How does your innovation work in practice?

Anseye Pou Ayiti’s mission is to recruit and equip local civic leaders – including teachers, parents, and school directors – to transform classrooms and communities. APA’s work is rooted in an appreciation for the assets of local culture, customs, and community. 

APA officially launched in 2014, and its fellowship for Haitian teacher-leaders began in 2015. More recently, fellowship programs for parent leaders and school leaders were added. A local Haitian-led and Haitian-run movement, APA takes a grassroots approach to investing in a new generation of Haitian civic leaders as drivers of a quality transformation for the nation’s education system. APA ensures its programming is contextualized, incorporating a culturally responsive approach to capacity building. The foundations of this movement for education equity are rooted in a deep understanding and appreciation for local culture, customs, and community. We believe we can equip a new generation of local leaders who are proud of their identity and channel that understanding into redefining true leadership as rooted in collective action.

Why did you create this innovation?

Haiti’s education system is one of the strongest remaining vestiges of the country’s colonial past, including its inequitable education system. Almost 80 percent of the country’s primary school teachers are not formally trained, over half of students do not complete primary school, and only 1 percent of students reach university. In Haiti, educational inequity is a cause of social injustice and generational trauma. While reports and media about Haiti today often focus on poverty statistics, in fact that ignores Haiti’s significant influence on liberation across the hemisphere and the local assets that characterized Haiti as the "Pearl of the Antilles." In 1788, Haiti's exports reached, in today's money, $1,084,440,000: larger than that of the US at the time. Its exports were worth far more than the golds of Brazil, or the silver of Mexico, and they kept the entire navy of France in business. The APA movement works with communities across the country to create a network of local civic leaders and build an equitable education system based on shared history, values, and vision. APA believes in reclaiming the power of Haitian people by decolonizing education, ensuring equal educational opportunity, and prioritizing civic leadership.