Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti

You are Mobilizing Communities to Prevent Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG)

Thank you for your generous support for Beyond Borders’ Free, Educate, and Empower Girls project on GlobalGiving. I am grateful for your generosity and solidarity -- especially as you navigate the uncertainty of this global pandemic.

Creating lasting change to prevent gender-based violence requires a broad social movement that transforms the way people think about and react to violence, discrimination, and inequality. Your generous support means that you are part of this movement too.

582 Activists and 35 Organizations Trained to Prevent VAWG

Thanks to you, more than 35 Haitian organizations and 582 newly minted activists are part of this movement too, benefitting from technical support training conducted by Beyond Borders' Rethinking Power team -- the team that is leading this movement-building effort.

These activists are from all walks of life -- grassroots community leaders, religious leaders, health workers, women’s response organizations, Girls’ Group mentors, journalists, women leaders, and school personnel are just some of those trained.

Your generous support is also making it possible for the Rethinking Power team to continue with the combined implementation of three programs to prevent VAWG: SASA!, Power to Girls, and the all-new Safe and Capable* resource pack to prevent VAWG living with disabilities.

The implementation entered the third of four phases, engaging residents living in eight communities in Haiti’s Southeast Department. Through competency-based training and ongoing mentoring support, staff accompanied a network of 582 activists to facilitate social norms change to prevent VAWG.

*Created by our friends at Raising Voices, SASA! (Start, Awareness, Support, Action) is a ground-breaking, internationally-recognized model of community-mobilization to stop violence against women and the spread of HIV. Engaging all actors in the community — women, men, cultural and religious leaders, local officials, police, health-care providers — SASA! fosters critical reflection on gender and power and instigates local-level activism.

Created by Beyond Borders’ Rethinking Power Team, Power To Girls includes a complete, three-year methodology to integrate lessons on equality and preventing gender-based violence into the school curriculum, including sample lesson plans for social science, biology and language teachers. Power To Girls also includes a guide to help schools and communities create and support local girls’ groups, and a set of community organizing tools designed to create deep and lasting change among adults too.

Also created by the Rethinking Power Team, ‘Safe and Capable: Haitian Communities Preventing Violence Against Girls and Women with Disabilities’ is designed to change how people see women and girls living with disabilities and to increase their social inclusion and better protect them from violence. Created with funding from the UN Trust Fund/UN Women, the program is being integrated in communities alongside our SASA! and Power to Girls programming. Safe and Capable includes a five-part introductory guide, training curriculum, theater plays, dialogue-based posters, “quick chat” sessions, and learning and evaluation guides.

Encouraging Communities to Change How They Think About Emotional Violence and Victim Blame

Based on research and evaluation, BB's Rethinking Power team is also focusing on working towards improved community knowledge on emotional violence, attitudes around victim blame, and domestic roles of girls versus boys.

Activism networks are receiving targeted support to strengthen their capacity to lead and organize community-driven advocacy efforts on these topics.

Implementation was delayed due to political unrest, and then further due to COVID-19. After a gap period, during which support for community activism is being delivered primarily at a distance due to COVID-19, the team will complete the full implementation cycle, leading communities to complete phase four by June 2021. Your continued support will make this goal a reality!

Girls Are Creating Change in Their Communities and Schools

The Power to Girls and Safe and Capable programming that your support makes possible is already generating many positive outcomes within Girls’ Groups:

• Six girls living with disabilities have been integrated into existing Girls’ Groups,
• The startup of at least three new girls groups is underway, with efforts being led by graduates of existing Girls’ Groups; these motivated girls were trained as mentors; they have secured financial support from their own connections and have requested materials from BB to start new groups. BB will continue to support and mentor these young women in their initiative to bring Power to Girls programming to more girls in their communities;
• One Girls’ Group (ages 10-14) participant took the initiative to facilitate Power to Girls activities in her school. She used Power to Girls communications materials and reported back to her Girls’ Group Mentor every month;
• Older Girls’ Group participants are acquiring crafting and livelihoods skills and are beginning to sell their products;
• Girls’ Groups created six soccer teams, and a girls’ soccer tournament was held in 2019; and,
• Girls’ Group participants have mastered the game of Chess and were planning a Chess tournament for Summer 2020, but have postponed this until public health conditions allow.

One of the Greatest Successes So Far: the Haiti VAWG Prevention Coalition

One of the greatest successes so far has been the launch of the Haiti VAWG Prevention Coalition. This nonhierarchical cohort model engages six organizations who are receiving training and technical support as well as funding to implement SASA! (three organizations) or Power to Girls (three organizations).

The coalition launched programming in July 2019 and is composed of eight partner Haitian organizations, including Beyond Borders. Pwojè GEM, Centre d'Orientation et de Soutien à La Famille Haïtienne, and Fondasyon Toya are receiving training and technical support to implement Power to Girls over three years. Three other organizations – Association Femmes Soleil d'Haiti, Mouvman Peyizan Papay, and Initiative pour un développement equitable en Haiti – are receiving training and technical support to implement SASA! over three years. 

While Beyond Borders provides training and technical support on the methodologies, the Haiti Development Institute is evaluating and designing needs-specific organizational development training to strengthen each organization’s capacity to manage projects and financial accountability.

We are very excited about how this cohort-based technical support model will contribute to BB’s successful scaling of VAWG prevention methodologies in Haiti while also providing a funding model for other grant makers to support effective scaling through non-hierarchical technical support provision.

Building Strategic Connections with Haitian and Regional Feminist Movements

Your generosity is also supporting Beyond Borders’ efforts at cultivating strategic alliances within Haiti to network with and influence the feminist movement -- and their is significant progress to report!

A protocol was established and signed with Haiti’s Ministry for Women’s Affairs, and a protocol for collaboration with Haiti's Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities was drafted and is pending signature for collaboration on preventing violence against women and girls living with disabilities.

The Rethinking Power team also began developing plans to rollout use of the Movement Capacity Assessment Tool with other organizations when funding and public health conditions allow. Plans have also been made for BB's participation in upcoming regional activities organized by the Coalition of Feminists for Social Action.

All of these advances are strengthening the movement to prevent violence against women and girls -- and they are made possible by you!

Positive Shifts in Community Members’ Beliefs and Knowledge about VAWG and Power

A Rapid Assessment Survey conducted by local researchers found positive shifts in beliefs and knowledge. Data was collected via a quantitative survey involving 209 community members (108 women/ 101 men) and eight focus group discussions were conducted with 66 women and girls and 39 men and boys.

Results revealed several positive shifts in community members’ beliefs and knowledge about VAWG and power, and their capacity to support community actions to prevent and respond to violence.

• 97.6% of community members do not believe a husband has a right to slap his wife.
• 97.6% of community members understand that if a man has multiple partners, he has an increased risk of contracting HIV.
• 98.1% of community members believe it is equally important for girls and boys to go to school.
• 96.6% of community members believe a man does not have a right to beat, humiliate or refuse economic support to his partner if they have an argument.

Thank You Again

Thank you again for all that you do and all that you are making possible through your generous support for Beyond Borders' Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti project on GlobalGiving. We are deeply grateful for your solidarity in these challenging times.

You are building the movement to prevent violence against women and girls and ensure that every day more and more girls and women in Haiti are living free from violence, discrimination, and inequality. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please contact Brian Stevens, Beyond Borders’ Donor Engagement Director, at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.

Links:

• Follow us on Twitter for the latest from Haiti.
• We are committed to financial transparency and accountability.
• Watch a video about Power To Girls!