Gender Equality Haiti Project #32096

Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti

by Beyond Borders

Project Report | Aug 20, 2018
You Are Building the Movement to Protect & Empower Girls in Haiti

By Brian Stevens | Donor Relations Director

A Girls' Club gathering in southeastern Haiti.

We Are Grateful for Your Generous Support

Your generous gift to Beyond Borders’ Free, Educate, & Empower Girls in Haiti project on GlobalGiving supports work with grassroots leaders to end child slavery, which disproportionately traps girls; improve girls' access to educational opportunities and make schools safer; expand efforts proven to prevent violence against girls and women, and; mobilize everyone to balance power between women, men, and girls and boys.

What Girls in Haiti Are Saying About the Impact of Your Support

The difference you are making in the lives of girls can best be described by girls themselves. Here are two personal testimonies on the impact of your support:

In Tikoma, one of the 16 communities on Lagonav Island where we are working, a girl who is a survivor of child slavery, told us, “If this program had been here earlier, we wouldn’t have suffered the way we did living in slavery. We hope this program touches many places in the country, so that other children who are suffering in household slavery can find their freedom.”

And in Lavale, a community in southeastern Haiti where our Power to Girls and Girls’ Club programming is active, a girl participating in the program told us, "I want to share how my life has changed since participating in Power to Girls. I didn't have the same power boys have. Now, my mother and father listen to me when I talk in the house, and they try to share chores between my brother and I. They give me more respect in my house and in my community. Before this, I couldn't speak up."

3,077 Women and Girls Impacted by Your Support

During the fiscal year just ended, on Lagonav Island, Beyond Borders’ movement-building programming impacted the lives of 4,974 individuals, including 3,077 women and girls, and 1,954 children and youth.

From April through June 2018, here’s the work that your generous support made possible in Haiti:

End Child Slavery, Which Disproportionately Traps Girls

This quarter, with your support, Beyond Borders’ work to end child slavery and advance the rights of children included these initiatives:

Lagonav Island

Seven (7) Lagonav communities achieved the goal of ensuring no child from the community was sent away by their family to live and work with a family in the city and risk becoming enslaved;
30 children were retrieved from slavery by parents in participating communities;
The adult survivors of child slavery network continued to gain visibility, build capacity, and recruit new members, now with 220 members (191 women);
39 dialogue groups in seven Lagonav Island communities completed training using the 22-session Education is a Conversation Child Rights curriculum;
619 new Child Rights Activists graduated in ceremonies across Lagonav Island;
61 Child Protection Brigade delegates (15 women) from across 16 communities convened for exchange and learning and to cultivate organizing and movement building, examining how local governments can work to support communities’ maturity/capacity to resist slavery;
14 communities received support to hold community events to commemorate Haiti’s National Day of the Child and World Day Against Child Labor. All 14 communities conducted activities to celebrate children and promote child rights, reaching 1,954 children and youth (1,057 girls) and their families.

Central Plateau

Trained and evaluated 20 Education is a Conversation Child Rights dialogue groups to build their knowledge and capacity to defend children’s rights, to understand and promote attitudes and behaviors that protect children, and to engage in interventions to protect children;
More than 200 Child Rights Activists trained using the Education is a Conversation Child Rights curriculum;
178 Child Rights Activists (99 women) in the Central Plateau graduated;
Held a day-long town hall style meeting to convene 203 community residents (127 women) to exchange ideas and to spark local initiative to protect children from slavery and abuse;
Hosted a three-day conference with 70 adult survivors of child slavery (45 women) to invite engagement and create survivors network chapters in Savanèt in the Central Department, as participants explored various themes during the workshop, including the negative impacts of experiencing childhood slavery and how adult survivors can engage in their communities to reduce the number of children who are living in household slavery;
Conducted a four-day training workshop with 58 Child Protection Brigade members on Haiti’s anti-trafficking law.

West Department

490 new Child Rights Activists (289 women) graduated from the 22-session Education is a Conversation Child Rights dialogue group;
Completed social mapping exercises with the community of Malik, to prepare them for a new partnership to protect child rights;
Hosted a two-day workshop on Haiti’s anti-trafficking law for 23 Child Protection Brigade members (21 women) and 22 members of the adult survivors of child slavery network (18 women);
Supported five adult survivors chapters (150 members, 115 of which were women) as they organized and held awareness raising activities in their communities;
Conducted a two-day training workshop with 21 Child Protection Brigade members (20 women) and 20 members (16 women) of the regional adult survivors network coordination committee to build advocacy skills.

Improve Girls' Access to Educational Opportunities and Make Schools Safer

Your gift is supporting our efforts to increase access to school for girls and achieve a measurable reduction in violence against girls through increased knowledge and skills and change in attitudes and behavior among teachers, school directors, and students themselves.

To realize this, your support is being used in the following ways:

9 organizations have participated in Phase 1 (of 4) training for Power to Girls - a step-by-step guide to preventing violence against girls and balancing power between girls and boys in schools and communities, with one organization already advancing to Phase 3 as a long-term partner, which includes a package of ongoing capacity building;
8 communities are nearing the end of Phase 2 of Power to Girls, engaging teachers and school directors in the process of implementing the violence prevention curriculum in their school;
Building the capacity of members of the volunteer community advocacy committee in Kay Jakmèl, in Haiti’s southeast, as the group continues to work to convince the Ministry of Education to integrate a mandatory course on preventing violence against women and girls in local schools.
Continue support for 16 Girls' Clubs in southeastern Haiti, in which girls learn how to advocate for themselves, are educated about reproductive health, learn that girls are equally intelligent and capable as boys, learn to express their opinions and make their voices heard, participate in community activities, and learn to identify community and school resources for reporting sexual abuse if they experience it or observe it.

Expand Efforts Proven to Prevent Violence Against Girls and Women, and; Mobilize Everyone to Balance Power Between Women, Men, and Girls and Boys

Your gift is also supporting Beyond Borders’ work to expand the movement to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) and balance power between women and men in Haiti.

To realize this, your support is being used in the following ways:

At the national level, Ministry of Women's Affairs representatives have participated in two trainings on our preventing VAWG methodologies and the development of a protocol of collaboration is underway;
Data collection was completed to assess best practices in the adaptation of our preventing VAWG work, and additional research components were added to evaluate our technical support work, with the goal of ensuring the most effective dissemination of preventing VAWG techniques.

Lagonav Island

Seven Lagonav communities advanced through the progressive phases of SASA! - the methodology we use to prevent VAWG - with two communities moving into the Support Phase and five into the Awareness Phase this year;
320 community activists (154 women) convened to facilitate exchange and learning and to celebrate and support their work to prevent VAWG and build the movement in their communities;
639 residents (380 women) reached with Quick Chat activities to promote VAWG prevention and balance of power between women and men;
Supported community activists to influence positive changes in attitudes, knowledge, capacity, and behavior of 345 people (146 women) using special, health-themed Quick Chats;
225 residents (126 women) used Power Posters to talk about influencing social norms changes to prevent VAWG;
77 different stakeholders (37 women), including community activists, religious and community leaders, government officials, police, and health workers, etc., supported to create referral lists for use by communities when VAWG response services are needed.

West Department

Mobilized 4,396 residents (2,951 women) in five West Department communities to prevent VAWG, accompanying communities through the Awareness Phase of SASA!, the second of four social norms phases that communities go through to achieve lasting change in beliefs, knowledge, capacity and behaviors;
Monthly meetings held with six local activism staff, with 26 community activists, and 13 members of the SASA! community network, including religious leaders, community leaders and other sectors;
830 community members (530 women) participated in facilitated discussions using comic strips to illustrate themes;
Supported SASA! Activists as they held three popular theater performances and facilitated discussion with 408 community residents (256 youth and 152 elderly);
3 community gatherings facilitated to advance themes and encourage action with 408 residents (256 youth and 152 elderly);
Soap Opera Listening Sessions held with 788 residents (460 youth and 328 elderly);
812 persons (459 youth and 353 elderly) reached through dialogue sessions using posters to talk about the use of power;
Conducted 15 observation visits with network members as they facilitated SASA! Activities.

Looking Beyond

As the work that your support makes possible goes forward, lessons learned in each program will help to refine our programming (e.g. improving poster campaigns, refining advocacy training) while core strategies continue to be applied to advance the process of change.

Beyond Borders’ movement building work will continue to engage with partners and local leaders to learn how to better collaborate with government authorities and local, national, and international institutions. For example, on Lagonav Island we have been working with representatives of the various government ministries, especially the ministry of education, the ministry of agriculture, and local justices of the peace. We are learning along with local authorities and the local population healthy and productive ways of engaging local governments to play a more active role in protecting their children.

Technical support work with other organizations also ensures sustainability beyond our own structure. Our work promotes sustainability through its complementary emphasis on community mobilization and capacity building of local organizations.

All of our methodologies are structured around social norms change and community mobilization processes that continue well beyond the implementation period. By cultivating a corps of community-based activists who are passionate about the issues of preventing VAWG and defending the rights of children, we are building the movement to free, educate, and empower girls in Haiti through ongoing advocacy for policy change and continued community actions that will be sustained locally once our work is completed.

Thank You Again

Your support makes all of this work possible. We are grateful for your generosity, your care, and your concern. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please feel free to call us anytime at (202) 686-2088.

Girls' Clubs teach self-respect and empowerment.

A community crusade to prevent child slavery.

Meeting with preventing VAWG activists on Lagonav.

Ensuring girls get to go to school & be safe too.

We've earned Charity Navigator's highest rating.

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May 23, 2018
Your Support Frees, Educates, & Empowers Girls in Rural Haiti

By Brian Stevens | Donor Relations Director

Stephanie (L) and Claire are girls' club members.

Thank You for Your Generous Support

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

Your gift is supporting work with communities to end child slavery, which disproportionately traps girls; improve girls' access to educational opportunities and make schools safer; expand efforts proven to prevent violence against girls and women, and; mobilize everyone to balance power between women, men, and girls and boys.

Your support is making a real difference in the lives of girls like Stephanie and her friend Claire, who are members of one of 16 girls' clubs launched by Beyond Borders.

Girls' clubs provide safe, girl-only spaces where girls like Stephanie and Claire can gather to build self-confidence, develop friendships, and receive mentorship. "Before I joined the girls' club, I didn't know that girls and boys had the same rights and that girls can do anything that boys can," Stephanie said.

Girls' clubs are just one part of the work that your support is making possible. Here’s a complete look at the work to free, educate, and empower girls in Haiti that you’ve helped make possible with your generous support from January through March of 2018:

End Child Slavery, Which Disproportionately Traps Girls

With your support, this quarter, Beyond Borders continued our work with 16 communities to end child slavery and advance the rights of children. Achievements include:

1. Held Open Space gatherings with 560 residents (407 women) across six communities to engage participants in conversation around the theme, “What are participants in Beyond Borders’ Child Rights Training doing in our community to combat the practice of child slavery (restavèk, in Haitian Creole) and other violence against children?”

Participants agreed to the following collective actions to contribute to the reduction of violence against children and children being sent into restavèk:

They agreed to organize into neighborhood associations;
They agreed to create economic cooperatives like Village Savings and Loan Associations and Mutual Solidarity groups to help struggling families keep their children at home;
They will hold campaigns to raise awareness about child rights;
They will hold training workshops for children and youth on how to protect themselves from violence and how to avoid pregnancy before they’re ready.

2. Held a four-day training workshop with 51 Child Protection Brigade members (19 women), using an adapted curriculum developed by ECPAT - End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, a global network of civil society organizations that works to end the sexual exploitation of children.

The workshop increased participants knowledge and awareness of sexual exploitation and abuse of children, including child sex trafficking and child pornography.

3. Integrated 80 new members into Beyond Borders’ network of Adult Survivors of Child Slavery and held meetings with 97 adult survivors (74 women) across five communities, to advance the survivors’ network.

4. Held trainings for 18 Child Protection Brigade members on advocacy techniques and facilitated 26 meetings with 234 members (78 women) of 13 Child Protection Brigades, discussing a number of issues including:

Writing and establishing principles and rules of engagement for regional groups of Child Protection Brigades, to streamline coordination of structures working to protect children;
How to combine resources to develop economic activities to help the very poorest families in a community keep their children;
Best practices in protecting children who are victims of violence in their communities.

5. Held a training for 55 Child Protection Brigade members on Haiti’s anti-trafficking law.

6. Held a workshop with 13 local elected officials (two women) from four communal sections to continue building relationships with local government toward increased collaboration and coordination of child protection services on the island.

Improve Girls' Access to Educational Opportunities and Make Schools Safer

Your gift is supporting the implementation of Beyond Borders’ Power to Girls, a step-by-step guide to preventing violence against girls. Power to Girls is changing power imbalances between girls and boys in schools through a school-wide process that includes personnel training, establishment of school codes of conduct and referral systems, activities outside of class time for students and personnel, and a related secondary school curriculum that integrates with classroom objectives.

1. Select and train girls’ group mentors and establish girls' groups. Sixteen girls' group mentors were contracted, received a 6-day training workshop, and were accompanied as they recruited participants and launched activities with 16 girls' groups. The Population Council's Girl Roster Tool® was adapted to determine categories of girls to recruit for the groups. Clubs are meeting actively, using Power to Girls materials, and are ready for Phase 2. Mentors participate in monthly meetings to share experiences and learn new content. Staff members support the mentors by making regular visits to group activities to support their facilitation of the groups. A consultant is supporting mentors further in keeping girls' group content interesting and in actively soliciting feedback on direction of the groups and Power to Girls from the girls themselves.

2. Select and prepare schools. The team selected three secondary schools that met the criteria outlined in Power to Girls and demonstrated active interest in participation in the methodology. The selection process included site visits and meetings with leadership and all staff. In addition, all school personnel of the schools that participated in three days of training have selected focal points, or in-school activists for change. Focal points have begun to create a school referral system and to draft codes of conduct that prohibit sexual exploitation of students, to be signed by all school personnel during a second set of trainings.

3. A school director gave this testimony about how Power to Girls has changed how he understands and acts on questions of violence and discrimination against girls: “When violence is a problem at school, I didn’t used to do anything about it. There was a student who became pregnant by another student. He claimed that the pregnancy was the girl’s fault – not his, and he didn’t do anything to accompany the girl. Now, since receiving our first Power to Girls training, I’ve come to see violence against women and girls in a new light. I feel now that this problem concerns me, and I have a duty to do something about it. I’ve come to understand women and men have the same power, and that power should be balanced. I’ve given myself the mission to practice in my free time and use the Power to Girls materials with the classes. I’m committed to work to prevent violence against girls and against women in my school, and in all other spaces.”

Expand Efforts Proven to Prevent Violence Against Girls and Women, and; Mobilize Everyone to Balance Power Between Women, Men, and Girls and Boys

Your gift is also supporting Beyond Borders’ work to expand the movement to prevent violence against women and girls and balance power between women and men in seven new partner communities on La Gonâve Island.

The overarching goals are for Haitian women and girls to have their rights respected, to live without violence, and to access balanced power with men and boys. To realize these goals, our objectives are to:

Reduce social acceptance of gender inequality, intimate partner violence (IPV), and sexual abuse of women and girls;
Decrease experiences and perpetration of IPV and sexual abuse of women and girls;
Increase girls’ sense of safety and freedom to make decisions; and,
Decrease HIV/SRH (sexual and reproductive health) risk behaviors.

To achieve these objectives, we are following the four phases of SASA!, the three-year community-based methodology that Beyond Borders employs to prevent violence and balance power between women and men. The phases are:

(S)tart: Participants begin thinking about violence against women and girls and HIV as interconnected issues, and foster power within to address them;
(A)wareness: Raise awareness about community acceptance of men's use of power over women;
(S)upport: Support activists directly involved in these interconnected issues by joining the movement; and
(A)ction: Take action. Use power to prevent VAW and HIV.

Thanks to your support, achievements for this quarter include:

1. Held three monthly workshops with 66 Community Activists.

2. Held three day-long workshops to build the capacity of 323 community leaders (200 women) to use SASA!.

3. Held a three-day workshop with 66 church leaders to build their capacity with SASA!.

4. Held two radio soap opera listening & discussion groups with residents in Chen Kontan and Gransous.

5. Held training for 25 journalists (10 women) on how to apply SASA! concepts in reporting themes related to violence against women and girls.

6. Provided a three-day workshop to 70 church leaders, health workers, and community leaders on the Support Phase of SASA!.

7. Provided a three-day workshop to 44 community leaders (22 women) – teachers, merchants, students, and farmers – on the Support Phase of SASA!.

8. Provided a three-day workshop to 225 community leaders – church leaders, teachers, Vodou leaders, farmers, merchants, tradespeople, local elected officials, and members of community based organizations – on the Start Phase of SASA!.

9. Provided a three-day workshop to 95 Community Activists on the Start Phase of SASA!.

Thank You Again

Thank you again for your generosity, your care, your concern, and your commitment to freeing, educating, and empowering girls in Haiti. We are deeply grateful for your support. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please feel free to call us anytime at (202) 686-2088.

Making kites, traditionally a boy-only activity.

Marching to end violence against girls & women.

Organizing to end violence against girls & women.

Meeting with Child Protection Brigade leaders.

A survivor of child slavery shares her story.

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