community Activist in the community of Labreziliyèn

“I would like to congratulate the team doing this great work in the community. Since the program began here there have been fewer women and girls subjected to violence. I decided to join this work too. Thank you for this beautiful work that you are doing in our community.” ~ A journalist the community of Tibi

*Created by our friends at Raising Voices, SASA! (Start, Awareness, Support, Action) is a ground-breaking, internationally-recognized model of community-mobilization to stop violence against women and the spread of HIV. Engaging all actors in the community — women, men, cultural and religious leaders, local officials, police, health-care providers — SASA! fosters critical reflection on gender and power and instigates local-level activism.

Thank You Again

Thank you again for all that you are making possible through your generous support for Beyond Borders' Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti project on GlobalGiving. We are deeply grateful for your solidarity in these challenging times.

You are building the movement to prevent violence against women and girls and ensure that every day more girls and women in Haiti are living free from violence, discrimination, and inequality. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please contact Brian Stevens, Beyond Borders’ Engagement Director, at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

Links:

• Check out our blog for the latest on our work in Haiti.
• We've earned a 4-Star Charity Navigator rating. Read the report.
• Go on a Virtual Tour with us and see Haiti up close.