Transforming Haiti: Equipping the Next Generation of Leaders

Haitians are impacted daily by their inequitable education infrastructure, where the national curriculum does not include civics lessons, and corporal punishment is still used. Further, there is a vast disparity between private and public schools, actively restricting opportunities for poorer and rural communities who may not be able to afford private institutions. These structural educational issues mean that less than 30% of students finish primary school, and a mere 1% go on to university—as a result, homegrown leadership is stifled (Ministry of Education).

Haiti has a bold legacy—the first Black republic, born of the world’s only successful slave revolt, where its founders deemed education a human right. Yet, despite this legacy, this promise has gone unrealized. Two leaders in the fields of leadership and education, Nedgine Paul Deroly and Jean-Claude Brizard recognized the opportunity to reimagine this ambitious goal. Both were born in Haiti to educator parents, who raised them to take pride in Haitian culture and excellence. As immigrants to the U.S., Jean-Claude worked his way up to the Chief Executive position in the Chicago Public School system and is now CEO of Digital Promise, and Nedgine dedicated her life’s work to leadership development at Achievement First, WorldTeach, and Partners in Health before moving back to Haiti to launch Anseye Pou Ayiti (APA) as CEO, with Jean-Claude joining as Founding Board Chair.

Finding their calling in building a better Haiti, APA began with years of listening and learning from local communities to establish a model made by and for Haitians. They aimed to change the education system from within, empowering Haitians to build a culturally rooted and community-informed curriculum.

APA runs fellowship programs that equip and support teachers, parents, and school leaders to become change agents in their schools and communities. Through a 2-year fellowship, teacher leaders work full-time in public schools, responsible for one class, receiving both a salary from the Ministry of Education and a stipend from APA. Teachers receive training, coaching, leadership development, and other resources to facilitate growth and to support them in transforming civic education from a grassroots level. Teachers are recruited from their own community, and are not limited to those with an advanced background, opening up doors for new educators and ensuring long-term sustainability and empowerment. 95% of alumni pursue a career in educational equity, creating a larger ripple effect at all levels of influence in Haiti.

These efforts are creating widespread transformation on a school and community level. APA Fellows are leading the shift to make Kreyol the primary language of instruction, and corporal punishment has been eliminated from all APA schools. Teachers are fairly compensated and each classroom has at least one teacher. As a result, APA produces strikingly positive results. Classrooms working with APA demonstrate 90% passing rates, compared to the 41% national average, the Ministry of Education has gone on to hire 10 APA alumni to act as official school coaches, and the Ministry has more widely embraced a shift to Kreyol language instruction.

APA ultimately positions members of Haitian communities to become the civic leaders they need. Recognizing that the community members are those who live, see, and identify not only the problems but also the solutions to educational inequity, APA’s work provides the network and training necessary for these leaders to thrive.