Every county has a Diaspora.  The governments of some countries such as El Salvador actively encourage their Diaspora to participate in the country by voting, investing, and applying (or runnning for) government positions. Haiti is behind the curve in this respect.  However, the Haitian Diaspora has knowledge, skills, and resources with which to make a difference.  The Internet is an excellent way to engage them.   An entrepeunerial individual from Thomonde where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer has created Thomonde.com.  It could be a model for other Diaspora communities.

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The International Crisis Group, an NGO with expertise on preventing and responding to emergencies, has released a report entitled "Peacebuilding Haiti: Including Haitians from Abroad" The report argues that the Haitian government needs to implement a long term disaspora policy with the support of the international community.  With the Diaspora being over three million strong and possessing skills, connections, and resources that would be useful in the reconstruction of the country, we could not agree more.  Seeting aside one day a year for the Diaspora is not enough - we need ongoing engagement.

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Members of the Haiti Innovation Community are by now no doubt familiar with the organization Partners in Health and the pionerring work their team has done in Haiti bringing community based health care to  the lowest possible resource settings, and in particular, developing novel new approaches to treating both HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.

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Partners in Health, the Haitian organization which pioneered community based treatment of HIV/AIDS in low resource settings, is now operating in a third African country, Malawi. Read more »

Greetings, it is my honor to inform you about the 10th Annual National Haitian Student Conference. This event will be taking place on March 2 - 4, 2007 at Pennsylvania State University. This event is being hosted by the Pennsylvania Haitian Student Association, a statewide organization dedicated to the empowerment of Haitian/Haitian-American students as well as the development of the Haitian community in Pennsylvania. Read more »

Migration is an interesting lens with which to view Haiti and the United States, Neither would exist without migration. Immigrants to each country displaced Native Indian populations. Slaves were forced to come to each. People in Haiti and the US are mobile. Read more »

A recent Florida Sun-Sentinel Op-Ed led me to put together a little overview of the issue of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. It's not exhaustive, but should give an idea of what Haiti’s up against (or not, from my POV) in order to obtain TPS. Read more »

This title is taken from a book about the relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, two radically different countries that share the same island. Their relationship is extremely poor, fueled by paranoia on both sides. Dominican treatment of Haitians ranges from callous to positively inhumane. Haitians continue to flock to the Dominican Republic to work in the cane fields, construction, and a variety of other jobs that Dominicans do not want....at least not at the rate Haitians are paid. Read more »

Haiti undoubtedly has one of the most compelling histories of the Western Hemisphere. Haiti was the first free black republic, second only to the United States. Napoleon’s massive losses in Haiti, at that time worth more than all thirteen American colonies, contributed to the transfer of land from France to the United States known as the Louisiana Purchase. Haitian troops fought in the American Revolution. Though its problems are many and severe, Haiti's history enriches the western hemisphere.

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Last night, I attended a meeting on how Haitian Diaspora could become engaged in Haiti's future. This is a major reason why we formed Haiti Innovation, in order to involve the Diaspora and other concerned individuals in Haiti's development.

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