Objectives

In a climate of deepening insecurity and increasing violence in Haiti, women are facing insurmountable challenges. In Haiti, women are looked upon as a form of social protection or glue for their family. As a result, women are often forced to use sex as the only alternative to provide the basic necessities for their families. In doing so, they expose themselves to many risks including sexually transmittable diseases such HIV/AIDS which could potentially threaten not only their own lives, but also the lives of their family.

Our goal is to set up social protection mechanisms that allow women to better mange their social risks.

The Objectives of the project are :

1. To increase social and cognitive capital to help these women make better choices in the management of risks
2. To provide health training and services to lower the health risks of at risk women.
3. To support the development of economic enterprises for vulnerable women to decrease of prostitution of both women and minors.
4. To increase the organizational capacities of women and provide essential skills for them to be able to take more leadership roles within their communities.

Implementation

Axe 1 - Education

Functional Literacy that concentrates on the emergence of vulnerable women’s capacities to better understand their conditions and to create an outlet to rise up out of these conditions.
Non formal education of young women and adult women that are involved in prostitution that live in vulnerable conditions with children that they are responsible for.
Psychological accompaniment for women prostitutes, women infected with HIV/AIDS and women who are heads of their households.


Axe 2 – Women’s Health and Community Health

Women health training with the manual : “Where There is No Doctor for Women”;
Women and children preventative health training;
Family planning;
Informational campaign and training focused on HIV/AIDS: how the disease is transmitted, what precautions to take to avoid contracting the virus and how to take care of someone that has HIV/AIDS.


Axe 3 – Socio-Economic Reinforcement

To put in place a social and economic development fund oriented towards:

Access to micro-credit
Economic initiatives to provide incentives to women who desire to get out of prostitution.


Axe 4 – The construction of Organizational Capacities

Organize women into a structure that represents the interests of vulnerable women and offers them a space to structure the women to be actors of their own development and the development of their community.
Development of feminine leadership.

Beneficiaries

Our Target Population for this program includes women who have fallen prey to prostitution including: heads of family, prostitutes (specifically targeting those that are under age, are the heads of their families, young mothers and those who are pregnant). The most vulnerable women in this group are those that reside in the most impoverished and overpopulated neghborhoods, known as katyé popilé in Creole. These areas have become war zones where feuding gangs are victimizing the population; especially women and young girls


Our Geographic Area of Intervention includes three popular areas in Port au Prince:

• Bois Moquette
• Jalousie
• Morne Hercule