Schools Not Slavery for Rural Haitian Children

Making Progress Despite Extreme Challenges

The last few months have been extremely challenging for the people of Haiti. Despite this, the grassroots leaders, teachers, parents, and local elected officials with whom we work have continued their efforts to protect children from slavery and ensure every girl and boy goes to a good local school.

Now more than ever, your generous gift to Beyond Borders’ Schools Not Slavery initiative is critically important to the success of the Haitian-led movements to end child slavery and guarantee universal quality primary education. Even now, more girls and boys are growing up free, at home with their families, in communities that are committed to keeping them safe and educating them, thanks to you! 

A Groundbreaking Anti-Child Trafficking Decree Published

There's good news to share in the struggle to end child slavery in Haiti. For the first time ever, the Beyond Borders team -- led by attorney Smith Maxime -- succeeded in drafting and winning passage of a model new anti-trafficking law that empowers local governments to protect children and prosecute traffickers.

This summer, with the help of Smith and the Beyond Borders team led by our colleague Freda Catheus, the county government that covers much of Lagonav Island passed a law that requires municipal authorities to ensure that children are not being trafficked to or from their jurisdictions, and mandates prosecution for any case of child trafficking discovered.

Building on the 2014 National Anti-Trafficking Law

This new law builds on the nationwide 2014 anti-trafficking law -- often criticized for its lack of enforcement -- by equipping local governments with the legal framework they need to take action to protect children. The law also spells out standards of care for children living apart from their parents and requires institutions that work with children to report suspected cases of child trafficking.

Your generosity and solidarity is making innovative collaborations like this between Beyond Borders and local governments possible, codifying practices that will free more enslaved girls and boys and prevent child trafficking.

The Work to End Child Slavery that You’ve Made Possible this Quarter

Here’s a look at some of the other work to protect children from slavery and abuse that you made possible this past quarter:

• 349 people (233 women) graduated from 23 Child Rights Training Groups in four communale sections on Lagonav Island
• 3 children (all under the age of six) reunited with their parents through work of Child Protection Brigades trained by Beyond Borders and supported by Haiti Partners. The children’s parents were invited to participate in Child Rights Dialogue Groups and the Village Savings and Loan program and the children were integrated into local school programs.
• 2 new urban communities on Lagonav joined the Child Rights Training program after Child Welfare Surveys were conducted with 569 urban households by local community residents selected and trained by BB staff
• 17 people trained to be Child Rights Training Group facilitators in new rural groups
• 23 child rights focal points from local governments in six communale sections on Lagonav engaged in meetings and workshops

By facilitating government leadership on child rights, Beyond Borders aims to both foster greater engagement from local government, and influence leaders to leverage their democratically-elected authority to listen to their population, establish and strengthen relevant, local structures and practices that are sustainable and rooted in Haitian law, and that do not depend upon outside organizations to continue.

Thank you again for your faithful solidarity and generous support for the movement to end child slavery in Haiti. You are making a lasting difference for some of our world's most vulnerable children.

A Parent Shares What The Training You Made Possible Means to Her

Your generosity and solidarity is making a lasting difference for parents and children on Lagonav Island. Here is a testimonial from a parent who took part in Child Rights Training made possible by you:

“I was so happy to receive my certificate for completing the Child Rights Training. It was a big day in my life that I will never forget. Many people I know who were trained with me have made a lot of changes not only in their lives and the lives of their children, but also in the community as other families see how to treat their children and other children. I will admit that I used to hit my children a lot, especially my son, when they misbehaved. I thought it was the best way for me to correct them. But I did not get the results I was looking for. But during and after my [child rights] training, I began using other methods to correct them – like making them spend more time on reading and writing and instead of playing. Even though my husband has more patience than me when it comes to children, I suggested that he join a training group this year so that we can be on the same page. I also made the same suggestion to my neighbor who has a little girl who does not go to school. I cannot remain indifferent now that I have been trained, so I have started to intervene. I will always support children who are in difficult situations. I am certain this program can reach people who have children living with them and who are being treated as restavèks (household servants) so that children in the area as well as across the country can truly live [and] be treated as people.” ~ Marie-Ange, 36-year-old mother of two, Child Rights Training graduate.

Your Generosity is Building the Movement to Guarantee Universal Quality Primary Education for Every Girl and Boy on Lagonav Island

With your support, work continues to organize a Communal Education Platform on Lagonav Island, engaging key education stakeholders, including local government, the Ministry of Education, schools, and community leaders. The goal is to ensure local organizing and leadership to build the movement to guarantee universal access to quality education in each Communal Section (Municipal District) of the Commune of Ansagalè, Lagonav Island, in the communities where Beyond Borders is working.

Our primary education partner on the island, the Matènwa Community Learning Center (MCLC) continues its work with schools to improve the quality of education being offered to children. The two-year teacher training program trains school principals and teachers in how to integrate new teaching methods and approaches that are participatory, nonviolent, rooted in local culture, and taught in Haitian Creole.

Expanding and Evaluating the Teacher Training Program on Lagonav

Beyond Borders’ partner, MCLC, invited seven new schools to participate in the teacher training program. Schools were evaluated and selected by a joint committee of MCLC, local authorities, and Beyond Borders. MCLC launched the program with an intensive, three-day training workshop on-site at MCLC; 45 educators participated, including seven principals (one woman) and 38 teachers (15 women).

The process to conduct an external evaluation of the Teacher Training Program, that had been delayed at the end of FY2021, moved forward this quarter with an external consultant beginning work in October.

Communal Education Platform Plays Key Role in Problem-Solving

One of the key objectives of bringing together all education stakeholders on Lagonav to promote increased access to quality primary education is to foster creative, collaborative solutions to problems encountered. Prior to the start of the new academic year, a state school in Titans was suffering from a lack of teachers. State school inspectors, other school directors, MCLC and Beyond Borders staff mobilized and supported the school to identify and hire five new teachers. 

In another instance, in the community of Ti Palmis, a conflict between teachers and a director at one of the schools seemed unresolvable. It was brought to the attention of the platform, and members intervened to support the teachers and school director to come to a solution agreeable to all.

Thank You Again

I am grateful for all the good work that you are making possible through your support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative. Thank you again for your extraordinary generosity and solidarity. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please call or write to me anytime at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

Links:

• Get an in-depth look at Beyond Borders' work in this new video

Rescuing Children from Slavery and Reuniting them with Family: You Make it Possible.

Your generous support and the leadership of Child Protection Brigades and Adult Survivors of Child Slavery are freeing children and reuniting them with their families. Thank you for supporting the Haitian-led movement to end child slavery for good!

Two Freed Girls Reunited with Family; One Boy Freed from Slavery and Abuse

Thanks to your generous support and the grassroots leaders building the movement to end child slavery in Haiti, today more girls and boys are free, safe, and back home with their families. Sarah* is one of those freed and reunited with family.

For more than a year, Sarah had been living with a Welcoming Family -- essentially a foster family -- in Port-au-Prince as she waited to be reunited with her family in the south of Haiti.

Back in 2019, Sarah ran away from the home she was being abused in, finding refuge with a woman who is an active member of one of the Beyond Borders’ Adult Survivor of Child Slavery Network branches that your support helps make possible.

This survivor network member intervened on Sarah’s behalf, working with Beyond Borders staff to get Sarah into a safe home, locate her family, and mount a formal, legal case against her abuser. Insecurity and challenges created by the pandemic delayed Sarah’s reunification with her family on several occasions. She was finally reunited with her family and recently the Beyond Borders Child Protection Team travelled to the south for a follow-up visit with Sarah and her family. Thank you again for making stories like this possible.

*We’ve changed Sarah’s name to protect her identity.

A Grateful Family Gives Thanks for Sarah’s Return

We want you to hear from Sarah’s family what her return means to them -- a return made possible in part because of your generosity. Here’s what they told our Child Protection Team during a follow-up visit:

“If it wasn’t for your good organization that found her and took her I could’ve lost her … I could’ve lost my child. When I heard that your organization found her I was so happy … I said ‘My child’s here!’ I will never send my child away again to suffer with others.” ~ Wilson, Sarah’s father

“From the moment I heard she was lost I couldn’t even eat. I was so happy [when she returned]. I hugged my little girl. I love that child! If someone asks you for a child I would say no, don’t give her to them.” ~ Chantale, Sarah’s mother

“We thought she was lost forever … it was such a joy when she came home.” ~ Maxi, Sarah’s uncle

Your Generosity Supports Follow-Up Care for Freed Children

As we said above, your generosity is also supporting follow-up visits and psycho-social counseling for Sarah and her parents and siblings, so that together they can overcome the trauma they've experienced and begin to rebuild their family.

With your support, Beyond Borders' staff and our locally established Child Protection Brigades and branches of the Adult Survivors of Child Slavery Network provide rehabilitative care and support to children, families, and their communities, to help ensure that every child has a healthy and safe return. This work also includes getting newly freed girls and boys enrolled in a good local school too.

Your generosity is securing freedom, restoring dignity, and rebuilding lives for some of our world's most vulnerable children and their families.

A Young Boy is Rescued from Slavery and Abuse on Lagonav Island

In another example of what your support makes possible, members of the Adult Survivor Network, Child Protect Brigade, and SASA! Community Activists (working to prevent violence against women and girls) all joined together with Beyond Borders staff to intervene in the dire case of a young boy who was being held by a pastor, exploited and severely abused. 

It took time and a lot of advocacy and pressure -- the local judge in the rural Lagonav Island community was reluctant to get involved -- but the boy was finally removed from the home and placed in an orphanage for temporary care. The pastor was arrested.

Unfortunately, after pressure from some members in the community, the judge released the pastor saying he had “been punished enough.” Formal complaints and calls for action have been launched by Beyond Borders to judicial authorities in Port-au-Prince, including with the highest-level judicial body. The Child Protection Unit within the Haitian National Police has also been made aware of the case. Efforts are underway to locate the child’s father, who lives on the mainland.

The Beyond Borders team will stay on this case -- thanks in part to the generosity and solidarity you continue to provide.

The Work to End Child Slavery that You’ve Made Possible this Quarter

Here’s a look at some of the other work to protect children from slavery and abuse that you made possible this past quarter:

• 21 new Child Rights Training Facilitators from four communities trained on Lagonav
• 23 new Child Rights Training Groups launched on Lagonav
• 28 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices surveys conducted in new communities on Lagonav where child rights groups have started
• 665 people (465 women, 200 men) participated in several Child Rights Trainings in the Central Plateau
• 149 members from 11 Adult Survivor Branches conducted participative evaluation exercises to inform training priorities
• 22 families on Lagonav and in Port-au-Prince identified and approved to start the certification process to become Welcoming Families (foster families) for children
• 35 children obtained birth certificates with support from our partner organization in the Central Plateau
• 2 community mobilization campaigns carried out to raise awareness about the practice of restavèk (child domestic servitude) and to encourage adult survivors to join the movement to end it
• 50 members of Child Protection Brigades participated in refresher training on advocacy techniques and plans
• Child Rights Activists in the Central Plateau highlighted dangerous practices at a local night club including the regular presence of children 

Your Generosity is Building the Movement to Guarantee Quality Primary Education on Lagonav Island

Work with 18 schools to improve the quality of education being offered to children on Lagonav Island continued this past quarter -- thanks to your support. These 18 schools are currently completing a two-year teacher training program, integrating new methods and approaches to deliver primary education in Haitian Creole that is participatory, nonviolent, and rooted in local culture using techniques like school gardens.

Ensuring every girl and boy is enrolled in a good local school is one of the best ways to keep them from being sent away and risking enslavement. To that end, there is encouraging progress in the work to build a Communal Education Platform on Lagonav that brings together those working to ensure a quality education for all children on the island. 

There are now active education coordination branches in each of the six communal sections of Ansagale and one in Pwentarakèt (the other municipality on Lagonav). Together, they form the new Communal Education Platform, to which new branches can be added as work expands across the island. General assemblies have been held in a number of the branches as well as assessment and planning workshops.

This has taken an immense amount of time bringing people together, building relationships, fostering mutual trust and respect to define common goals, ways of working and joint accountability. We are grateful for your support for this movement-building work and we are excited about what the future holds for students on Lagonav Island. Thank you for helping to make this progress possible!

The Work to Guarantee Universal Quality Primary Education that You’ve Made Possible this Quarter

Here’s a look at some of the other work to ensure every girl and boy gets a quality education that you made possible this past quarter:

• 7 new, active communal section education branches formed, coming together to form the new Communal Education Platform on Lagonav
• More than 43 school staff from 18 schools engaged in teacher training workshops
• 459 students, 42 teachers, and 18 directors from 18 schools benefited from monthly classroom coaching visits focused on nonviolent, participatory, native language education
• More than 900 parents, teachers, and local authorities participated in Open Space community meetings to facilitate increased parent engagement in school life
• More than 2,000 Lagonav residents participated in community advocacy events to promote quality education and Haitian Creole as the language of instruction

Teachers Share What The Training You Make Possible Means to Them

Your generosity and solidarity is making a lasting difference for students and their teachers on Lagonav Island. Here are testimonies from two teachers who took part in teacher training made possible by you:

“Words are not sufficient to express my happiness and satisfaction with…the training I received – despite all the experience I have – [the project] helped me to see how much I didn’t know. I now feel so much better prepared as a principal to manage my school. Through this program, I have really mastered what it means to be a school principal. Through the training, I’ve come to transform several misconceptions I had, and I’ve seen the same transformation in my teachers.” ~ Kely Angervil, Principal, Nouvèl Vizyon School, Nan Kafe, Lagonav

“I’ve been teaching for more than 20 years. I truly was not prepared to be a quality teacher. The training I’ve received through [the project] has helped me to see this. I have really enjoyed how the trainers have worked with us, respecting each of us, no matter what level of education we have.” ~ Delcarme Borgela, Teacher, Nazarèt School, Mon Repo, Lagonav

Thank You Again

I am grateful for all the good work that you are making possible through your support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative. Thank you again for your extraordinary generosity and solidarity. All of us at Beyond Borders continue to send our best wishes for the health and well-being of you and your loved ones during these uncertain times. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please call or write to me anytime at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

Links:

• See what we're doing in Haiti. Follow us on Twitter.
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In the Last Quarter 17 More Children Freed, Reunited with Family, Enrolled in Good Schools

Thanks to you and your generous support and the tireless work of Child Protection Brigades and Adult Survivors of Child Slavery, 17 more girls and boys are now free, home, and back in school. I am so grateful for the work that you are making possible in Haiti.

You are Building a Movement to End Child Slavery for Good in Haiti

Your generous support is equipping and mobilizing communities to ensure that every child grows up free, safe, and at home with their families where they are loved, protected, and educated. The Child Rights Training activities that you support are designed to ensure that participants demonstrate changes in beliefs and behaviors, so that children are protected from abuse and neglect and their exploitation in child domestic slavery ends.

Your support strengthens locally established child protection groups – Child Protection Brigades and branches of the Survivors of Restavèk (Slavery) Network – in their work to end child slavery. Child and adult survivors of slavery gain access to services that facilitate their liberation, rehabilitative care, and reintegration into family and community. Your gift also supports work with local and national government and civil society to make decisions and undertake actions that protect children.

The Work to End Child Slavery that You’ve Made Possible this Quarter

Here’s a look at some of the work to protect children from slavery and abuse that you made possible this past quarter:

• Thirteen communities on Lagonav Island, five Adult Survivor Networks in Port-au-Prince, and 35 Child Protection Brigades in Haiti’s north organized activities commemorating the National Day to End the Practice of Restavèk (Slavery)

• Five survivor branches in Port-au-Prince participated in three-day training workshops on designing action plans to protect children

• Thirty-five child protection committees in the north were trained in organizational structure and leadership, and how to design action plans

• Sixteen children are now enrolled in school thanks to the joint work of local authorities, Child Protection Brigades and our partner PDL in the north

• Nine communities launched child rights mini-reflection groups – a modified, less intensive version of our six-month Child Rights Training

• Seventeen children returned home to their families in Port-au-Prince

Your Generosity Supports Partnership and Networking with Key Policy Makers to Protect Children on Lagonav Island

Your generosity is supporting key networking activities to protect children. In a meeting with local authorities from each of the six communal sections on Lagonav Island, as well as the mayor of the island’s largest city, Ansagale, participants committed to continue prioritizing child protection and ending the practice of restavèk (household slavery). Local authorities reaffirmed their commitment to continue working with Beyond Borders on these issues. They shared that they view Beyond Borders as an organization that respects people, keeps its word, and does not come to do things “for” people/communities, but rather to collaborate and work together for lasting solutions to real problems. It is a partnership and collaboration that they, as authorities, will continue to promote and defend.

Your Generosity Supports Teams Intervening in and Seeking Prosecution of Cases of Slavery and Abuse

Liberating children from slavery through direct intervention and holding perpetrators accountable for exploitation and abuse continues to be a priority for Beyond Borders’ teams both in Port-au- Prince and on Lagonav Island -- and your support is making their work possible.

In Port-au-Prince, Beyond Borders works in collaboration with the Survivors of Restavèk (Slavery) Network (SRN); on Lagonav, we work with Child Protection Brigades, branches of the SRN and the Beyond Borders-sponsored SASA! activists’ network working to end violence against women and girls. All three entities work together to intervene in cases of abuse and slavery. Here are two recent interventions that your support made possible:

• On Lagonav – the photos of a 14-year-old boy with multiple signs of physical abuse surfaced and were brought to the attention of the Beyond Borders Lagonav team. Upon investigation, it was discovered that he was living in a situation of restavèk (domestic slavery) at the home of a local pastor. The team mobilized and began the steps of intervening on behalf of the child. The child has been removed from the home and is in the care of designated care takers. Financial support is being provided to secure legal support for the family of the boy.
• In Port-au-Prince – the Beyond Borders team continues to document individual cases of children identified as at-risk of exploitation and abuse. Out of 108 cases that have been classified as “high risk” 14 have been fully documented and are ready for intervention by authorities. Beyond Borders is working with the International Office of Lawyers (BAI) in Haiti to take the next steps to file official complaints at the State Prosecutor’s Office, and to begin the process of having the children safely and legally removed from the homes where they are being abused and enslaved and reunited with their families.

Your Generosity Supports the Creation of 48 New Child Rights Training Groups

Your generosity supports work with Partners for Local Development (PDL) in Haiti’s north. Forty-eight community dialogue groups, with a total of 665 people, are now meeting regularly in three communities where PDL is working, using Beyond Borders’ Education is a Conversation (ESK) Child Rights Training methodology.

You are Building a Movement to Guarantee Universal Quality Primary Education

You are continuing to make work with 18 schools on Lagonav Island possible this year, all of which are in their second year of a two-year program to strengthen the quality of education through the use of strategies that include:

• native language instruction
• a participatory approach to classroom instruction
• nonviolent classroom management
• parental engagement strategies; and,
• education rooted in rural life (teaching through school gardens, crop management etc.).

Thanks to your support, Beyond Borders is also continuing to work with the Ministry of Education and education stakeholders on Lagonav Island to design and implement a new, comprehensive education strategy to improve access to quality education.

The Work to Guarantee Universal Quality Education that You’ve Made Possible this Quarter

Here’s a look at some of the work to guarantee universal quality education that you made possible this past quarter:

• Thirty-eight pedagogical visits to train teachers conducted with 18 schools
• The distribution of material creation kits for Mother Tongue Books -- books children write themselves, in their native language, telling stories about their own lives -- to 18 schools
• Forty-five teachers (13 women) participated in monthly training workshops
• Seven schools, which included 872 students and teachers, successfully organized community advocacy events
• Six community mapping workshops were organized with key education stakeholders

Your Generosity Supports the Work of Beyond Borders’ New Education Officer

Thanks to you and your support, Beyond Borders’ new Education Officer is convening monthly meetings with members from local government, the Ministry of Education, school directors, organizations working in the education sector, community leaders, parents and students with the aim of ensuring every child has the chance to go to school.

The first meeting was held last quarter – one in each of Lagonav Island’s six communal sections – with 182 participants. The objective was to carry out a participatory community mapping exercise that included a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) specific to each communal section. The workshops permitted the different actors to identify together the various issues affecting access to and quality of education in their communities, and to determine what solutions exist. In each communal section, participants agreed to work on a logical framework of results and activities, and to determine roles and responsibilities and mobilize logistics and resources to implement their plans.

Teachers Share What The Training You Make Possible Means to Them

Your generosity and solidarity is making a lasting difference for students and their teachers on Lagonav Island. Here are testimonies from two teachers who took part in teacher training made possible by you:

“I do not have words to express my gratitude for the trainers. I have had the opportunity to participate in many training sessions. If it was left up to the government, I would not have received any pedagogical training support because it is not a priority for the state. Now, I am equipped with more techniques and methods that I can use to teach my students better. I also learned how to grow and maintain a vegetable garden at the school with my students, and I have applied what I learned to set up a garden at home, too. Now I feel more prepared to teach! Thank you, Beyond Borders!”

~ Chelna Beauvoir, a teacher in the National School of Notre Dame de Lourdes in the community of Pikmi on Lagonav Island.

“Since this training began we teachers at the Jerusalem School have a new perspective on learning and teaching, and it is receiving praise from both students and their parents. Some of the specific things that teachers and parents praised are the Mother Tongue Book program and the increased knowledge gained from planting and maintaining school vegetable gardens. Before, we as a school did not place much importance on instruction in Creole. As far as a school garden, we did not even think about that. Thanks to you we have discovered the richness in teaching and learning in our mother tongue. The monthly training workshops also provide a lot of advantages. Teachers work better and school directors better understand their roles. The way we treat our students today compared to the way we did before this partnership is very different. We have learned about children’s rights which, in turn, helps us to treat them better now. Thank you to those who support this work!”

~ Joseph Anderson, Mixte Jerusalem School in the city of Ansagalè on Lagonav Island.

Thank You Again

I am grateful for all the good work that you are making possible through your support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative. Thank you again for your extraordinary generosity and solidarity. All of us at Beyond Borders continue to send our best wishes for the health and well-being of you and your loved ones during these uncertain times. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please call or write me anytime at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

Links:

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• Follow us on Facebook for the latest on our work in Haiti.

• See more from Haiti in our Winter 2021 Newsletter. (PDF)
  

Students are Back in the Classroom and Protected from COVID -- Thanks to You

I am so grateful for your generous gift to the Schools Not Slavery initiative. Thanks to you, students at 18 schools on Lagonav Island are back in their classrooms, wearing masks and practicing social distancing and good hygiene. 

And -- also thanks to you -- their teachers resumed their training in nonviolent, native language, participatory classroom management techniques too. It's an approach that is transforming education at these schools, encouraging creativity, curiosity, critical thinking and leadership in girls and boys.

A Teacher Shares How The Training You Support Made Him a Better Educator

One of the best ways to communicate the kind of impact that you are making in the lives of students and their teachers is for you to hear directly from those who benefit from your generosity.

Leonald, a third grade teacher on Lagonav Island, shares how the teacher training that you are making possible is changing how he and his fellow teachers manage their classrooms.

“The work [you] did to develop me as a teacher is extraordinary. I have so many more techniques to use when I’m working with the children. I feel like I don’t have to struggle as hard with my students. Through our school's participation in the teacher training program, I found that my students both learned better and more quickly. I didn't have any students who struggled to read.”

Your Generosity Supports an Approach to Classroom Management that Encourages Creativity, Curiosity, and Democracy

Traditional schools in Haiti perpetuate an authoritarian model of leadership. Curiosity is discouraged, and students are forced to memorize long passages in French, a language that almost no one in the community, including teachers, can actually speak.

Visit Leonald's school -- or any of the schools in Beyond Borders' Schools Not Slavery Network -- and you’ll immediately see the difference that your generosity is making.

Vibrant, active students are interacting and becoming literate in their native language first, with French and English introduced as second languages. Questioning and curiosity are encouraged, democratic decision-making is promoted, and what students learn in the classroom and in a school garden is put to immediate use for the benefit of the community.

Thanks to supporters like you, since 2014, teachers at more than 50 schools on Lagonav Island have been trained in this kind of innovative approach to quality education.

You Make it Possible to Expand the Movement to Guarantee Universal Quality Education

Your generosity is also making it possible to advance another of Beyond Borders’ educational priorities for this fiscal year -- to continue working with local representatives of the Ministry of Education and local educators to develop a new strategy to build and strengthen the movement to ensure access to quality primary education for all children on Lagonav.

One of the ways we’ve committed to this is by adding a new staff member -- thanks to your support -- who will focus on this movement-building effort. Amos, a resident of Lagonav with a double degree from the Haitian State University in Philosophy and Psychology, and other notable educational certificates, is joining Beyond Borders as our Education Officer.

For eight years Amos served as the Pedagogical Director at a local school on Lagonav and as a volunteer philosophy teacher at a public high school there too. Additionally, Amos spent five years with a non-profit working on education on Lagonav. Amos began working with the Beyond Borders team in mid-October.

The focus of this role will be to drive education network-building on Lagonav Island; coordinate advocacy efforts across Communal Sections; represent Beyond Borders at national and regional education advocacy platforms; and, link emerging Lagonav-based networks with national advocacy efforts.

Welcome Amos, and thanks again to you and all of our supporters who made it possible to expand this education work and create the post of Education Officer!

Building the Movement to End Child Slavery Continues -- Thanks to You

With new COVID protocols in place to protect community members and the Beyond Borders’ team, the work to build the movement to end child slavery continues -- thanks to your generous support.

On Lagonav Island, the team continues the social mapping process with communities, helping grassroots and local elected leaders to determine their strengths and weaknesses, and their community-wide priorities, including identifying families most at-risk of sending a child away.

Work with newly created and existing Child Protection Brigades in communities continues, as does work with law enforcement and judicial authorities around specific cases of child slavery (restavèk).

The anti-child slavery Zero Restavèk Campaign continues too, as do targeted children’s rights trainings conducted by partners with local authorities. The team is continuing to collaborate with government authorities and with branches of the Adult Survivor Network as they multiple throughout the country. Work with the Abolish the Restavèk System (Aba Sistèm Restavèk) Network also continues.

Your Generosity Makes New Partnerships & Networking with Key Policy Makers and Allies Possible

Beyond Borders is a formal member of the Working Group on Human Trafficking, and now has direct access to the President of the National Committee Against Human Trafficking. 

Coordination and planning with Committee and Working Group members has advanced (especially with the Lumos Foundation) specifically around direct intervention in cases of child abuse and slavery (restavèk). Both the National Committee and Lumos have pledge to support Beyond Borders’ Child Liberation Initiative -- launched in 2019 with support from people like you.

Beyond Borders will coordinate interventions in communities to identify and document cases requiring intervention, coordinating with the Haitian National Police. Lumos runs a transitional shelter for children and has agreed to receive children who are victims of abuse and/or restavèk while the search for their parents and/or placement in a temporary Welcoming Family (similar to a foster family in the U.S.) can be arranged.

Intervening in and Seeking Prosecution of Cases of Abuse/Restavèk with Your Support

Liberating children from child slavery through direct intervention, and holding those accountable for exploitation and abuse continues to be a priority for the Beyond Borders’ team in Port-au-Prince, in collaboration with the Survivor of Restavèk Network (SRN) and thanks to your generous support.

Earlier in 2020, 160 children potentially living in abusive and/or exploitative situations were identified in eight Port-au-Prince neighborhoods. Since July 1, the Beyond Borders team, working with the SRN has been documenting the cases in order to identify priority cases for intervention. To date, 121 of the 160 cases are in different stages of documentation.

After a long and complicated process, formal complaints have finally been filed in the courts in the cases of two young girls who had been living in situations of restavèk. This was made possible through the partnership Beyond Borders established with the International Office of Lawyers (BAI) in Haiti -- and thanks to your support too.

New Child Rights Education Dialogue Groups Launched -- Thanks to You

Haiti Partners -- a longtime Beyond Borders partners -- launched six community dialogue groups using the Education is a Conversation (ESK) Child Rights methodology that supporters like you made possible. Fifty-seven people in three new communities are participating in these groups with six facilitators that have been trained in ESK facilitation.

Your Generosity is Strengthening the Adult Survivor Network

At the beginning of September, 40 representatives of the eight Port-au-Prince Survivor of Restavèk Network (SRN) branches held a General Assembly meeting (applying Covid-19 protocols) to adopt the statutes of their network; assess the work of the former leadership team; and, elect new leaders. Nine members (including five women) were elected for a two-year term.

SRNs continue to gain visibility and validation in the communities in which they operate, thanks to your generous support. The presence, mobilization, awareness-raising and interventions of SRN members, is changing social norms, knowledge, beliefs and practices around violence against children and the practice of restavèk in communities.

How Adult Survivor Networks Help Community Members Protect Abused and Enslaved Children

An example of this is another instance in which community members in one neighborhood noticed a young girl with several open sores and marks on her body when she was in the market. They began talking with her and determined that something was going on at home.

The community members took a video of the girl, identified where she was living, and went to share the information with one of the SRN members (who they knew was someone they could turn to in their neighborhood when they suspected a child was being abused).

The SRN set into motion the process to follow up -- sharing the information with Beyond Borders (who in turn informed the National Committee), and connected with the Child Protection Brigade of the Haitian National Police, which Beyond Borders has established a working relationship for such cases.

Thank You Again

I am grateful for all the good work that you are making possible through your support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative. Thank you again for your extraordinary generosity and solidarity. All of us at Beyond Borders continue to send our best wishes for the health and well-being of you and your loved ones during these uncertain times. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please call or write me anytime at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

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More Girls and Boys are Growing Up Free from Slavery and Abuse, at Home, and Protected from COVID -- Thanks to You

Thank you again for your generosity and your solidarity with the people of Haiti. Your generous support means that more girls and boys in Haiti are growing up free and safe, at home with their families, in communities that are committed to protecting and educating them. Thank you!

Right now in Haiti, your support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative is building local leadership to protect and educate children and to prevent COVID-19 too.

Before I share with you the latest update on the work that you are making possible through your support for Schools Not Slavery, I want to share with you a message from our Executive Director David Diggs about the actions that we are taking -- thanks to supporters like you -- to help families and communities in Haiti protect themselves from COVID-19.

A COVID-19 Update from Executive Director David Diggs

Thanks to an outpouring of support from so many generous souls, some of the most vulnerable populations in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and on Lagonav Island now have masks, hygiene kits, family garden kits, emergency cash assistance, and the accurate information they need to protect themselves from COVID-19.

We’ve distributed 2,400 hygiene kits, 10,000 masks handsewn by members of Beyond Borders’ Adult Survivors of Child Slavery Network, and purchased an additional quantity of hospital-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) for people working on the front lines.

Health clinics and the hospital on Lagonav got more than 1,250 gallons of disinfectant, while 220 families on the island received family garden kits and 110 received emergency cash assistance to fight off hunger too.

The generosity of supporters like you has also made it possible to get life-saving virus-prevention information out to some of the most vulnerable populations via our Community Megaphone Campaign, so that families can stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect themselves and their neighbors from this deadly virus.

The campaign is up and running in urban and rural communities across Haiti, and is led by a team with more than a decade of experience in public education and mass communication.

These brave women and men -- members of the Adult Survivors of Child Slavery Network, Child Protection Brigades, and Community Activists working to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls -- are using their expertise to get critical virus-prevention information out to families and communities who might otherwise go without it.

And because domestic violence often spikes in times of crisis, these teams are sharing child protection and preventing violence against women and girls messaging too.

I thought you might like to see some of the work that is part of this emergency response. The photo above is of a volunteer -- one of more than 30 who sewed masks -- at her sewing machine on Lagonav Island.

These volunteers made the 10,000 masks we distributed as part of Beyond Borders’ COVID-19 Emergency Response.

Planning is now underway to address escalating hunger fueled by skyrocketing prices and an ongoing drought. Beyond Borders teams are working with grassroots leaders and local elected officials to develop community-based responses so that no family goes hungry and every household has what they need to keep the virus at bay. I hope to share more with you soon about what’s next.

It’s hard to find good news right now, but this outpouring of generosity to fight COVID-19 in Haiti gives me reason to hope, and I hope it does the same for you too.

With deep gratitude,

David

Building the Capacity of Local Elected Officials and Grassroots Leaders to Protect Children

We know that children who are able to go to school are much less likely to be sent away to live with others and risk becoming enslaved. Thanks to your support, Beyond Borders’ Child Rights team expanded efforts to engage local government and grassroots leaders in six communal sections on Lagonav Island to end the practice of sending children away and to ensure every girl and boy in their community grows up free from abuse and neglect.

Efforts this quarter focused on building relationships with representatives of local governments and facilitating collaboration between the established Beyond Borders Child Rights Activist Network and local government.

The goal is to cultivate joint plans to reduce the practice of child slavery and expand awareness-raising and child rights activist training to communities on Lagonav Island that we’ve not yet reached.

Relationship-building and efforts to cultivate the engagement of local government across these six communal sections has taken longer than plans called for, however, there have been very positive outcomes with respect to local government’s engagement to combat the practice of child slavery.

One of these positive outcomes is a new Protocol for the Prevention of Child Trafficking -- made possible because of your investment in this movement-building work.

During a two-day workshop, Beyond Borders colleagues like Freda Catheus, who leads our work on Lagonav Island, drew from their experience working closely with Child Rights Activists in our Child Protection Brigades and Adult Survivors of Child Slavery Network, to draft the protocol with the mayor of Lagonav Island's largest community, Ansagale, his cabinet, and elected officials from five other communities.

The protocol enacts protections to ensure that no child is trafficked from the island to the mainland, and it will be enforced collectively by local officials and Child Rights Activists trained by Beyond Borders -- with your support -- to recognize and intervene in cases of child slavery.

Your generosity is making this kind of movement-building work possible -- organizing local elected officials and Child Rights Activists to protect every girl and boy from slavery and abuse.

Supporting Child Rights Activists in 16 Lagonav Island Communities

You’ve also made it possible for Beyond Borders’ staff to continue to provide targeted support to existing Child Protection Brigades (CPBs) and chapters of the Survivors of Restavèk (Child Slavery) Network (SRN) as they conduct important activism to build the movement to end child slavery on Lagonav Island.

Here’s a look at some of the cases in which your support has empowered CPBs, SRN members, and members of Beyond Borders’ SASA! Activism Network to prevent violence against women and girls to intervene to protect vulnerable children:

Location: Nan Kafe

Local Structures: CPB, SRN group, and SASA! activism network

Child’s Age, Gender: 12 years, female

Incident: Child living with a family (possibly in a domestic slavery situation) was being abused; community members intervened and brought the case to Nan Kafe CPB and SRN groups.

Intervention: CPB and SRN members conducted home visit to speak with abuser. They requested she change her treatment of the girl or return her to her parents. The woman agreed to change how she treats the girl. The child has remained in the family under close observation of CPB and SRN members.

Location: Fonnèg

Local Structures: CPB, SRN group, and SASA! activism network

Child’s Age, Gender: 16 years, female

Incident: An adolescent girl was raped by an adult male and impregnated.

Intervention: The CPB, SRN, and SASA! Activists collaborated to support the mother to pursue legal action for the arrest of the rapist, who is still in hiding; also, they accompanied the family to access medical care for the girl.

Location: Grann Sous

Local Structures: CPB

Child’s Age, Gender: 8 years, male

Incident: The child was not enrolled in school.

Intervention: CPB members collaborated to purchase school supplies and pooled finances to pay tuition; this is one example of 104 children (63 girls) who were supported in this way.

Location: Masikren

Local Structures: CPB and Activism network

Child’s Age, Gender: 14 years, female

Incident: This orphaned child living with disabilities was being abused by the family with whom she lives (not her biological family)

Intervention: Neighbors reported this situation to the CPB and Activism Network; a delegation was formed to visit the household to talk with the girls’ guardians. Activists challenged the parent to improve their treatment of the child, and it was agreed. The parent has begun changing, and the CPB and Activists continue to provide close accountability.

And here’s a look at some of the other quarterly goals and supporting activities to build the movement to end child slavery that your generous support made possible:

Goal: Local elected leaders identify child slavery as a priority issue and lead efforts to eradicate this practice in coordination with civil society.

• Meetings were held with local government and a draft accord written that outlines collaboration between Beyond Borders and local government on the four objectives of the Model Community Initiatve: ending child slavery, guaranteeing universal quality primary education, preventing violence against women and girls, and ensuring every family can earn a dignified living.
• Social mapping exercises were completed in five of six communal sections; data is being treated and shared with local government and community members; meetings will be facilitated with communities and government representatives to analyze child welfare results.
• Twelve planning meetings were held with local governments to discuss child rights.
• Seven meetings were held to encourage functional linkages between Child Protection Brigades (CPBs), Survivors of Restavèk (Child Slavery) Network (SRN) chapters, local government, and local residents to strengthen collaboration on promoting children’s rights.
• Local government leaders have not yet reached the stage of recruiting child protection community mobilization teams; this is on hold at the moment due to COVID-19 restrictions on meetings.

Goal: Population in the six communal sections acquire new knowledge and change attitudes and practices toward child maltreatment and the system of enslaving children in domestic servitude (restavèk).

• Child Rights Training facilitator and supervisor candidates were selected but have not yet been trained to conduct child rights training in new communal sections under the leadership of local government; this will take place after social mapping results are analyzed and priorities are identified for each district (stalled by COVID-19).
• Awareness-raising activities were held to promote the SRN in three of 16 communities, reaching 99 people (69 women).
• The SRN conducted an outreach gathering in Nan Sema to organize adult survivors of child slavery for participation in the SRN; 36 adult survivors (24 women) joined this new SRN group in Nan Sema.
• SRN groups and CPBs have not yet been established in new communal sections; after they are, they will be supported to conduct activities like the Zero Restavèk (No Child Enslaved) campaigns and community meetings to recruit new members to the SRN.
• Once child rights training takes place in new intervention regions, new CPBs and SRN groups will be created under the leadership of local government officials.
• Forty-one teachers and principals were trained as Child Rights facilitators in schools participating in the teacher training program.

Goal: Local communities have strengthened child protection systems.

• A series of meetings were held, and a draft protocol was developed in collaboration with local governments for tracking internal and external movement of children in the Ansagalè municipality (Lagonav Island’s largest city).
• Twelve CPB and SRN members (3 women) were trained to use the reintegration checklist to monitor the reintegration of children who have returned home from domestic slavery situations.
• One hundred four children (63 girls) in four of the original 16 communities received material and financial support from local CPBs to attend school.
• Fourteen exchange meetings were held with 194 (90 women) CPB members, SRN members, and Child Rights Activists.
• Five CPBs were evaluated to assess their maturity and capacity to lead their communities to resist child slavery.
• Nineteen CPB members from two communities were trained in organizational leadership.
• CPBs convened general assemblies of 195 Child Rights Activists (101 women) in 13 of 16 communities where we work.

You are Building the Movement to Guarantee Universal Quality Primary Education for Every Girl and Boy

Thanks to you -- and despite the severe challenges schools in Haiti faced this year in the wake of COVID-19 -- Beyond Borders and our partner organization, the Matènwa Community Learning Center (MCLC), engaged 23 schools in teacher training and advocacy activities designed to improve both the quality of and access to education on Lagonav Island.

Altogether, more than 110 teachers and principals participated in 10 days of workshops prior to the pandemic. Within the 23 schools participating in the Schools Not Slavery Network, 1,576 students (703 girls) benefitted from improvements made as teachers applied new participatory teaching methods and nonviolent classroom management techniques with their students.

Additionally, five advocacy events were held at which school personnel, students, and parents gathered with government education inspectors to discuss the importance of Haitian Creole as the language of instruction. Past studies have shown that students who learn in Haitian Creole -- instead of French, a language rarely spoken at home -- have reading scores that are nearly three times higher than the national average.

Here’s a look at some of the quarterly goals and supporting activities to build the movement to guarantee universal quality primary education that your generous support made possible:

Goal: Local elected officials prioritize access to education and lead local efforts to ensure education for all children.

• Meetings were held in six communal sections, convening a total of 157 education stakeholders – local school personnel, community leaders, and local government – to begin establishing local structures that will lead efforts to ensure education access and quality; the organizations and individuals present constitute the beginnings of communal section-level education structures; in one section, a central committee was organized to lead the efforts.
• Meetings are planned to support the professional development of local Ministry of Education school inspectors and foster their leadership in the development of local school federations and education planning at the communal and communal section levels.
• More than 50 Lagonav schools continue to collaborate and conduct advocacy through the Schools Not Slavery network established via past and current participation in the teacher training program.

Goal: The quality of primary education is improved.

• Five days of residential teacher training were held for 102 educators at 18 Year 1 schools prior to the pandemic.
• Five day-long teacher training workshops were held with all 23 schools, reaching more than 50 teachers (21 women) with nonviolent, participative methods, also prior to the start of the pandemic.
• Sixty-seven on-site visits were held with participating schools; during these visits teachers receive targeted coaching based on classroom observation, supporting them to apply participative teaching and nonviolent classroom management techniques learned during workshops.
• Twenty-three schools received storage units to house book banks; 738 1st through 3rd grade students accessed Creole language textbooks distributed to 18 schools; 1,235 students (575 girls) at 23 schools benefited from Creole textbook banks.
• Twenty-three schools received monthly subsidy disbursements to stabilize school revenue to ensure teacher salaries, which improves their attendance at school and their participation in training workshops.
• Five pre-pandemic community advocacy events were held, convening 4,000 students, teachers, school principals, local government authorities, and Ministry of Education school inspectors to promote Haitian Creole as the language of instruction.
• Twenty-three network schools received training and held Open Space sessions (pre-pandemic) to increase parent engagement and the engagement of local government authorities and community members in school life; altogether 1,150 parents, teachers, principals, and local authorities participated at these 23 events; discussion topics included parent engagement, violence, children’s rights, family education, and open range livestock grazing.
• Twenty-three parent committees have been established; 18 are active.

A School Director Shares What It Means to be in the Schools Not Slavery Network

Francilien Mathurin, Principal and Founder of the Sous Kanaran School, shares what it means to parents, children, and their teachers to be part of the Schools Not Slavery Network that your generosity supports:

“The region where my school is located is very vulnerable. Parents don’t have a lot of means to pay school tuition [and associated costs] for their children. The monthly subsidies we receive have helped us greatly to be able to pay our teachers each month. This support has allowed the school to reach vulnerable children in the community who weren’t enrolled in school before.

“There have been many changes made at our school. For example, we don’t use corporal punishment in our school anymore. The teacher training helped us find other strategies to manage the students without having to spank them. Also, I’ve had fewer problems with my teachers in terms of lesson planning. I always had to force the teachers to prepare each lesson every day, while I had never – not even once – showed them how to prepare a lesson.

“To close, I’d like to say a big thank you to all of the staff and their collaborators/supporters for this beautiful work they’re doing on Lagonav Island to improve education! Thank you!”

Thank You Again

You’ve made so many good things possible through your support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative. Even in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, parents, students, school directors, teachers, and elected and grassroots leaders in some of the most rural communities in Haiti know they can count on you.

Thank you again for your extraordinary generosity and solidarity. All of us at Beyond Borders send our best wishes for the continued health and well-being of you and your loved ones.

If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please call or write Beyond Borders’ Donor Engagement Director Brian Stevens at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

Links:

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