Haiti: OPDONE leaders advance health and development agenda while Haitian diaspora presses the U.S. government to change course toward Haiti.

“I am so impressed by the quality of OPODNE leadership” – Pierre Noel, Haiti Development Institute

Twenty-six OPODNE leaders met in HDI-led seminars for three days to build the skills need to scale up their local economic development projects. Over the past month, 800 OPODNE leaders conducted a door-to-door education campaign to encourage people to get COVID vaccine shots. Contrast this with the corrupt, U.S. supported, Haiti government’s inability provide safety, services, or pay its own employees.

At the insistence of OPODNE, the Ministry of Health agreed to make vaccines and personnel available to deliver vaccinations to rural communities across the Northeast Department. Nineteen OPODNE leaders with medical experience who received training and education materials from the Ministry of Health in turn trained and recruited 800 people from 30 towns and villages to share information with their communities. OPDONE also recruited local nurses to aid in proving vaccinations in the rural towns. Just as this rural vaccination program was about to kick off, it was undercut by a new initiative of USAID to pay NGOs one dollar for every person they get to show up to be vaccinated. Yet another example of how U.S. policies and practices are undermining Haitian-led efforts to build and strengthen local and national government institutions. With support from Faith in Action International, OPODNE has requested a meeting with USAID to press for the agency to work through local organization and governments.