Vision: Invest today in building a better tomorrow for the children, families and community of Choiseul located in Milot in Haiti.
Goal: To design and implement a comprehensive, effective and lasting community development project that benefits children, families and the community as well as serve as a model for other localities in Haiti.
Objectives:
- Put in place a system for engaging the families and members of the community in all aspects of the project.
- Provide home-based and community center education opportunities that support the growth and development of two generations (parent and child).
- Design a solid sustainability plan for the project to be supported by the community efforts once in place.
- Develop some partnerships with national and international individuals and agencies to support the implementation of various educational, social and health initiatives.
This initiative is seeking to build a Community Development Research Center with multi-purpose spaces where everyone feels welcome and able to learn from and teach each other. This “hub” will be a place where people in the community as well as visitors can come to serve, be served and grow together. “La joie de Vivre Community Development Research Center will bring a sense of community engagement that promotes the “village” concept that in the past strengthened communities in Haiti and unfortunately quasi inexistent nowadays.
- Instill from the inception of the project a sense of ownership and responsibility to the success of this endeavor in members of this community.
- Take a comprehensive approach to services focused on early care and education, health, nutrition, mental health and social services.
- Design and implement activities at the center that enhance learning and support well-being for all.
- Partner and obtain support from national and international, private and public donors, agencies with same
This project is being built in three phases:
The first phase which consists on the build-up of two main units (A and B) is designed to support the self-sustaining approach for this project. These units will house businesses.
Unit A will house everything we intend to do to support prevention and assist the community with gathering some over the counter basic health necessities. Residents of Choiseul will be able to get for example treated and distilled water, some over the counter medicine, vitamins, dental hygiene items, reading glasses, condoms at a discounted price. Other individuals will also have access to these items but will pay full price. The proceeds of those sales will be used to support the center activities designed for children and families.
Unit B will be dedicated to the exposition and sale of art work from residents of the community. We envision having a week for each artist where mainly his or her work is displayed and the opportunity given to him or her to work on the premises, sell his/her pieces and talk to buyers about him/herself. Proceeds of the sales belong to the artist minus a percentage that will be going to support the activities of the Community Development Research Center as a whole.
On top of Unit B we envision a multi-purpose room where we intend to have an open space where tourists and other visitors will be able to relax, have a drink, eat some “natural appetizers” or grilled food “boukane”, enjoy the view of the Citadelle from afar and also have access to technology to stay connected to their friends and families and also access stations where they can charge their phones and/or other accessories. This unit, although not a full service restaurant, will also be open to the community for social gatherings.
The second phase will house two big multi-purpose units where we will conduct the bulk of the educational, social and health activities as needed. There will not be a school on the premises but in this center, families will be able to come at scheduled time to get some educational training and get materials needed to educate their children at home. A home visitor will go to their homes to follow-up on their children’s learning and once a month we will have a group socialization activity for the enrolled children and families in the Home Visiting Program.
Other activities that could be conducted in those rooms include: gathering for children and youth once a week (to watch a movie, a play, dance, and socialize together); adult educational training, yearly health fair, religious services and other scheduled social gatherings.
The third phase will support the building of about 10 -12 cabanas (maisonnettes) with a very simple and open concept. These cabanas will be used to house visitors who would want to stay close to the Citadelle when going for a visit. Another intended purpose is to have lodging available for volunteers who will come on medical or educational mission. The funds obtained for the use of the cabanas by tourists and others will also support the sustainability of the project.
Education Services
- Implement a Home Visiting Model founded on the principle that: “parents are teachers”
- Engage with families as their children primary teachers to support their children full development in partnership with their home visitors and Center Coordinator.
- Ground all activities on a curriculum designed to support the local strengths and needs of the parents and that can be used to support a two generational approach to teaching and learning (the parent is teaching and learning from the child and vice-versa).
- Offer opportunities for children to engage in the development of their own community (i.e. children community garden, community cleaning day, elders support day, etc.) while learning science, hygiene, empathy, physical activities, civic duties and responsibilities.
- Design a schedule for families to come to the center and obtain suggestions and ideas, resources, and lesson plans to apply at home and create a portfolio documenting the progress they make with their children.
- Host group socializations activities where parents have the opportunity to connect with their peers and others in their community.
- Build opportunities for local and/or international teaching volunteers to support the work at the Center.
Health Services
- Organize a minimum of once a year health fair at the center where families and children and the community have the opportunity to have an annual physical and receive the basic health, dental health, mental health and nutrition services.
- Engage volunteers locally or leaving abroad Haitian physicians, mental health professionals, nutritionists, dentists to support the scheduled health fairs. Collaboration with other foreign nationals is also encouraged but when paired with native and proficient in Haitian creole medical professionals.
- Support basic training in CPR and First Aid as well as other emergency support training for youth in the community using the Noula Curriculum developed by WISEOP, Inc.
- Have available for the community a triage dispensary where once a week a nurse will take residents history, vital signs, height and weight for children, conduct health checks and refer for appropriate medical follow-up services.
- Design a Center retail store where some over-the-counter medications, hygiene and preventative products will be available for sale, at discounted prices only for residents of the community. Profits generated from the regular sale of Items available in the store will support the self-sustaining of center activities.
- Efforts to increase awareness of best practices and prevention of common health issues will be part of the education of members of the community through scheduled face-to-face training sessions and the use of technology on-site and/or outside the center (TV, videotapes, radio spots, text messages)
Social Services
- Focus will be on the creation of opportunities for members of the community to contribute to initiatives such as: food pantry, emergency clothing, emergency financial assistance for some urgent needs (sickness, funeral, school opening etc.).
- Implement an initiative “Leave what you can and take what you need” where donations obtained from locals, national and international supporters will allow provision of those emergency services.
- Trained center personnel will work as Family Support Workers to address the needs expressed by families and assist them with goal setting and achievement of positive outcomes.
- Counseling and education programs will be put in place to address some current issues such as poverty, financial insecurity, domestic violence, and corporal punishment to name a few.
Individual and Community Development Services
- Development of strong community partnerships with local, national, and international agencies will support individual and community development.
- Build a community development fund initiative where residents of the community contribute based on their current economic possibility. Members of the community will purchase shares on investments made by the center with their contributions. An example of these investments will be putting in place a water treatment unit where the community could buy water for consumption at a discount and the profit available to members of this collective initiative.
- Provision of opportunities for self-entrepreneurship and learning basic trades through the Men nan Men initiative and the Artists Shops available as part of the Center activities.
- Create a community garden where children have the opportunity to learn agriculture from the adults and offer their products in a “Children Owned Market Place” open to the public and serving as a model of child-driven entrepreneurship in support of additional children activities in the center.