About Our Trip

Many Hands Make the Load Lighter: Microfinance, Healthcare, and Women as Agents of Development

This trip will focus on the roles women can play in the redevelopment process in Haiti, specifically post-earthquake. We will focus on women as agents of development within their own communities, along with some of the outlets that empower them to do so, like microcredit and healthcare services. In addition, participants will explore the challenges Haitian women face from a sociological perspective.

Because the January 2010 earthquake was so devastating to the existing infrastructure of Haiti, the road to redevelopment has been long and complicated. Thousands of NGOs rushed to the country after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, but for many Haitians, things have not yet returned to normal in the past three and a half years. This trip will pose the question: how does active women’s involvement in the development process benefit everyone as a whole?

This trip will further explore women not only as agents of sustainable community development, but as empowered individuals. In partnering with the Association of Peasants of Fondwa, Fonkoze (a women’s microfinance group), N’a Sonje, and Grace Children’s Hospital, participants will observe how organizations are already working to incorporate women in the development process, and how these efforts have been successful.

American University is one of the founding members of the national Haiti Compact, an organization composed of universities dedicated to remaining involved in the rebuilding process and maintaining relationships with community partners in Haiti until at least 2014. This will be AU’s fourth trip to Haiti with students. The Haiti Compact also works to raise awareness about issues in contemporary Haiti and fundraise for grassroots organizations on college campuses across the United States.