March 14, 2011

The successful long-term development of Haiti relies on Haitians acquiring and employing the skills they need to exercise their independence and autonomy in inclusive and respectful ways.  Unfortunately, most Haitian leaders lack both the practical skills to make them effective and the experience which would allow them to lead inclusively and respectfully.

To address this, this weekend Haiti Partners held another three-day Capacity Building training.  These Capacity Building trainings – the centerpiece of our LEADERS program – are generously funded by a grant from the Vista Hermosa Foundation and have been taking place four times a year since February 2009.  They convene 40 community leaders from all over Haiti to help them strengthen their leadership capacity so they can be more effective change agents in their communities.  Over the last two years these leaders have learned a number of crucial skills: they’ve learned how to integrate computers into their work – including using email, word processing, and spreadsheets; they’ve learned how to create measurable personal plans so that they can create clear goals and be able to evaluate progress against them; they’ve deepened their understanding of participatory/invitational/democratic leadership methods; and, they’ve learned how to better network so that they might find the resources they need to make their dreams a reality.

This weekend’s focus was on creating social enterprises, a key approach to generating revenue and ultimately making these leaders’ projects sustainable.  To learn more about social enterprise, please view the short video below.