We are a group of Americans and Haitian Americans who have lived and worked in Haiti for over 20+ years, and are committed to Haiti becoming a developed nation.  We have seen billions of dollars donated to Haiti over the years and yet Haiti remains the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. 80% of Haiti’s people live in poverty and 54% in abject poverty. Our programs provide the training and coaching essential to formulating and executing projects for community and business groups that call people forth to committed action. Develop Haiti empowers people to produce extraordinary results and accomplish remarkable leadership skills.

Since January 2012, nearly five-hundred Haitian citizens have been trained through Develop Haiti’s transformational programs.  This new core of leaders is poised to start transforming Haiti by taking responsibility for their own lives, their communities and their country.  They are now providing great leadership in their communities.

But more trained leaders are needed.  Our next leadership course in December, 2013, will train community leaders, business leaders, and government officials in responsibility, integrity and leadership.

A few of the projects taken on by participants after completing our leadership courses:

One project was formed by a group of 25 women for what they called commerce.  They met weekly and each week these woman brought $4.  Each week, one woman got all of this money to do commerce.  Commerce means they might buy a product in bulk and then resell it in smaller quantities for a profit.  This was so successful that they have started new groups for other women and men.  This first group of women started a tree nursery after someone gave them 1000 bags to plant trees.

One man wanted a road between two villages.  In his words:  “ We initially enrolled 69 people to volunteer to work on the road and now there are a total of 85.  We have made progress in widening the road and we are continuing to work.  We lack the tools to do more.  Through working with Neil (A Develop Haiti person on the ground in Haiti) we  learned about the Leadership Program.  Before this Program, I would not know how to enroll 69 much less 85 people.  Before, I used to make empty promises to get people to participate and to come along.  Now I can talk to them and not promise anything and the work gets done. Then, when we are done for the day, what we have is not that lie I said but we have the satisfaction of a job well done and pride in our work.”  This project was successful, it was noticed by the local authorities, and the government joined in to complete the project.

We are raising funds for scholarships for our next program to be held on the central plateau in Haiti.  We are committed that people are able to participate even if they don't have the means to pay

We appreciate everyone’s generous donations for the training of the future leaders of Haiti.  For your donations, you will receive unique crafts made in Haiti.

If you are unable to contribute now, you can still help. Share our link on Facebook at our Develop Haiti site.  Share us with your friends and family. Thank you for reading our campaign.