Virtual Tours Haiti

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Its population suffers with absolute poverty, malnutrition, unsustainable population density, environmental overload, and a burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic. There should be little more than despair in Haiti, but it seems as though every Haitian you meet reveals a remarkable sense of hope and determination to create a better life.

Our Work in Haiti

Since 1999, Freedom from Hunger has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Haitian women who were ready to help themselves and their families toward a better future. Funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the early years, Freedom from Hunger identified four local partners with which to work, two of them ready to implement Credit with Education. With the help of new donors, Freedom from Hunger has been able to continue this work.

Based in Port-au-Prince, our local partner, ACLAM (Action Contre La Misère), is bringing Credit with Education to women in four rural regions, including the country's poorest region, the Northwest. The program is unusual because it was selected to pilot a community-based distribution initiative in which women are trained as volunteers to provide information on family planning and to sell contraceptives in their communities.

Most recently, Freedom from Hunger has responded to a request by ACLAM to help develop new financial services for people who are both very poor and HIV+. We are now working with ACLAM to meet the needs of two types of HIV+ people who live in ACLAM's service area. The first of the two new services is aimed at the very poorest and least-experienced HIV+ entrepreneurs. The service will help groups of these entrepreneurs organize, train them to save money and then to pool their savings to provide loans to each other. Loans will be very small ($15 or less) and can be repaid over a six-month period. The loans will be insured by group guarantee. Both HIV+ people and their family members will be invited to join the groups. The second service will target HIV+ people and their family members who are slightly better off and have more experience with managing microenterprises. The source of loans to these groups will be ACLAM’s loan capital.

Now, in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake of January 12, 2010, Freedom from Hunger is raising money to enable ACLAM to rebuild its capacity to act quickly to support the relief and recovery of the women, families and communities ACLAM has been serving with Credit with Education and other self-help support programs.