Haiti has an illiteracy rate of 47.1%, making education a key to development, social transformation and breaking the cycle of poverty. Although the government launched a free primary education program in 2011, the most vulnerable children have not benefited from this reform. With public schools accounting for less than 20% of schools in the country, access remains extremely limited. Private schools are also out of reach, as parents are required to pay school fees and cater for other related needs such as school uniforms and school supplies.

This intervention aimed to provide poor children of Petit-Goâve access with education. Petit-Goâve is a coastal community in the Léogâne Arrondissement, about 68 kilometres southwest of the capital Port-au-Prince. The region has suffered tremendously since the devastating earthquake of 2010 and Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy in 2012.

Three years after the earthquake, when most of the NGOs had left the area, the humanitarian crisis was far from over. It still continues among a significant number of families who were not able to recuperate after the earthquake. The economic situation remains very weak still today and the social structure vulnerable.

The main goal of this project was to improve access to educational services for the most vulnerable, with a particular focus on the children whose parents sent them into domestic servitude and who are thus living under a form of modern slavery.

“Give them a chance”, in partnership with Ecole Adventiste Maranatha de Petit-Goâve, provided all school fees and school materials for the beneficiary children to create an environment conducive to teaching and learning. Furthermore, there was psychological support to enable the children to cope with the consequences of their social conditions.

Additional action was undertaken to sensitize families, local leaders (administration, police, justice), religious leaders, and the media to the rights and needs of children living in dire conditions. In the long term, HOPE’87 and its partner ADRA believe that this intervention will contribute to raising community awareness of children’s right to education, as well as to rebuilding the country and its social transformation.

This programme is envisioned to integrate Restavek children into school. To ensure sustainability at the end of the program, ADRA closely worked with hosting families and motivated them with the importance of keeping their children in school.

In addition, the programme encouraged the local partner to strengthen its capacity, especially its financial management infrastructures. Since the school’s capacity had been developed, it is now possible to rely upon the existing free education program that is run by the government.