Every Saturday morning about 45 kids gather at Haiti Projects’ library for Klub Lakay, which is Haiti Project’s Kids Club. Librarian Yvena has been leading the club for close to ten years. Each week is a little different and the activities range from reading to yoga to drawing. However, it’s the singing, dancing, and snacking that get the kids most excited. Yvena says she “loves working with the club because I learn just as much from them as they do from me.”
Financial Literacy Project: Training women to take charge of their finances
Thanks to the Boston Foundation, Haiti Projects was able to provide over 100 women with financial literacy training. The course was split into three sections- Savings, Pricing, and Marketing. We began training small groups of Haiti Projects staff, followed by employees who work at the local hospital, and then traveled further out to more remote communities. The course is particularly relevant for rural Haitian women due to their large role in the informal economy, which is estimated to make up almost 75% of all economic activity in Haiti.This means most people are in business for themselves yet they have little to no education or formal training. They sell almost anything you can imagine-from vegetables in the market, to gasoline by the side of the road, to hot dogs in front of the school. The vendors that graduated from our training program are now better equipped to run their businesses and start saving a little too.