Building financial capacity in Haiti

Awarding DPOs

The main objective of this initiative is to support local organizations of persons with disabilities and support them strengthen their financial autonomy and effective participation in the activities of their respective communities. The program receives funds from the European Union and is implemented in cooperation with the Haitian government. The official awards ceremony started as a motivation to propose the best project ideas and it brought together activists from various local organizations, representatives from private and public institutions.

DPOs in Haiti

In Haiti, DPOs are key actors in the promotion of the rights of people with disabilities. However, their organizational capacity is often an obstacle for effective implementation. In addition, they face certain structural and material difficulties in their operation. In some regions, DPOs are essentially non-existent, and those that exist are for the most part structurally weak and face difficulties of organization due to a lack of suitable materials and socioeconomic conditions of members.

Implementing actions focused on rural areas requires an innovative approach to local development and, most importantly, adopting strategies that are in line with concerns and expectations of local stakeholders. CBM, advocating for a cohesive and inclusive (disability, gender and age) approach to local and regional policies, invited DPOs leaders to identify local needs to revalue existing opportunities for an adapted economic recovery.

Fifteen DPOs from the three regions submitted projects to implement small, meaningful income-generating activities. After an evaluation of the bidders' projects, the steering committee selected the six best projects to receive a total amount of € 38,400 for the implementation in the targeted regions. Most projects focus on livestock, agriculture and handicrafts.

Moving forward

These new project ideas will not only help foster the cohesion between DPOs in each region, but will also improve the complementarity of disability-related actions and community development actions/programs. Besides, another output will be the strengthening of the exchanges between the organizations, private institutions, communal and regional authorities and the improvement in a significant way the quality of lives of the participants.

CBM will continue to contribute at strengthening the autonomy of each partner organization and reaffirms its commitment to work for the inclusion of people with disabilities from all social strata and full respect of their rights.