Fonkoze USA

Partnership Launched to Break the Cycle of Disease and Poverty in Haiti

September 25, 2009

Fonkoze, BRAC, BRAC USA, Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante, CGAP, CHF partners in rural development and Linked Foundation have joined forces to commit $50 million towards a two-year effort to implement a proven, replicable, cost-effective approach to improving health and reducing extreme poverty in Central Haiti.

President Clinton’s appointment as United Nations special envoy to Haiti and the fifth annual Clinton Global Initiative draw attention to the extreme and persistent poverty in Haiti and the need for innovative solutions.

Fonkoze and Zanmi Lasante, two leading Haitian NGOs with decades of experience in the target area, together with BRAC, the largest NGO in the Global South, and other organizations are using their complementary strengths to improve health, eliminate extreme poverty, and develop youth leaders in this hemisphere’s poorest country.

“The needs are so great,” said Fazle Hasan Abed Founder and Chairperson of BRAC. “We will work in partnership to address each facet of extreme poverty and to break its grip.”

Targeting 575,000 people in Haiti’s Central Plateau, the major components of this commitment involve building:

safety nets with transitions to sustainable enterprise for the most vulnerable;

comprehensive health services;

food security and agricultural training and employment;

improved water access and sanitation; and

youth leadership development and training.

“Bringing together our combined successes and expertise in a comprehensive economic, health, and leadership development approach is the precise, direct strategy needed at this crucial time,” said Anne Hastings, Director of Fonkoze. “We all seek to build a sustainable future for Haiti and her people.”

Fonkoze is Haiti’s largest micro-finance organization with a mission to build the economic foundation for democracy in Haiti by providing the rural poor — mostly women — with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. To learn more about Fonkoze visit www.fonkoze.org.

Zanmi Lasante, the Haitian sister organization of the U.S.-based NGO Partners In Health, is one of Haiti’s largest health care providers, serving a catchment area of 1.2 million in Central Haiti and the lower Artibonite Department. To learn more about Partners in Health visit www.pih.org.

BRAC/BRAC USA, the largest non-profit in the developing world, was launched in Bangladesh in 1972 and currently touches the lives of more than 110 million people through its programs addressing poverty including micro-loans, education, health services, self-employment opportunities and human rights education. To learn more about BRAC, visit www.bracusa.org.

CGAP, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor is a consortium of 33 public and private development agencies working together to expand access to financial services for the poor in developing countries. To learn more about CGAP visit www.cgap.org.

CHF partners in rural development (former Canadian Hunger Foundation). CHF partners in rural development is a non-profit organization dedicated to enable poor rural communities in developing countries to attain sustainable livelihoods. To learn more about CHF Partners in Rural Development visit www.chf-partners.ca.

Linked Foundation invests in leading organizations to create high-impact solutions in improving the health and economic self-reliance of underserved women in the U.S. and Latin American. To learn more about Linked Foundation visit www.linkedfoundation.org.