Haiti Educator and Leadership Institute team ready to go!

Over the past month we have carefully followed the news from Haiti and have kept in contact with our partners there on a regular basis. The protests and violence of a few weeks ago have abated - although there continues to be significant challenges and concerns - and so the Educator and Leadership Institute is moving ahead!

For those interested in knowing more about ELI check out this video from 2016 which provides an overview of the vision and structure. 

Our overall goal is to support the professional learning of 1,000+ teachers and 100 principals so that we might impact the learning outcomes of 100,000 students in Haiti.

To see an update on how we are doing to achieve this goal, check out our 2017 video (click here).

In 2018, we will welcome 500 educators to take part in 18 courses! Thirty Canadian francophone educators will be leading these courses (in focus areas: math, science, critical literacy, special education, early learning, and leadership). We are excited that this year some of our key Haitian educators will also be instructing portions of the courses and learning more about how to facilitate instructional leadership as they take on full teaching roles for future ELI sessions. 

A key component of ELI is a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) camp which will be enjoyed by 200 Haitian children. The camp is led by our Laurier university students as well as a number of other Haitian and Canadian young leaders.

ELI is an amazing partnership between Haitian and Canadian educators who are committed to becoming better teachers and globally competent educators. I am so proud of this group! It is a huge undertaking and is only possible through the concerted effort of people committed to a common cause.

I will be providing updates regularly between Aug. 4-12 as ELI takes place in Haiti. Beyond the blog, you can get more frequent updates through Twitter (@drstevesider, #LaurierHaiti) and pictures through Instagram (@drstevesider, #LaurierHaiti).

Update on the Haiti Educator and Leadership Institute 2018: Recognizing our privileges ... and solidarity

There have been some significant issues which have led to large protests in Haiti recently. The issues came to a head when the Haitian government, following pressure from the IMF and World Bank, announced new increases for the price of fuel. This article in the Miami Herald (click here) outlines these increases including "...an increase of 38 percent on gas, 47 percent on diesel and 51 percent on kerosene, which is used largely by Haiti's poor to light up their homes."

The article goes on to say:

"Haiti's reality — double-digit inflation, a depreciating local currency, low purchasing power and little in the way of job creation — was the match that helped sparked three days of civil unrest that left at least three dead, businesses burned and pillaged, and international flights canceled."

Such is the plight of Haiti.

The Educator and Leadership Institute is scheduled to take place in Cap-Haitien from August 5-10. Although there have been protests in Cap-Haitien, it has not experienced nearly the turbulence that Port au Prince has seen. However, at this point, the Canadian government has issued an "Avoid all travel" advisory for Haiti. This puts our work in Haiti in jeopardy for the planned August time-frame.

I am not upset about the potential of delaying ELI until next summer, after all, we certainly do not want Haitian or Canadian participants to feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

I've learned over the years to reflect when confronted with these situations...

... and, upon reflection, this serves as a reminder of my privilege. I can choose to delay a trip. I can afford if there is a financial penalty for having to do so. My life will not be majorly impacted if I do not go.

However, the same cannot be said for many of my Haitian colleagues. They are living in the middle of very challenging circumstances.

Situations like this call for solidarity (solidarite in Creole). We might be able to physically remain in our comfortable homes and work places in Canada but we can certainly join our Haitian colleagues in emotional and spiritual solidarity during this difficult time.

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.

Partnerships to support global competencies in Egypt: Reciprocity in action

I've spent the past week in Egypt building the partnership that Laurier has with an international school in Cairo. It has been a tremendous week.

We've been able to formalize an agreement to support professional development for teachers at the school, engage in shared research, and foster opportunities for our Laurier Bachelor of Education students to have teaching placements at the school.

Meeting with school administrators.

A strong focus of our meetings has been on reciprocity.

Examples of this were three meetings I had yesterday with teachers and administrators at the school.

In the first meeting, I met a very creative teacher who is using technology to support global connections for her students. She engages them in a curriculum that includes developing knowledge, skills, and attitudes that reflect global citizenship (e.g., seeking to understand other cultures, collaboration skills, appreciation for diversity). We are going to work together to see how we might expose Canadian students and those in teacher education programs to the work she does ... thus supporting the knowledge of her students about Canada and supporting our Canadian students' knowledge about Egypt.

Two of the teachers I have worked with this year who are championing peer coaching at the school.

In the second meeting, I met with the English department coordinator. Dr. Zainab has a PhD in which she focused on neo-colonial literature of Africa (wow!) and who wants to develop her research skills. We mapped out a research project that will examine how literature that reflects a global perspective can support the global competencies of her students. I will also benefit from this project as it will provide a comparative perspective which might inform a similar project in Canada.

Dr. Zainab and I with a concept map of our new research project.

Finally, the day was concluded with a wonderful meal with the Egyptian administrative team. In my experience, I have found that food is the "great equalizer". It is around food that people learn to trust each other and to seek to better understand "the other." We enjoyed Egyptian delicacies and I was able to present them each with gifts of jars of Canadian apple butter!

Sharing tea together ... a perfect way to support relationship-building.

Opportunities such as this are tremendous reminders of the incredible privilege we have to work as educators across (and sometimes despite) borders. I remain deeply committed to fostering global perspectives for teachers - whether in Canada or Egypt or elsewhere - so that we might work toward building the global competencies of our students, building peaceful civil society together.

Our world needs more of this.

Toronto van attack: A caution about how we see ourselves

Earlier this week, there was a terrible tragedy in Toronto as a man killed ten people and injured 14 others as he drove his van into pedestrians on Yonge Street (click here to read more).

Today, the name of one of the victims, who worked at Earl Haig Secondary School (where I have spent some time supervising a student teacher), was released. Her story, having worked only a single day at that high school and being a single mother of a seven year old, is heart-wrenching. To read more about the victims click here.

Yesterday and today, after some of the initial shock of the attack has abated, I have been amazed at how "self-congratulatory" people have been about how individuals/Toronto/Canada has reacted. I have sensed a "we're better than others" ... the police officer who arrested the man did not shoot him, news agencies deliberately delayed associating the attack with terrorism, and, on social media, people confronted those from outside of Canada who tried to conjure up connections with multiculturalism, religion, and terrorism.

I am proud of how we as Canadians generally responded to this horrible incident.

But...

I'm also concerned that we are patting ourselves on the back and making it seem like no other city (or country) that has been involved in an attack such as this has not reacted in kind. I'm guessing that there are many in Norway (2011 car bomb attack in Oslo followed by an attack at a summer camp)  who also responded as we did in Canada. I think many Londoners would say that they have experienced multiple such attacks (2017 London Bridge, 2005 bombings) and have jolly well carried on. How about those in Nice in 2016?

For that matter, are there not many in countries which are under constant threat of attack who also respond in ways that seek peace?

We have experienced a terrible tragedy in Canada. Yes, I am proud that we did not immediately jump to conclusions that contribute to "uber" militarized and politicized responses. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We are not that different than others around the world who are reasonable, peace-seeking peoples. For that, we should be thankful.

International Women's Day: Poto Mitan

Poto Mitan is a Haitian Creole phrase to describe women as cornerstones in their communities.

I love this idea.

I have been fortunate to have had many strong women "cornerstones" in my life: mother (and mother-in-law), grandmother, wife, sister, daughters, friends, teachers, supervisors, colleagues.

Not everyone has the fortune of having a host of cornerstones.

But everyone needs at least one cornerstone, one poto mitan.

As I reflect today on the idea of poto mitan, I think of the many strong women cornerstones I have had the privilege of meeting in Haiti.

One picture that speaks to these poto mitan is the one below. I snapped the picture as I stood behind a principal as she sat beside a young student and watched as educators started entering a session we were hosting.

The picture speaks powerfully to the concept of poto mitan.

Today we celebrate International Women's Day but every day is an opportunity to be the poto mitan of our communities.