I'm just coming in from visiting numerous voting polls in Port-au-Prince where UN sources tell me the numbers are as low as 8 to 15% voter turnout. Not a line to wait in at any polling station and election workers with their heads down on the voting tables. By 11 am it seemed as if everyone and anyone who intended to vote had done so and now people were just mulling around. Some deputy and senator ballot boxes were nearly empty.

  Read more »

Anyone who has been to Haiti knows that its environment has been devastated. In fact, one of the first things a visitor notices when flying into Haiti are sandy, rocky mountains that used to be covered with trees. The erosion not only makes the soil less productive, but it also makes villages more susceptible to flooding, mudslides, and other natural disasters. Read more »

After the Presidential election of February 7th 2006 Haiti has fallen off the media’s radar. Equally as important as the Presidential elections are the Parliamentary elections, the runoffs of which are set to take place this Friday April 21st. The positive aspect of this decline in media attention is the fortunate decrease in kidnappings that once held the Haitian population at bay. Read more »

With agricultural day approaching on May 1st Haitians are preparing to exhibit environmental projects and programs on Champs de Mars in Port-au-Prince, the town of Jacmel and elsewhere around the country with much enthusiasm. But in the mean time not enough is being done about waste management, basic problems and emphasis on change. Read more »

Each of the members of Haiti Innovation's Board of Directors was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Each of us had rewarding experiences, alike in some ways and different in the others. For us, it was an opportunity to become familiar with another culture intimately, to learn another language fluently, and to work side by side with out Haitian counterparts on projects with the potential to change a community for the better. We learned about Haiti, and through us, Haitians learned about the United States and Americans. Read more »

Last week, Haiti's President-elect, Rene Preval, visited Washington, DC in an attempt to bolster support for US backed aid packages during his second term. While on Capitol Hill, he met with lawmakers of the Senate and the House Ways and Means committee to shore up support for the HOPE Act, a trade bill that would offer preferential trade status to Haiti on certain textile exports to the US. Read more »