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5 Facts About Poverty in Haiti

Poverty in Haiti
The state of Haiti is in the western third of the island of Hispaniola. The poorest country in the world’s western hemisphere, nearly 60% of Haiti’s residents live below the national poverty line. Despite its status as one of the world’s poorest countries, with a $19.93 billion GDP in 2017 (142nd out of 185 countries), larger conversations about ending global poverty do not often include Haiti. Although people often discuss poverty in Haiti in conjunction with natural disasters, the most recent of which was Hurricane Matthew in 2016, there are larger systemic issues of political instability that influence poverty in the country. Here are five facts about poverty in Haiti.

5 Facts About Poverty in Haiti

  1. Wealth Disparity: Haiti has the most unequal distribution of wealth in the Caribbean. The wealthiest 20% of the population holds roughly 64% of the state’s total wealth, while the bottom 20% of the population holds less than 1%.
  2. Unemployment: The World Bank estimates that unemployment in Haiti was at a rate of 13.9% as of 2019. However, other reports have identified unemployment in Haiti at a rate of 70%. There are also no labor laws protecting workers in Haiti. Additionally, workers of a young age often experience unsanitary conditions, low wages and excessive hours.
  3. Governmental Ineptitude: The Haitian state government lacks the proper systems to adequately serve its people. Haiti has failed in its attempts to implement a true democratic system over the last several years resulting in an overcrowded prison system, domestic child labor and a lack of general rights. Estimates place the number of child laborers in Haiti between 250,000 and 400,000 people.
  4. Lack of Clean Water: Haiti is highly prone to outbreaks of cholera due to its lack of adequate sanitation systems. Only 24% of the Haitian population has access to a toilet and less than half have access to clean water.
  5. Educational Opportunity: More than 90% of schools in Haiti are private and require tuition for enrollment. There is little to no public education system resulting in a direct correlation between wealth and opportunity for education. The literacy rate in Haiti is between 61% to 64% for males and 57% for females.

Haiti’s Success So Far

Ending poverty in Haiti will be immensely difficult. With nearly 6 million people living below the poverty line of $2.41 per day and 2.5 million people living below the extreme poverty line of $1.23 per day, the epidemic of poverty in Haiti is widespread. However, despite the fact that Haiti ranks 168 out of 189 countries on the World Bank’s Human Development Index, the state is slowly improving.

The 2013 Millennium Development Goals report cited positive upswings for many of Haiti’s largest obstacles in overcoming poverty. From 1993 to 2013, enrollment in primary education jumped from 47% to 88%, evening out the contrast between male and female enrollment in schools. Furthermore, the MDG report noted that access to clean drinking water in Haiti has doubled to nearly 65% since 1995. Finally, the number of Haitians living in extreme poverty has declined from 31% to 24% from 2000 to 2012.

NGO and Foreign Aid Efforts

Through external efforts, the war against poverty in Haiti has continued. Over the last decade, the United States donated more than $5.1 billion in humanitarian aid, mostly for hurricane relief efforts. In addition, the United States has introduced new seed, fertilizer and irrigation resources to Haitian farmers to increase crop yield and food production. Rounding out the United States’ major efforts in Haiti is its establishment of new power plants and 14,000 jobs in the apparel industry.

There are also a number of organizations fighting poverty on the ground. The Haiti Foundation Against Poverty runs several schools, medical facilities and shelters for those in poverty. Meanwhile, CARE Haiti focuses on gender rights, equality and opportunity for disenfranchised Haitian women. REBUILD globally uses the social enterprise model to prioritize job training and fight for a living wage. Additionally, the organization charity: water assists in fundraising money for and donating to organizations on the ground in Haiti that specifically specialize in bringing clean and accessible drinking water to people.

Overall, these five facts about poverty in Haiti highlight the complexity of solving a deeply entrenched issue throughout the world. Additionally, they show that a concentrated and continued effort from multiple angles should allow Haiti to eradicate poverty.

– Max Lang
Photo: Flickr

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3 Nonprofits Fighting Poverty in Haiti

Poverty in Haiti
With a population of more than 10 million, Haiti faces high levels of poverty. It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. More than half of all Haitians live on less than $2 a day and about one fourth live on less than $1.25 a day. However, things are looking up thanks to these nonprofits fighting poverty in Haiti.

Haiti Foundation Against Poverty (HFAP)

Founded in 2007, HFAP originally focused on child sponsorships and providing food for the elderly. However, it expanded and opened an elementary school in Port-au-Prince in 2008. This school brought infections and illnesses to the attention of the organization. As a result, HFAP opened its first medical program in 2009. It trained local nurses and provided the children with needed medications. In 2010, HFAP opened both an orphanage and a women’s job creation program called “Gift of Hope” to fight poverty in Haiti.

HRAP’s founder, Mallery Neptune, runs HOPE House with her husband Frentz. Hope House is an orphanage that looks after and cares for abandoned Haitian children. It provides food, education, medical care, love and attention. HOPE House originally began as a toddler and infant care center, helping malnourished, wounded or orphaned children recover and return home. HRAP also reaches out to the mothers of these children when possible. They can enroll in Gift of Hope so that these children can return to stronger and healthier families.

Gift of Hope is a program to give mothers in poverty reliable skills and income to help them provide for their children. It currently employs 70 Haitian women, providing them with an income that is “at least three times the minimum wage” in Haiti. It is helping prevent the cycle of poverty by creating jobs that keep the women out of poverty and their kids out of orphanages and off the streets. Gift of Hope also works with local artisans; all purchases on the online shop go toward helping empower women and strengthen families in Haiti.

REBUILD globally

Julie Colombino founded REBUILD globally when she visited Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to help with disaster relief. The organization has evolved drastically over the years. What started as disaster relief led to education and eventually job training. “The transition came out of necessity as I was learning the truths behind the poverty in Haiti,” Colombino told The Borgen Project. “I learned that education wasn’t just enough to be sustainable in a country like Haiti where the unemployment and under-employment rates were nearly 80 percent.”

Education is necessary, but it does not have as large of an impact on a country if there are no jobs available to provide Haitians with a much-needed income. So, REBUILD globally works to provide both an education and a job to those in need.

The Elèv Education Program provides students with full scholarships to attend school, covering the costs of books, uniforms and tuition. Students not only receive full funding for their education through Elèv but have access to mentoring programs and personalized tutoring. It is still a small program since it sees children all the way through their schooling (most of whom attend university afterward) and gives them a guaranteed job at their for-profit counterpart Deux mains. However, Colombino expressed her desire to reach out to more regions and counties in Haiti. The Elèv program has educated more than 300 students and provided 15,080 hours of tutoring.

The Lavi Job Training Program prepares Haitians for the workplace. With the lack of businesses and available positions, REBUILD globally decided to focus on what it could control and curate. Colombino stated that this allowed the organization to give those in the program “a 100% guarantee…[that] there would be a dignified, living wage job waiting for them.” Since every Haitian enrolled in their job training program has the promise of a job at Deux mains and the training is very specific to the craftsman’s work within the factory. The program has helped those enrolled see a 92% increase in food security and a 53% average decrease in debt.

Haiti Partners

John Engle and Kent Annan founded Haiti Partners in 2009. It helps provide education to Haitians so they can help their country grow and thrive. Engle had moved to Haiti in 1991 and started developing programs then along with their other Haitian and American staff members. The education programs being put to use had been in the works for more than a dozen years prior. Haiti Partners’ goal is to provide a new approach to education as their way of fighting poverty in Haiti.

Haiti Partners opened the Children’s Academy and Learning Center in 2012. It provides both a quality education and a “working model of education-centered community development.” It educates both the children and their parents, who attend adult education classes, community savings and loan groups or contribute to service hours. Haiti Partners seeks to become a model for Haiti’s Ministry of Education and other schools in the country, in hopes of reshaping how Haitians are being educated for the better.

USAID believes that education is necessary “for sustained social and economic development,” which is why it is often a focus of nonprofits. More than 85% of the schools in Haiti are run by NGOs and communities. It is no wonder that these nonprofits are fighting poverty in Haiti by improving education.

– Jordan Miller
Photo: Flickr