Partnering with Haiti: A country of great need and great potential

The needs of Haiti have always been on full display, but rarely more than this year. La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, lays out the past challenges and the upcoming possibilities for Haiti’s children, families and communities with an invitation to join us in support. We look forward to sharing more about these “Pockets of Hope” in Haiti in the future. You can read more of our history of partnering with frontline organizations here. In the meantime, here’s more of what’s happening on the ground.

As Naples Daily News reported on Sept. 29, WKKF grantee Hope for Haiti received the 2021 Social Innovation Classy Award for its provision of health care in Haiti. The recognition goes to “the 10 most innovative nonprofits and social enterprises.” Winners this year were selected from more than 1,400 entries by a panel of nonprofit professionals. Although this award focused on Hope for Haiti’s work in 2020, the organization’s efforts there have only increased in response to the August 2021 earthquake.

Despite ongoing turmoil since its inception in 1990, Haiti-based WKKF grantee Caribbean Craft  has persisted in exporting beautiful local arts and crafts, reminding us that Haiti has an abundance of culture to offer the world. In September, the online magazine Remodelista featured a recent line of papier mâché housewares from this woman-owned employer of artisans.

Meanwhile, on Reliefweb, the UN humanitarian agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) featured an article about WKKF grantee GHESKIO. It reported on the Port-au-Prince-based infectious disease and treatment institution and its current work in displacement camps in southern Haiti following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in August. In the article, GHESKIO Deputy Director Dr. Marie-Marcelle Deschamps describes the stark conditions and great needs she finds as she cares for victims of the disaster.