Haiti
Illuminating Business Opportunity
Prosperity Catalyst, with our local affiliate Fanm Limye (“Women Illuminated”), has been active in Haiti since 2013. We provide women-led artisan businesses with the support they need to be successful and sustainable, such as rigorous business training, an investment of materials and equipment to be used for business operations and growth, and the expertise of international designers to elevate the construction and design of products.
After successfully working with local artisans, we expanded our model to prioritize businesses along the artisan value chain. This led to the launch of our beekeeping program, which trains farmers to become beekeepers employing modern methods. Once trained, the beekeepers can obtain financing from a local microfinance organization to purchase their own beekeeping necessities. The hives and beekeeping suits are made locally by women trained by Prosperity Catalyst. We also build plant nurseries to ensure bee productivity and fight deforestation.
Ingenuity in Uncertain Times
Prosperity Catalyst believes that long-term change can only happen when people with shared concerns work collaboratively. We encourage and support cohorts of artisans and groups of beekeepers to organize higher level associations, which can then facilitate the aggregation of product for sale, engage around issues of shared concern, and communicate with the Fanm Limye enterprise hub.
The true power of these networks became clear in early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the vulnerable households in our network. We were able to immediately produce and distribute COVID prevention kits, including our own reusable cotton face masks and hand sanitizer, to each household in our network. The network mobilized to distribute critical information and support, while managing to continue business operations, during this unprecedented time.
Since 2013, Prosperity Catalyst and Fanm Limye have:
Trained 72 women-led artisan businesses, employing roughly 216 artisans, and sold $41,000 in artisan products in the US Market.
Organized 27 beekeeping groups, totaling 1,008 beekeepers (65% women) operating 1,300 hives. Fanm Limye currently purchases over $1,280 in beeswax each month from beekeepers across Haiti.
During the first months of the pandemic, produced 2,000 high-quality cotton reusable face masks and bottles of hand sanitizer and distributed COVID prevention and education kits to 1,000 households.