Join us for our upcoming Stop Illegal Arms to Haiti Advocacy days. More information available HERE
Quixote Center’s work in Haiti prioritizes systemic change. Our theory of change has three aspects:
- Economic development initiatives that lead to meaningful and sustainable jobs and income for families and communities;
- Reforestation to preserve Haiti’s environment and protect the soil and watershed;
- Advocacy to promote US policies that support Haitian democracy and Haitian-led solutions to poverty, violence, and migration.
Quixote Center initially launched Haiti Reborn in 1991 during a period of renewal in Haiti, following the election of Aristide and the rise of Lavalas, a popular movement for democratic reform. The coup that ousted Aristide later that year led us to focus our efforts on speaking out against United States intervention in Haiti. US foreign policy as well as development aid still has enormous influence over Haiti and its future. US NGOs and churches also funnel significant funds into Haiti, leading many Haitians to dub their country “the republic of NGOs.”
The Quixote Center partners with Haitian organizations to support smallholder farmers to build sustainable livelihoods from agriculture and reforestation. The Jean Marie Vincent Formation Center located in Grepen, Haiti, is our primary partner in the north.
The Jean Marie Vincent Formation Center houses a tree nursery, a model instructional garden and multiple classrooms. These resources help farmers increase the yields of their farms, find new markets for their products, and gain access to the seeds and technology they need to succeed. The agronomy team from the JMV Center travel throughout the Arrondissement of Gros Morne to deliver workshops organized with a network of small farm associations, the Catholic Church’s Caritas network, and local schools. With our support, the JMV Center also maintains the Tet Mon model forest, a reforestation project that is the only one of its kind in the region. The JMV team holds formation sessions on reforestation and tree maintenance for local leaders, schoolchildren, and agronomy students.
Read the FY2023 report on the work of the Grepen Center HERE.
The Quixote Center also partners with US-based organizations to promote policy change in the United States. Take action to support a sustainable future for Haiti HERE.
The Quixote Center has prepared this summary of the legislation currently before Congress designed to address the trafficking of weapons to Haiti.
Updates from Haiti
With all that’s going on in the past few weeks, you may have missed the news from Haiti. Criminal gangs shot at a couple of airliners flying into and out of Haiti, injuring at least one person and leading the FAA to ban U.S. airlines from flying into Haiti for 30 days.
The Great Local Mango Save
This report comes from Sr. Pat Dillon, RJM, a Quixote Center partner in Gros Morne, Haiti.
Support Bills to Stop Arms Trafficking
The Quixote Center encourages you to take action supporting efforts to stop arms trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean. There are currently four bills introduced in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and we are also reaching out to the White House to recommend executive action on this issue.
Veterinary Care for Haiti’s Smallholder Farmers
I recently lost 9 pigs. This small pig is the only one I have left. If there was a vaccination campaign, it would make a positive impact in our community. I previously lost a mother sow together with her 6 piglets. Then I lost a mother sow together with 9 of her piglets. This small pig is the only one left. Even if we were asked to pay a fee for the vaccines, we would agree to do that because we use these pigs to pay school fees for our children. We do not have any other economic activity that would enable us to send our children to school.
Save Mango Trees in Gros Morne
Quixote Center partners in Gros Morne, Haiti, are dependent on mango exports for their main source of cash. Haitian producers grow the Fransik variety small, yellow, juicy and sweet. In 2022 Haiti exported 28 million mangoes to the United States, their main customer.
Update on Quixote Center Work in Haiti
Haiti continues to appear in unsettling news reports. There is a new presidential council which seems to have already split into factions. The violence in the capitol continues unabated, with many Haitians living in fear, and most with life-threatening food insecurity.
In Haiti: Every Day is Earth Day
Quixote Center began its Haiti work in 1999. The first of many projects was a partnership with the Jean Marie Vincent Center in Grepen to restore the forest on a mountainside called Tet Mon. In 1999 the mountain was bare; today it is home to more than 200,000 trees. With your help, Quixote Center continues to sustain the forest by covering the cost of maintenance and security. The Tet Mon forest has become a model for the whole region.
Take Action for Haiti
Haiti is desperate. According to the UN special envoy to Haiti, criminal gangs control 80% of the capital and are moving further and further into other parts of the country, leaving many people trapped in their homes with little means to feed their families, or forced to flee their homes with nothing. Scarcity of gasoline and water, and high prices of essential products are transforming an already distressed State into ashes.
The Intolerable Role of the United States in Haiti
Haiti’s capital has shut down. With gangs in control, the airport is closed, roads are blocked and the de facto prime minster is stuck in Puerto Rico.
Homeland InSecurity
We are getting closer to unpacking the complicated web of laws and agencies responsible for preventing U.S.- made weapons from getting into the hands of criminal elements in Haiti.
On Wednesday Quixote Center convened partner organizations together with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff director in charge of global trade violations and export enforcement coordination.
Armed Gangs Invade Gros Morne
Last week saw days of violent protests in Haiti. Thousands took to the streets across the country to demand that de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down, as required by law on February 7.