Since 1986 the Haitian people have traveled a long and
difficult road from dictatorship to democracy. Overcoming
devastating setbacks such as the coup d'etat of 1991, they
have achieved a degree of freedom and peace unprecedented in
Haiti's history. But today, a fundamental question remains.
Will electoral democracy translate into concrete changes in
the lives of ordinary Haitians? Former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide created the Aristide Foundation for
Democracy with a simple principle in mind: the promise of
democracy can only be fulfilled if all sectors of Haitian
society are able to actively participate in the democratic
life of the nation.
To bring real change, democracy in Haiti must go beyond the
polling place. It must become a daily practice. Democracy
must include those at the margins of society: street
children, market women, landless peasants, restaveks
(children living in Haitian households as unpaid domestic
laborers), the urban poor. And it must address the issues of
prima[y importance to the majority of Haiti's seven million
citizens: food, jobs, health care, education, justice, and
peace.
The Aristide Foundation for Democracy is dedicated to
opening up avenues of democratic participation for those who
traditionally have had no voices in national affairs. It
seeks to echo and amplify the voices of the Haitian people
on a national and international level, and it strives to
foster dlalogue across class and social lines.
To create the conditions in which democratic participation
is possible for all Haitians, the Aristide Foundation works
in three key areas: creating forums for dialogue; supporting
literay programs; and fostering communiy-based economic
initiatives.
Mildred Aristide
Responsable de la Fondation Aristide pour la Dˇmocratie
FORUMS FOR DIALOGUE
The space to participate
There are few institutions in Haitian society that permit
the nation's poor majority to voice its views on issues of
national importance, or that foster dialogue across class
and social lines. To fill these needs, the Foundation
sponsors popular symposiums, debates, conferences, training
workshops, and radio programs.
A Meeting Ground
Forums at the Foundation's conference center bring together
up to 3'000 people from both urban areas and the
countryside, provoke debate throughout the country, and help
to define national priorities. National media coverage helps
to broaden access to these events. Forurns address topics
such as disarmament and Haiti's new police force, building
peace, the progress and current needs of Haitian women, the
impact of structural adjustment, and justice.
Radio Programs
Radio is Haiti's most dynamic and accessible medium. With
its finger on the pulse of the nation, it is the primary
source of news and information for most Haitians. The
Foundation supports the following radio programs, which
bring rarely heard voices to the airwaves:
Tout Moun Se Moun
A radio broadcast produced by the Foundation, Tout Moun Se
Moun gives the microphone to ordinary Haitians to analyze
and debate the issues of the day.
Radyo Timoun
A radio station staffed and operated by street children,
Radyo Timoun airs daily news, features and music programs,
highlighting youth and childrents issues, and shedding light
on the plight of Haiti's more than 200'000 street children.
Initiated by Former President Aristide, the station is now
looking to expand its broadcasting and programing capacity.
LITERACY
(Analfabet pa bet)
A tool for participation
Eighty-five percent of Haiti's population is illiterate.
Most Haitians are, therefore, effectively excluded from
fully participating in the nation's political, social and
economic institutions. The Aristide Foundation supports
Creole literacy programs to put a fundamental tool of
democracy, the ability to read and write, in the hands of
laitian citizens.
It sponsors training workshops for literacy workers, and is
creating a Creole language library. In partnership with
Lafanmi Selavi, the center for Port au-Prince street
children founded by Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1986, the
Foundation develops literacy projects to reach Haiti's
thousands of homeless children.
COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMIC INITIATIVES
The means to participate
Moving from misery to poverty with dignity
Unemployment in Haiti is close to 70 percent, and the
average Haitian earns less than $300 dollars a year. To
offer a hungry person only words would be callous; to offer
them only food would be hypocritical. The Aristide
Foundation for Democracy attempts to balance two
imperatives: addressing the root causes of poverty and
meeting immediate material needs of the poor. To give
communities the opportunity to generate income for their
members and increase food production, the Foundation offers
the following:
Technical assistance in the formation of cooperative income generating
projects. We give priotity to food production projects.
Financial management training for members of cooperative groups.
Credit for community-based income generating projects.
The Aristide Foundation for Democracy is a registered non-profit
corporation. All Foundation funding is obtained
from private sources. Donations can be sent to:
(in the U.S.) P.O. Box 490271 Miami, Flonda 33 14g
(in Haiti) B.P. 806 Port-au-Prince Haiti
I would like to support the following:
Literacy
Forums for Dialogue
Community-Based Economic
Name:
Address:
U.S. Board of Directors
Dr Paul Farmer
Joanne Kehoe
Ira J. Kutzban
Carole Sambale Tannert
Mildred Aristide.
U.S. Board of Advisors
Michael Barnes Rep. Donald M. Payne
Taylor Branch Rep. Carrie P. Meek
Dr. Glenn Bucher N.C. Murthy
Rep. John Conyers, Jr. Rep. Charles B. Rangel
Rep. Ronald Dellums Michael Ratner
Jonathan Demme Dr Paul Reiss
David Dinkins Julia Roberts
Bishop Thomas Randall Robinson
J. Gumbleton Ed Saxon
Ethel Kennedy Irwin Stotzky
Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II Susan Taylor
Charles J. Ogletree Rep. Maxine Waters
Rep. Major Owens Ambassador Robert White
