Schools Not Slavery for Rural Haitian Children

Thanks to You, 105 More Children Free, in School; 4,300+ Adults Join the Movement

Your generous support is building a movement to ensure every girl and boy grows up free, safe, in school and at home with their family, where they belong.

Thank you for your generous support for Beyond Borders’ Schools Not Slavery project on GlobalGiving. We are grateful for your solidarity!

I’m happy to share wonderful news from the first six months of 2023: thanks to you and your generous support, 105 more children benefited from child protective support services that included interrupting violence, liberating children from domestic servitude, accessing interim care, legal support services, psychosocial support, family reunification, and ensuring reunified children attend school.

Thank you for making this kind of life-saving and life-changing work possible – even in profoundly challenging times in Haiti.

4,386 Women and Men Participate in Child Rights Awareness-Raising Activities

Your generosity is also growing the movement to end child servitude by supporting awareness-raising activities on Lagonav Island and in Haiti’s Artibonite region, where Beyond Borders recently expanded our Child Rights training.

With your support, 4,386 people participated in awareness-raising activities, such as door-to-door “Zero Restavèk”* Campaigns, Open Spaces and conferences organized by Adult Survivor of Restavèk Branches and Child Protection Brigades on Lagonav and in St. Raphael in the Artibonite.

* Restavek is a Haitian Creole word. Here is how our friends at Restavek Freedom define the word: “Restavek (a Haitian creole word which is from two French words: “rester” and “avec”) refers to a child who has moved from his or her biological family to stay with a host family and serves the family as a domestic child; this new social environment is characterized by the violation of his/her rights, such as: his/her rights to go to school, and rest and play and be protected from all forms of exploitation and abuse.”

New Advocacy-Awareness Raising Tool Piloted on Lagonav Island

Thanks to your generous support, we are excited to launch a new advocacy tool to create greater awareness of the 2014 Haitian law that makes human trafficking – including the restavèk practice – a crime punishable by prison time. Most Haitians (including law enforcement and judicial officials) are unaware of this law. In 2021, BB staff teamed up with lawyers from the Office of Human Rights Defenders, with whom BB now has a signed strategic partnership agreement, to put on a mock criminal trial of a fictitious accused perpetrator of restavèk. One hundred sixty-three people in four urban Lagonav neighborhoods watched the film and took part in Q&A sessions that followed. This new tool will be added to protection programming across the island.

Partnering with Ansagalè Mayor’s Office to Protect At-Risk Children on Lagonav

BB’s partnership with local authorities in the urban neighborhoods of Ansagalè continues to deepen, with authorities showing increased leadership and responsibility in the fight to end the restavèk practice.

Previously conducted Child Welfare Surveys in a number of urban Lagonav neighborhoods noted a significant number of children living with families not their own (34%) with a number of children coming from outside the neighborhoods. This means the children are potentially already living in a restavèk situation or are at risk of entering a restavèk situation.

BB is partnering with the Mayor’s Office to carry out in-depth evaluations of each situation to better understand which children are in need of assistance, liberation, and/or protection. A project coordinator under the management of the Mayor’s Office has been contracted, as well as 26 community members who have been trained by BB staff to carry-out the in-depth evaluation. BB is providing financial, material and technical support, with the Mayor’s office leading the effort.

Your generous support makes partnerships like this possible. Thank you!

Your Generous Support Made Even More Child Protection Work Possible

Here’s a look at some of the other Child Protection work that your support helped make possible this past quarter:

• 15 children liberated among them 14 were reunited in their families; 1 was placed in a welcoming family
• 105 children benefited from child protective support services (interrupting violence, liberating children from domestic servitude, accessing interim care, legal support services, psychosocial support, family reunification, ensuring reunified children attend school)
• 410 participants in the ESK Child Rights Dialogue Groups in urban and rural Lagonav neighborhoods and communities take part in Open Space Sessions to further explore child rights questions
• 402 participants in the ESK Child Rights Dialogue Groups being implemented with partner RJM in Gros Morne with technical support from BB
• More than 550 people are participating in 42 ESK-Child Rights Dialogue Groups on Lagonav
• 21 ESK group facilitators and 4 supervisors) attended the refresher training on ESK Child Rights Dialogue Group facilitation
• 12 communities (8 in Lagonav and 4 in Gros Morne) validated their social maps with 147 and 410 community members participating, respectively
• 4,386 people participated in awareness-raising activities, such as door-to-door “Zero Restavèk” Campaigns, Open Spaces and conferences organized by Adult Survivor of Restavèk Branches and Child Protection Brigades on Lagonav and in St. Raphael
• 38 members of partners PDL and RJM staff/collaborators received technical support for conducting Knowledge, Attitude and Capacity (KAP) surveys in 38 communities in Sen Raphael and Gros Morne
• 56 Child Protection Brigades on Lagonav and in Gros Morne conducted organizational capacity assessments
• 13 Branches of Adult Survivors of Restavèk designed their own action plans to increase their advocacy capacity
• More than 130 adult survivors participated in multiple Psycho-Social Group Therapy Sessions

Community Members Talk About Beyond Borders’ Impact

“Before we minimized the practice of restavèk here. We did not pay much attention to it. We considered it normal. In fact, there were children in this community who were suffering in restavèk. But, when our community started working with Beyond Borders, we participated in some training. We learned for several months about the consequences of the restavèk practice. We came to see that staying with another family is often not a good thing for a child. Today it is different. We see things differently. Today in our community of Mon Chadel, it would be hard to find a child suffering in restavèk thanks to the knowledge, training and skills we received from Beyond Borders.” ~ Seme, Adult Survivor, 59-year-old mother of three, Child Protection Brigade Member

“If I had not participated in the [psycho-social] Groups Therapy sessions, I could have died already or could have become a major criminal. I believed that whenever someone looked at me, they were talking badly about me – I was ashamed of myself. I became very aggressive.

Today, because of this program, I have begun to know myself, I began to learn to manage my emotions. Today I am able to identify the good things in my life and have learned to value myself. Despite all I have lived [through], today I feel proud of myself. I would like to thank Mathania [BB’s Psycho-Social Support Officer and trained Psychologist] for her patience, her understanding and her willingness to talk with us. May God continue to bless you, and enable you to keep coming to sit with us.” ~ an Adult Survivor on Lagonav, participating in adult psycho-social therapy groups

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 – especially in these challenging times in Haiti. 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:

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Your Generosity Supports Expanding to Protect More Children in Haiti; 33 Girls and Boys Reunited with Family

Thank you for your generous support for Beyond Borders’ Schools Not Slavery initiative. More girls and boys in Haiti are growing up free, safe, at home with their families, and enrolled in a good local school, thanks to you and so many like you who care.

In challenging times in Haiti, your solidarity and generosity is making a difference – expanding work to protect more children from forced servitude, neglect, and abuse.

Seventy-Two New Child Rights Training Groups Launched Across Haiti

This past quarter – October through December 2022 – your generosity made so many good things possible, including the launch of new Child Rights Training groups on Lagonav Island and in an entirely new region in Haiti’s Artibonite Valley

Thanks to supporters like you – and a generous grant from the Hilton Foundation – Beyond Borders Child Protection Team launched a new partnership with the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary (RJM), based in the community of Gros Morne, in the Artibonite.

A total of 97 people (39 women, 58 men) took part in the initial training on social mapping and wealth ranking – the initial step Beyond Borders takes when beginning work in a community, to determine local strengths, weaknesses, and the most at-risk children and families.

Child Rights Training Groups Enroll 480 People in Region New to Beyond Borders

Beyond Borders also trained 16 people in Gros Morne (9 women, 11 men) on how to be a facilitator of a Child Rights Dialogue Group. These new facilitators began the work of community outreach to enroll participants in dialogue groups. In total, 32 Child Rights Dialogue Groups were created in the four communities that make up Gros Morne, with a total of 480 people enrolled at present.

Lagonav Child Rights Training Groups Enroll 363 New Members in 21 New Communities

And on Lagonav Island, where Child Rights Training is well-established, 21 new communities have joined the movement to end child slavery. Twenty-eight residents (13 women, 15 men) participated in a four-day Child Rights methodology training in order to become facilitators for dialogue groups to be created in their communities. Of the 28, seven were also certified as trainers-of-trainers, now equipped with skills to train new facilitators and provide support to other facilitators.

A total of 23 Dialogue Groups in 21 communities were established, with an enrollment of 363 people (272 women, 91 men).

Thirty-Three Children (19 Girls, 14 Boys) Returned Home in Two Communities

In Haiti’s Central Plateau, Beyond Borders is working with our partners at PDL – the Partnership for Local Development – to implement Child Rights Training. In the last quarter, 33 children were brought home thanks to Child Rights Training graduates like Monise.

Here’s testimony from Monise, relayed to us from a PDL staff member who spoke with her.

After participating in the Child Rights Dialogue Group in her community, Monise noticed a significant change in her home life, particularly with how she now treats her children and how she sees the treatment of other children. With her new-found knowledge and understanding of the fundamental rights that children have, Monise is now an advocate for children in her community.

She shared how, in her community, there were a lot of children not living at home with their parents, but that this has now changed since the completion of the child rights training. She has noticed a positive impact especially with parents who had sent their children away to live with others. For example, her own brother and sister had sent children away, but with Monise’s advice, guidance and support, both were able to bring their children home again.

Many parents decided to bring their children home. A number of these parents struggled to send their children to school, but Monise and community members intervened and helped to get the children enrolled in school. Monise shared about one child in particular – an 8-year-old girl, who returned home but who was not able to go to school. Monise mobilized another community member to help. Together they collected funds and approached the school director to see if he would accept the girl at the school. He agreed, so they purchased a school uniform while the school director agreed to provide the school books.

Today Monise talks about how proud she is of her community – she believes that there is not a parent in her community who would consider sending their children away. She continues to play a key role in her community to ensure that children’s rights are respected.

Your Generous Support Made Even More Child Protection Work Possible

Here’s a look at some of the other Child Protection work that your support helped make possible this past quarter:

• 11 adult survivor network members in two urban communities on Lagonav were trained in Ti Rankont Sektè (TRS)*, launching 22 new TRS groups in their communities with 207 participants (187 women, 117 men)
• 94 adult survivors (60 women, 34 men) from two urban communities on Lagonav were trained in the Open Space** methodology
• 22 adult survivors (14 women, 8 men) from four urban branches of the Adult Survivors on Lagonav participated in a capacity development workshop on a variety of subjects including villages savings and loans, advocacy techniques, and organizational structure and management
• 7 adult survivor branches in metropolitan Port-au-Prince organized various advocacy and awareness raising activities to commemorate the National Day to End the Practice of Restavèk (Child Servitude) and World Children’s Rights Day
• 5 urban and seven rural Lagonav psycho-social therapy groups made up of adult survivors of child slavery continued to meet to talk through issues related to their past experiences
• 61 children received school supplies and materials from the Child Protection Brigade in their community on Lagonav

*TRS is a nine-session child rights training series that works to ensure increased participation from diverse sectors of society like churches, Vodou temples, women’s organizations, and school personnel. TRS is used in addition to Child Rights Training, which requires a commitment to a 22-week session training program.

** Open Space is a technique for running meetings where the participants create and manage the agenda themselves. This method is ideal if you want participants to gain ownership of an issue and come up with solutions.

Your Generosity is Making Nonviolent, Native Language Education Available to More Students

Your generosity is also continuing to support the development of a Communal Education Platform on Lagonav Island. The platform is engaging key education stakeholders, including local government, the Ministry of Education, local schools, and community leaders in the work to  guarantee universal access to quality education on Lagonav.

Keeping children in school is one of the best ways to ensure that they aren’t sent away to live with others, where they face a heightened risk of being abused and exploited in household servitude.

Beyond Borders’ primary education partner on Lagonav Island, the Matènwa Community Learning Center (MCLC) continues to work with schools to improve the quality of education being offered to children on Lagonav Island. Their two-year teacher training program supports schools to integrate new methods and approaches to deliver primary education in Haitian Creole that is participatory, nonviolent, and rooted in local culture.

The seven schools that entered the program in FY2022 and that are supported with funding from Beyond Borders – made possible by you – are in the second year of the training program.

Here’s a look at some of the other work to guarantee universal quality education that your support helped make possible this past quarter:

• 6 General Assemblies were held with six branches of the Communal Education Platform with 124 participants (100 men, 24 women)
• 23 schools in seven communal sections received visits from Ministry of Education Inspectors, facilitated in part by Beyond Borders
• 7 schools were visited by Beyond Borders Education Consultant (342 students – 140 girls, 202 boys are attending these seven schools)
• 27 school visits (12 pedagogically-oriented and 15 school garden-oriented) took place with seven partner schools
• 9 schools received Mother Tongue book materials for students to use to write their own stories about their own lives, in Haitian Creole
• 7 schools received didactic training materials
• 15 school staff (teachers and school directors) participated in two training workshops on school administration, classroom management, classroom preparation, literacy, compost preparation for school gardens, and techniques for locally storing seeds

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.

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