So why do you do what you do (in Haiti)?

"So why do you do what you do in Haiti?"

I get asked this question a lot.

The answer is a bit complicated.

The easy answer is that I basically stumbled into Haiti. Contact me and we can grab a coffee and talk about this. Or (self-promotion) you can watch a TEDx Talk I did a few years ago (click here)

The more difficult answer is not about Haiti but about the question "Why do you do what you do?"

At its core, I think it is a deep desire to do right in the world.

It's cliche but it's true for me: To make the world a better place, if even only for a few people.

For me, this begins in my home ... and then extends to my community and to the broader world.

What does it mean to make the world a better place? I think the idea of reciprocity (resipwosite in Haitian Creole) is central to this. Or, some would articulate it as "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." Recently, I took part in a Think Tank on Global Competencies at Harvard University and someone there changed the Golden Rule to the Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they would have you do unto them. I like that.

The UN developed the Sustainable Development Goals as another way to articulate how to make the world a better place. Countries around the world agreed to establish targets to achieve by 2030:

Source: http://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/news/ger-in-sdg/en/

Our work in Haiti is focused on SDG#4 (quality, inclusive education) and #5 (gender equality), although there are many links to other SDGs (e.g., partnerships, eliminating poverty, reduced inequalities).

So why do I do what I do in Haiti? I do it to foster inclusive and equitable education.

I also do it because it's the right thing to do.

Gender equity in Haiti, in my community, and globally

I recently co-authored a book chapter that had a focus on initiatives in Haiti aimed to support girls in education. We have been working on supporting the ability of girls in Haiti to access all levels of schooling and the book chapter provided an opportunity to highlight some of these projects. Part of the motivation for the work we have been doing to support girls in Haiti came out of a video project we did in 2015. One video captured Canadian and Haitian university students in conversation with each other (click here to watch the 3 minute video). In the conversations, I was struck by the differences in dreams that our participants had.

We continue to be committed to building the capacity of girls and women in Haiti. We do this for girls through a camp that encourages Haitian children to engage in math, science, engineering, the arts, and technology (STEAM). The camp is coordinated by our Laurier university students and has seen 100s of Haitian girls and boys attend over the past three years. We also support young women who participate in a conversational English program with our Laurier university students. These conversations are rich and meaningful. They also illuminate for both our Haitian and Canadian participants the shared experiences and dreams they have. We are also supporting the teaching and leadership abilities of Haitian women through their participation in the Educator and Leadership Institute (click here to watch a 1 minute video of our 2017 institute in Cap-Haitien, Haiti). We have been deliberate and intentional in ensuring that we have strong female instructors and leaders, both Haitian and Canadian, to provide exemplary modeling for our participants.

Through this work, I have further developed my interest in the concept of agency (similar to the concepts of efficacy and empowerment). Merriam-Webster dictionary defines agency as "the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power". This idea has made me think a lot about the ideas of equity and equality. It seems to me that we are aiming for equity in Haiti more than equality. Equality insinuates that everyone is treated equally whereas equity gets at the concept of developing conditions that are fair and just, in other words, ensuring that everyone has what they need to be able to access power. I think this visual captures the difference:

Source: http://www.the-exploratory.org/2016/12/01/discovering-gender-equality-vs-gender-equity/

When we think about gender equity, it's important to realize that this is not a "Haiti issue" but one that impacts people in every community on the planet, including my own. As a father of two daughters, I want to ensure that the conditions of equal and fair treatment for them are present just like they are for my son. A person's agency enables them to recognize disparities (Paolo Freire would call this "conscientization") and work to change those inequities.

This is part of my work in Haiti ... and in my own community.