For decades Haiti has suffered from poverty and related problems such as violence, corruption and inadequate education. The very young population has hardly any prospects. In particular young women and girls suffer. Many are sexually abused, are not allowed to go to school and believe that this is normal. Since 2012 Horyzon has been successfully working with YWCA Haiti to improve this situation by empowering annually 400 young women and girls to exercise their rights against abuse and violence.
For decades Haiti has suffered from poverty and related problems such as violence, corruption and inadequate education. The very young population, approx. 70% are younger than 30 years, has hardly any prospects. Young women and girls in particular suffer from the shortcomings. Many are sexually abused, are not allowed to go to school and believe that this exploitation and discrimination is normal. The earthquake in 2010 plunged the country deeper into the abyss.
The program provides young women and girls with the necessary life skills to lift themselves out of poverty through education in women's rights, gender equality and health issues. In the YWCA youth center in Petion-Ville they attend regular lessons and receive professional support. Since many girls suffer from malnutrition, they also receive one warm meal per day. The meetings in this safe place and the exchange with their mentors encourage and empower the women to apply what they have learned.
The program will help young women and girls to escape poverty. They use the competences, abilities and skills acquired in the program to sustain themselves and actively contribute to positive change in heir families and the society. As future leaders, they are represented in political bodies and management positions and perform functions that promote society. They implement their life plans, advocate gender equality, think economically, prevent child pregnancies and conduct a healthy lifestyle.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
