Who we are
We are Frits du Bois and Reinhilde van der Kroef and we are living on our sailing catamaran Bella Ciao. Sailing through the Caribbean Sea we visited Ile a Vache in 2013 and in 2014. We fell in love with the island and its inhabitants and when we were asked by one of them if we could help to launch a program for educating professionals, we were immediately willing to start researching the possibilities. Here are the results so far.
The context
Haiti is the poorest country in the western
hemisphere. Ile a Vache, a small island at the southwest coast of Haiti is no
exception.
In the summer of 2013 the Haitian
government launched a big plan for development of Ile a Vache, to become a
small-scale holiday destination for the ecotourist.
The project involves several sub-projects,
such as a number small of hotel villas accommodating 1500 units, road
construction, the construction of a small airport, and other facilities like a
golf course. The aim is to develop the island as a attractive destination for a
more selective segment of the touristic market.
The basic assumptions of the project are (according
to the brochure published summer 2013):
1)
Culture: Respect and preserve its integrity
2) Transportation: Conspicuously Car-Free
3) Environment: Mothering Nature
4) Community: Hand in Hand
5) Development: Build for Good
6) Energy: Independence Quest
7) Sustainability of the tourism product
8) Equitable distribution of benefits
9) The role of State as a facilitator and
synergy with the private sector
The inhabitants of the
island fear that they will be forgotten or even put aside in the process of
realization of the project: They are afraid that their land will be expropriated
and that the government will relocate them by force; their second fear is
that they will not be employed in the projects, but that the work will go to
people from the Haitian mainland who will be sent over by the government or the
investors.
In order to help the people to participate actively
in the construction and the maintenance of the diverse parts of the project they
need to be trained as skilled laborers who can be employed by the investors. This
will help them to find jobs and income and to become a part of the
project instead of experiencing it as a threat.
Our proposition
Our plan concerns an offer to the people of
the community of Kaykok in Ile a Vache to help them during 5 years being schooled and becoming professionals in fields relevant
to the project such as construction, masonry, plumbing, electricity,
air-conditioning and refrigeration, hotel personnel but also in some fields to
the direct benefit of the community such as agronomy, nursing, childcare, (para-)medical professions et cetera.
Once schooled the graduates need be to be put
into the view of the investors hiring personnel as competent and attractive
employees. Forming an organization to unite the skilled laborers the island
itself has to offer to the project will also be part of our plan, an
organization in which already skilled laborers also can be included.
Part 1
The first part of our plan for Ile a Vache
contains the selection of 10 students for professional training and sending those
selected to the best qualified schools for professional education in the city
of Les Cayes on the Haitian mainland.
We will
start by making an inventory of which technical and social professions will be the most in
demand. Our plan will pay for their housing, food and life in Les Cayes as well
as for their school fees, books and other equipment, transportation to and from
Les Cayes and a little pocket money.
We will also provide a selection procedure for those who apply for our
program. To reach a maximum of objectivity this
selection will be administered outside
the reach of the Ile a Vache community.
Part 2
An inventory will be made of already
existent professional capabilities (diplomas and/or experience) and the need
for refreshment courses et cetera. All who apply to become member of the database of
available skilled labor have to undergo a test in collaboration with the
schools in Les Cayes. This should lead to a database containing a group of
guaranteed qualified skilled workers that can be hired immediately by the
investors of the government project. For those that need extra schooling this can be
provided by our schooling project.
Once this database is established freshly
graduated students can also be integrated into it. When the quality of the
available workers is guaranteed, this could help the participants in this
database immensely to apply successfully for work in the government project. We will explore the possibilities for the members of our database and help them to apply for jobs.
The organization
The plan will become part of the Kaykok
Foundation,
a foundation that already organizes several projects on Ile a Vache, such as a
school, a medical dispensary, a waste collection competition and several other activities. In this American based foundation knowledge and experience have been built up during a decade of running
projects in the community Ile a Vache in general and of Kaykok (the second big village on the island with 3000 inhabitants) in particular.
Our plan can immensely profit of being part of this bigger entity as it offers
us a legal status on site and it also offers a well established (on site)
controlling system for the financial and administrative part of the plan.
Within this Kaykok Foundation our project
will be set up in a separate working committee, consisting of 3 or 4 people.
All funds available for our specific project will be earmarked as such in the
general administration of the Kaykok Foundation.
The person who is to be contracted (being
one of the inhabitants of Kaykok) as project manager to do the project
administration and the preliminary research and inquiries for part 1 and part 2
can be set up, guided and paid via this aforementioned Kaykok Foundation.The students will also be paid via the Foundation.
The Kaykok Foundation is in
the United Stated officially recognized as a nonprofit organization, so that it
can formally receive gifts under American tax-exemption rules. This also
includes a severe control of the finances of the organization. We explore the possibilities to apply the US
tax-ruling for the
Netherlands and therefore for the Dutch contributors.
A rigid regulation will be formulated as to
the tasks and the responsibilities of the foundation, the committee and the
contracted project manager and their relationship.
What you can do
We look for funding for the project
in The Netherlands, The United States, Canada and where ever we can raise funds
elsewhere in the world. Organizations as well as private persons who want to
help establish these plans are welcome to donate. Schools are invited to adopt one or more students in our project.
For more information:
