HAITI PARTNERS

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35 LAPTOPS TO HAITI

A quick update on the 35 laptops project, a component of our 3-year Capacity Building program in Haiti.

7 of our Haitian colleagues have already received laptops and 5 more will in two weeks.

While the total on the Give Meaning website is about $3,500, the actual raised to-date is closer to $10,000. Hurray! You just can't imagine how excited my Haitian colleagues and I are about getting them laptops so that they can be more effective as educators and community leaders. A giant THANKS to everyone who has contributed!

Paulaine Presandieu, one of the people participating in the Capacity Building program just spent a week with my wife and I. She's picture above and in video (link below). She talked about these laptops as she's taking 2, one for her and her colleague, back to Haiti:

"Getting access to a computer and internet in Haiti is not easy. There are little cyber cafes here and there but they're normally packed full with people and the computers are in terrible condition. It's common to have to wait in line to use a computer and then it can take an hour to successfully respond to a couple of emails. The computers have viruses and are old and have to be shut down and restarted etc. It gets so discouraging. Getting a good laptop like this is wonderful!"

Click here to view a 55 second video update with a number of the laptops pictured.

Our group of 40 (35 do not have a computer) convened for training and exchange in April and again in June. Click here for photo gallery. The energy and enthusiasm for this training is high and the laptops play an important part of this. A very special thanks goes to Mark and Claire Dowds and Steve Walchek for spearheading fundraising for laptops.

Let's spread the word! Learn more and contribute at Give Meaning.

During the last week of June I was in Haiti with a group of seventy people from all over the country. It was our 8th Annual Open Space meeting. They’re all impressive people—working hard for change in difficult circumstances. Click here to browse hundreds of great photos.

These meetings are a time of hope, joy and creativity, not to mention deep learning and trust building. Important work gets done. During the days small and large groups convene all around the guesthouse campus to address topics hot on people’s minds like “How Can Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) improve their/our impact” and “How we’re funding teachers’ salaries with social enterprises.” In the evenings we set up the projector and laptop and did Internet training, a session on self-evaluation, and viewed an exciting presentation about man-made lakes in Haiti that feed people (fish production) and reduce flooding.

Eric Graham, a retired Haitian and professional photographer has committed to participating in our meetings and taking pictures. In addition to having beautiful photographs his involvement also connects us to a wonderful initiative of Haiti’s private business sector called “Mwen Renmen Peyi m” (I Love My Country). Eric is a founding member and is making sure that there’s good cross-pollination between our networks.

There are so many exciting things happening. We couldn't be more grateful for the generous support and encouragement from so many.

ARE ORGANIZATIONS IN HAITI WORKING TOGETHER?

Each week I talk with various people from throughout the US who are somehow involved in Haiti. They contact Beyond Borders or me specifically by telephone or email knowing of our long history in Haiti. So often I hear, especially from people who have recently visited Haiti, “There’s all these organizations doing different things but nobody seems to be working together.”

Thanks to the good folks supporting our work and that of others who are promoting collaboration and an alternative approach to leadership and education, there are all kinds of organizations throughout Haiti working together to stretch resources and increase impact.

The most recent concrete example of this is the 3-year learning program that we’re launching this month for 40 Haitian teachers, community leaders, several members of international organizations (example: Save The Children and Concern Worldwide) and even a representative from Haiti’s Ministry of Education.

Our 3-year learning program, made possible through a generous grant from Vista-Hermosa Foundation, will bring these folks together three times a year over three years for training and will also make it possible for them to do exchange visits to see first hand one another’s work. As part of the training, they’ll be equipped with collaboration skills and tools. Click here to download the grant proposal describing the training.

APRIL HAITI TRIP

Click here to see photos from our time April trip.

The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500

Gary Hamel, the old management guru, has published an impressive description of the net
generation and the philosophy of Web 2.0. Below are his 12 points. There's a link at bottom to see his entire article.

The concepts he articulates are consistent with those of Open Space. In fact, Open Space meeting format and principles provide a concrete way to live into this new way of leadership, just as web 2.0 tools and applications do. Open Space is a way to do it when it's face to face.

Our work in Haiti, which is primarily face to face but supported online with emails, list serves, wikis (in past) and now Google Sites is about leapfrogging Haiti from archaic to innovative leadership notions and practices.

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.

Click here to read article.

LEARNING BY DOING

I stepped into a researcher's world this week and had the great opportunity to participate with Jim Engle-Warnick, PhD, in conducting a decision-making experiment with human subject volunteers that tests the affect of participation on social learning. Learning By Doing is the name of the experiment. In particular, we're looking at the affect of social learning in preferences toward risk and ambiguity.

With this laboratory study, people have the opportunity to discuss decision-making problems that reveal their preferences. In one case people participate in their social learning experience and in the other case people view a past social learning experience.


This experiment is being conducted at CIRANO, a Montreal-based think tank, where Jim is a VP.

35 LAPTOPS TO HAITIAN EDUCATORS
An invitation to help us:



CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND CONTRIBUTE

INVITING YOUR HELP

Would you like to help us? We're trying to raise $30,000 for 35 or more laptops for key members of our network. These Haitians are teachers and community leaders who will go through a 3 year learning program with us. They come from parts throughout Haiti and are working with us to change the education and leadership paradigm in Haiti from one of extreme authoritarian to one of empowerment.

We're thankful to Mark Dowd and Steven Walchek of BrainPark for launching the fundraising effort for this critical project.

Click here to vote and to get involved haitiedu