Activating the Home, School, and Church L3 System in Northern Haiti

Within Haitian Catholic parishes there are three settings of the social ecology where young children are in regular contact with individuals who affect their learning and development: home (lakay), school (lekòl), and church (legliz) or L3. Building on the reality that the Catholic church is deeply embedded in, and has influence over, the school, home, and broader community life of young children, the University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) partnered with five parish communities in the Diocese of Cap-Haïtien in Northern Haiti to meet young children’s (ages 0-6) holistic needs across the L3. The five innovation communities provide a unique platform for developing and pilot testing WCD programs for young children alongside community members. The GC-DWC team recently engaged two different learning strategies to assess L3 work in Northern Haiti: rapid evaluation, assessment and learning methods (REALM) and a Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP). This report summarizes our learning.