The 2030 Agenda and the Claretian communities in Haiti

Pascal Renoncourt cmf

Parish Priest of S. A. M. Claret Nazon

Haiti Social Project Director

We, the Claretian missionaries in Haiti have apostolic presence in four different places in Port-au-Prince (Cazale, Nazon, Clercine and Puits Blain), we have been working for many years with the peasants of Cazale. What we always do is to fight so that the lives of these people, without major resources, are improved. 

The projects we work on are mainly education and community organization; we have developed various types of projects, educational programs, programs for the promotion of women and unemployed youth, children’s and youth groups, always aimed at the development of the population. 

Lately, we have focused mainly on emergencies after the disasters that have occurred in that country in recent years; and we have also developed both formal and non-formal education projects, building rural schools in the mountains of Cazale, giving priority at all times to the educational development of vulnerable groups in rural areas where they are present. We have also managed several community development and participatory organization initiatives aimed at women and young people, two groups that are very vulnerable due to the complicated situation the country is going through.

We believe that with the help we are giving to the people around us in the communities, the decisions and measures we have taken in favor of the poorest and neediest are leading us towards a sustainable future, for example: 

Thanks to the help of the PROCLADE Foundation we have been able to facilitate access to education for 91 children in the Nazon neighborhood, all of them are from poor and vulnerable families. 

With the support of the PROCLADE Foundation, we are carrying out a development cooperation project with the rural communities of the Cazale region, which consists of food sovereignty. Of the 13 rural communities participating in this project, we are working with 200 families in a strategy of socioeconomic stabilization and gender equality that includes the training of promoters and the accompaniment of the target people in productive initiatives such as beekeeping, goat breeding, and the cultivation of Moringa, a species that grows easily in the local context, highly nutritious and resistant.

Local leaders´ training

From the PROCLADE Foundation, we are working to improve the living conditions of families in both Port-au-Prince and Cazale affected by the worsening of the health and food crisis resulting from COVID19 in Haiti. What we intend to do is to alleviate the food and hygiene needs of some 6000 people through the receipt of basic necessities kits.

https://youtu.be/SPL3Bw3bl6A

Although there is still a lot to do, but with all the projects that we carry and carry out we believe that we have improved the quality of education both in Nazon and in the mountains of Cazale, we have improved the economy of the peasant people, with the workshops we have given in the communities we have achieved gender equality and empower all women and girls in the areas. All this means that the work we are doing goes hand in hand with the SDGs, these motivate us every day, encourage us and invite us to overcome all barriers and difficulties to improve the quality of life of people, always bet on equal opportunities and social justice in communities, protect mother earth and ensure the welfare of all as part of a new agenda.

Pascal Renoncourt cmf

Parish Priest of S. A. M. Claret Nazon

Haiti Social Project Director