PROJECTS | Haitivillageproject

top of page

Projects

Lespwa fe viv

Hope is alive

-Haitian Proverb

Microloans through the Haiti Village Project empower women to invest in their businesses, homes, and families. A woman who can provide for her family through her own industry is capable of changing the economic landscape of her home and her community. Funds received from repayment, fund future loans.

Microfinancing or microlending, as the name implies, is a small loan. These loans are given to people who would otherwise not be able to secure financing to invest in their businesses, homes, and families. While the loan is small to the lender and poses a smaller risk if unpaid, it is truly a life-changing event to the recipient. A woman who can provide for her family through her own industry is capable of changing the economic landscape of her home and her community.

Enette Locita peels Masketi seeds to sell in Les Cayes, the nearest city, an hour away. Masketi seeds are used in oil for hair products. Some of the things that are harvested by citizens of Wozye become part of a global market. For example, Vetiver root is one of Rosier's primary exportable crops, used in essential oils and perfumes. Enette is one of the leaders of the project in Haiti, serving on the steering committee. The steering committee makes decisions about how funds are loaned and how to determine the best candidates for loans.

Depot- Our BIG project this year has been the construction of a community depot. This building will serve the broad community by leveraging buying power through bulk purchasing and serving as valuable communal storage. The construction is nearly completed, and the community is excited that a need that THEY identified as serving the greater community will bring them greater autonomy.

Cooperative Family- Why are women in the Haiti Village Project recipients of microloans? Women spend their loans on improving their lives. Women are historically better at repaying their loans. Loans given to women are making lives better for them and their families.

Loan recipient Lovely Chery, 22, works on a garment for a client. She has been apprenticing at the house of a friend so that she can learn the trade. "My family doesn't have money so I had to stop high school. [tuition is needed to go to high school in Haiti] I just have my final year of high school to go. In the meantime I'm helping my mom, doing different things [to earn money]. Later, I want to be a nurse."

These pigs were purchased through a Haiti Village Project Microloan. Instead of just giving people donations, the microlending model gives a person ownership in their success. They are vested financially and are able to have the pride of being able to repay the loan so that they, and others in their communities, can also benefit from future loans.

Cooperative Member- Our loan recipients are gaining more than just small loans, they are gaining a way to provide for themselves and their families, to bring capital to their community and pride in their commitment to repay their loans. Women in the Haiti Village Project have ownership in how they run their cooperative, and have the peer support of their sisters and brothers. We simply facilitate the funding that is directed to them, they use it as they see fit. They are not charged interest on the loans and are not required to put up collateral. They are excited to repay their loans and bring more recipients into their co-op. Every dollar that they is donated to the HVP is passed to the people to continue their great work.

bottom of page