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New Partnership with Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF)
Since 2020, we have seen many families fall apart, following gang massacres in several communities. This situation exposes women to many forms of violence and leads to the loss of their businesses and property. This pervasive insecurity also makes travel difficult, restricting their access to health services and the centers where they study. As a result, it is difficult for them to escape situations that expose them to abuse where their rights are violated. In addition, the complex local social and economic context forces young men to engage in violent activities or activities linked to numerous armed groups (gangs). Some are forced to abandon their “normal” lives, their studies and their families in order to fully integrate into the ranks of gangs, and those who do not give in are even more vulnerable. This, in addition to being an additional source of social and family conflicts, represents a trigger for risks of physical, sexual, and mental violence.
This is why it is more than ever crucial to rally efforts and raise awareness among these generations of women and men through the development of leadership capacities, specialized education in SRHR and GBV, and by guaranteeing access to survivors to emergency, psychosocial support and SRHR services to contribute to the prevention, attention and reduction of these situations and ultimately equip them to be agents of change in their own communities leading to a better society and a better Haiti.
With this in mind, in April 2021, YWCA Haiti began its first partnership with the Peace and Humanitarian Action Fund (WPHF)/Spotlight Initiative for the implementation of a project focused on Gender-Based Violence and Sexual and Reproductive Health.
Over a period of 12 months, more than 400 girls (aged 11 to 17) and young women (aged 18 to 35) as well as 60 men (aged 17 to 35) were able to benefit from the services offered in the framework of the project including life skills workshops carried out around these themes: self-esteem, leadership, human rights, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights. This project contributed to reducing the risks of discrimination, injustice and various forms of violence within the communities of beneficiaries of YWCA Haiti programs. And since then, given the impact of the latter in the lives of the beneficiaries, we have continued to seek other funding to ensure the continuity of this said project.
It is indeed, with great enthusiasm that we announce that in January 2024 we have officially started a new partnership financed by the Fund for Peace and Humanitarian Action in partnership with UN Women, which will allow us to continue with this very important work in the hope of achieving an even greater impact, especially in the current context of Haiti.
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