Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti

Power to Girls Initiative Gaining Momentum in Schools, Communities

Thank you for your generous support for Beyond Borders’ Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti project on GlobalGiving. We are grateful for your solidarity and generosity!

Thanks to you and people like you, Beyond Borders’ Power To Girls initiative is gaining momentum in schools and communities, equipping students, faculty, staff, and community members with the skills and resources to balance power between girls and boys.

Created by Beyond Borders’ Rethinking Power Team, Power To Girls includes a complete, three-year methodology to integrate lessons on equality and preventing gender-based violence into the school curriculum, including sample lesson plans for social science, biology and language teachers.

Power To Girls also includes a guide to help schools and communities create and support local girls’ groups, and a set of community organizing tools designed to create deep and lasting change among adults too.

Sixty-Three Teachers in Southeast Haiti Trained in Power To Girls

Thanks to you, 63 secondary school teachers from three schools in southeast Haiti were trained during different multi-day workshops on various aspects of Power To Girls, including how to integrate lessons on equality and preventing gender-based violence into French, Biology and Social Science classes.

Additionally, 39 students (19 girls) participated in discussions related to Power To Girls sessions for their classrooms to foster greater understanding and dialogue.

Grassroots Community Leaders and Partner Organizations Trained in Power To Girls

Your support has also made it possible to train grassroots community leaders and members of partner organizations in various phases of Power To Girls. Here’s a look at some of the Power To Girls trainings that your support made possible this past quarter:

• 101 community activists and leaders trained during a five-day training
• 37 people participated in a three day training to create theater groups to perform skits on Power To Girls
• 22 members of partner organizations participated in Power to Girls Action Phase and training
• 24 Haiti VAWG Prevention Coalition members from six organizations trained in Phase 4 (Action Phase) of Power To Girls
• Three exchange visits conducted between Power To Girls partners

Thanks to your generosity and solidarity, Power To Girls is gaining momentum in Haiti and building a movement of people committed to balancing power and preventing violence.

Investing in Infrastructure: New Tools and Resources to Build the Movement to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

Your generous support is supporting the creation of an infrastructure of tools and resources that grassroots community leaders and partner organizations can use to build the movement to prevent gender-based violence.

This quarter, your support has made it possible to adapt SASA! Together* and the revised Power To Girls through Phase 3 (Support), with some additional testing and finalization scheduled. Additionally, the Girls’ Economic Power Resource Pack is largely complete through Phase 2.

*SASA! Together is the Haiti adaptation of Raising Voices’ updated version of SASA! and includes the key elements of SASA! Faith; and the development of a new resource pack for the economic empowerment of adolescent girls, to be integrated within the Power To Girls methodology. In addition, we went beyond these three to develop Safe and Capable - a resource pack on VAWG with disabilities.

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:

• 371 girls age 10-19 actively participate weekly in 16 Girls’ Groups.
• 15 Girls’ Group mentors trained during a two-day workshop on facilitating new sessions on economic power. The sessions teach girls how to become economically independent.
• 28 community meetings and 18 days of community awareness raising on girls’ power, power imbalances, and types of violence – all meant to encourage parental and community support of girls.
• 78 girls and parents participated in group feedback sessions where girls who are members of Girls’ Groups presented what they are learning, and where all share how this impacts them and their families.
• 252 girls from Girls’ Advocacy Committees in Lavale and new girls’ groups in Lamontagne and Bainet participated in nine exchange opportunities to talk about their experiences so that new Youth Activists could inspire girls in new communities.
• 101 community activists and leaders trained on Phase 2 (Awareness) of SASA! Together during a five- day training workshop.
• 15 journalists participated in one-day training on the concepts of power and how to better address cases where women and girls experience violence.
• 37 people participated in a three day training to create theater groups to perform different skits on SASA! Together.
• 20 church leaders participated in a one-day training to discuss the advantages of balancing power between women and men at all levels in a church.
• 17 women trained in leadership development.
• 51 members of organizations responding to VAWG in Lamontagne and Bainet participated in a one-day training to learn more about prevention and response concepts and were also connected formally to the community activist network.
• 22 members of partner organizations participated in SASA! Action Phase training, as well as a two-day training on advocacy and ideas for supporting the strengthening of the movement during and after programming ends.
• 24 Haiti VAWG Prevention Coalition members from six organizations trained in advocacy skills and what happens during and after Phase 4 (Action) in SASA!.
• 15 women from 16 organizations participated in a short course on preventing violence against girls and girls' autonomy.

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.

“Do you know Power to Girls has done a lot for me? I had always said that, when I finished school, I would get married in order to have a man to take care of me - to give me money and to manage everything for me. It has been during my training in Power to Girls that I have discovered my abilities and my capacity – I started thinking differently. Because it is true that I need money to meet my needs but I notice it is best when both people in a couple work together to take care of the house and home. In such a situation, it would be difficult for the man not to respect the woman." ~ Girls Club Mentor

“Only now do I understand the importance activism has had. Now we ourselves are discovering the problems and priorities the communities have and are defining advocacy objectives; therefore, the activists will be happy to organize and advocate.” ~ Partner staff of IDEH, using SASA! in Haiti VAWG Prevention Coalition

“I am grateful to Rethinking Power [Program] for the person it has helped me become; compared to who I was before, I have become a new person.” ~ Community member

“When I received an invitation letter to the training, I thought, ‘What power do they think they are increasing?’ It is only now that I know that the power they are talking about is positive power.” ~ Community member

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.

Girls Clubs Stay Open, Providing Safe Space to 400 During Unrest

Thank you for your generous support for the Haitian-led movement to free, educate, and empower girls and prevent gender-based violence. Your solidarity is making a difference for girls in the midst of growing civil unrest and violence in Haiti.

At a time when most schools closed, 15 out of 16 Girls’ Clubs remained open, providing safe spaces for 400 girls to gather, socialize, and learn. In fact, clubs met more often – two to three times a week – as club mentors showed courage and leadership by stepping in to fill the gap left when schools closed.

Thanks to you and your generosity – and the generous support of the European Union – Girls’ Clubs are there for girls even in times of strife.

30 Young Women and Girls Lead Advocacy Committees in Their Communities

Your generosity is empowering young women and girls to lead the movement to prevent violence against women and balance power between women and men and girls and boys. Thank you for standing in solidarity with these young women as they lead this work!

In the community of Lavale in southeastern Haiti, 30 young women and girls who graduated from Beyond Borders’ Rethinking Power training in June 2021 are using what they learned to lead the movement-building effort there.

In the last quarter, these grassroots leaders – in collaboration with local Girls’ Clubs – held planning meetings and developed an action plan to hold 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 young women are showing is critical. It’s also a testament to the sustainability of this violence-prevention work that your generosity makes possible.

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

First of Four Phases of Violence Prevention Training Completed in Two Communities

Your generous support has made it possible to complete the first of four phases of the two methodologies that make up the foundation of Beyond Borders’ Rethinking Power Program. Thank you again for your generosity and solidarity and for being a key part of this movement-building work!

The completed Start Phase is intensive – filled with meetings with key stakeholder groups including community activists and leaders, local authorities, school directors, parents, students and more. The meetings, which include training and community-based and peer-to-peer dialogue activities, are designed to catalyze a commitment to the norms-change process that communities are embarking on.

Communities also participate in Rapid Assessment Surveys to determine their readiness to move on to the next phase.

With your continued support, Beyond Borders’ Rethinking Power team is preparing to move into phase two, the Awareness Phase, which begins with a series of workshops and activities with key stakeholders. Thank you again for making this kind of progress possible!

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

Thanks to your generous support, the Rethinking Power team and their partners have been able to launch initiatives like these:

• One-hundred community leaders and activists (44 women, 56 men) participated in two refresher training sessions on principles and techniques for effective and efficient activity implementation
• More than 200 people participated in 10 meetings organized by community leaders and activists
• Three community town halls organized with 177 people (82 women, 95 men)
• Twenty-nine local authorities (9 women, 20 men) participated in meetings with BB staff
• One-hundred-six young women started economic, income-generating activities following training in Girls’ Clubs
• Fifteen Girls’ Club members trained on phase one of new Economic Activity Curriculum
• Five trainers providing technical support to partners participated in three days of intensive training on Phase 2 of Power to Girls
• Three-day technical support visits made to three partners in the South, West, and Nippes Departments

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.

Elvire Eugène, executive director of AFASDA, a women’s rights organization in Cap Haitien, shares how their partnership with Beyond Borders enhances their work: 

“[Beyond Borders’] Rethinking Power program has enabled AFASDA to amplify the aspect of violence prevention in [our] work. Thanks to [the methodologies] we are able to methodically implicate men in the prevention of violence against women; it is a lot easier for community members to see the scale and grave consequences of violence against women.

To my knowledge, Beyond Borders is the first actor within the Haitian feminist movement that is specializing in prevention.

The SASA! Together and Power to Girls methodologies and the technical support that Beyond Borders offers to implementing organizations brings new levels of effectiveness in the fight for women’s rights in Haiti.

These methodologies, based on community mobilization, enable each and every person in the community to participate in dialogue and action that serves to prevent violence against women and girls. It makes one see that violence is not a private act but rather an epidemic that needs to be eradicated.

Our successful partnership with [Beyond Borders’] Rethinking Power Program is not only reflected in the quality of the materials used, the different steps/phases in the change process, and the length of the intervention [cycle], but also in the adaptation of translated materials, the technical assistance offered, and the communication of feminist values – in particular intersectional feminism.

Beyond Borders’ Rethinking Power Program is bringing new blood to the Haitian feminist movement, and AFASDA’s management hopes to continue working together for the benefit of Haitian women.” ~ Elvire Eugène, Executive Director, AFASDA

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 and all that you are helping to make possible – even 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:

• We've earned Charity Navigator's highest rating: 4 Stars.
• See the latest on our violence prevention work on Facebook.
• New research finds BB's approach cuts violence in half.