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Activating the Church

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L3 Systems Activation:
The Home, School and Church

By activating the Haitian child’s most central networks, engaging key stakeholders, and leveraging culturally-relevant and engaging programming, the GC-DWC promotes a whole child approach to development that values the cultural richness of Haitian communities and will create a ripple effect throughout the country.

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Sermons and Baptisms

Recognizing that each Catholic parish in Haiti runs a school and is deeply embedded in local culture and home life, GC-DWC Haiti activates parish networks and the church (legliz) system by implementing innovative interventions, such as facilitating training for parish priests to learn how to integrate childhood development messaging into their sermons, and offering baptismal preparation courses to parents, godparents, and other family members that empower them to raise healthy, intelligent, and spiritually alive children—connecting science and theology in how we raise God’s beloved children entrusted to our care.

Community Learning Centers

Activating the church and community surrounding Haitian children has also included partnering with communities in Haiti to establish Community Lesource Centers (CLCs) that provide a space for learning outside of the classroom environment. CLCs are housed within reoutfitted, solar-powered shipping containers which allows for a resilient education system regardless of the limited infrastructure resources, political unrest, and environmental factors that increase Haiti’s vulnerability to school closures. These learning centers are community owned and managed, providing a continuous opportunity for learning and development, and create a space for parents and children to engage in learning together.

CRC

Haitian children need an adaptable education system that includes comprehensive distance learning programs in the event of school closures, as well as year round access to hybrid learning programs that leverage effective practices such as literacy-based curricula, play-based learning, and ed-tech—these learning centers provide that. Also open to out-of-school youth, older students, and adults, the CLCs allow for community wide inclusion and further bolster the GC-DWC’s mission to improve learning outcomes for Haitian children and create sustainable change.

 

Radio Distance Learning

Radio Distance Learning

When COVID-19 necessitated school closures in Haiti in March of 2020, educators and actors had to work quickly to maintain student learning during the crisis. Haiti’s current distance learning program is primarily online; however, only 40% of Haitian households have access to a power source, let alone a reliable internet connection (USAID 2018), that would enable them to use the program.

Recognizing radio as the most democratic and effective means of disseminating learning materials in Haiti during COVID-19, radio programming and a partnership with parish and community radio stations was implemented to aid distance education, and radios were distributed to teachers, parents, and facilitators. The GC-DWC, in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services Haiti (CRS) and the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education (CEEC), created four radio programs—a literacy program supplemented with a reading hour program, a pre-K social and emotional learning (SEL) and parent engagement program, and another pre-K program that complements the current, school-based early childhood development (ECD) curriculum—as part of a comprehensive approach to distance learning in a low-tech environment. Radio distance learning has aided in additional disaster response through the Systems Activation in Emergencies program, funded by the LEGO Foundation Values Grant,  implemented by the GC-DWC following the August 2021 earthquake in Haiti.

Resources