Beyond Borders
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Mission Statement
Beyond Borders helps people build movements to liberate themselves from oppression and isolation. In Haiti and the United States, we are bringing people together for just and lasting change. We support movements in Haiti to: End child slavery, Guarantee universal access to education, End violence against women and girls, and Replace systems that oppress the poor with systems that support dignified work and sustainable livelihoods.
About This Cause
ENDING CHILD SLAVERY Restavèk (n.): A modern form of slavery affecting 250,000 Haitian children. Haitian parents are no different from parents elsewhere. They love their children and want them to grow up at home. Still, each year tens of thousands of rural Haitian parents send their children away to live with families in distant cities. They do so in the hope that their children will be sent to school. In reality, many end up in homes where they are subjected to exploitation, abuse, neglect and denial of basic rights like going to school. Since 1993, Beyond Borders has been working to end restavèk. How we help: We address the problem from both sides. Because opportunities for education are much more limited in rural Haiti than in urban area, most often the flow of children entering slavery moves from rural to urban. Therefore, to create the kind of social change needed to end child slavery permanently in Haiti, we've recognized the need to develop both rural and urban strategies that engage those directly impacted by restavèk and help them address the root causes of child slavery. We address the conditions that perpetuate this system - extreme poverty, social acceptance of child slavery - and help participants, first, to change their attitudes and beliefs about restavèk, and, second, to act to stop it. We work exclusively in partnerships. In both rural and urban settings, our work is shaped by deep partnerships with Haitian grassroots leaders, government officials, community based organizations, parents and adult survivors of child slavery. Through these relationships we are able to be in solidarity with those affected and also ensure that our work has the most direct impact possible. GUARANTEEING UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION Because opportunities for education are much more limited in rural Haiti than in urban area, most often the flow of children entering slavery moves from rural to urban. Therefore, to create the kind of social change needed to end child slavery permanently in Haiti, we've recognized the need to develop both rural and urban strategies that engage those directly impacted by restavèk and help them address the root causes of child slavery. We address the conditions that perpetuate this system - extreme poverty, social acceptance of child slavery - and help participants, first, to change their attitudes and beliefs about restavèk, and, second, to act to stop it. We work exclusively in partnerships. In both rural and urban settings, our work is shaped by deep partnerships with Haitian grassroots leaders, government officials, community based organizations, parents and adult survivors of child slavery. Through these relationships we are able to be in solidarity with those affected and also ensure that our work has the most direct impact possible. Beyond Borders is working with our Haitian partners to ensure that even the poorest of children are able to go to school. We do this in part by networking neighboring schools in the most under-served regions so that they are sharing rather than fighting over scarce resources. We provide training and materials to teachers who work together to improve their performance, and we endeavor to make their schools more vibrant and liberating through training in non-violent teaching methods. We help these school networks develop strategies and find resources for reaching children who are most vulnerable—children from the poorest families and children who have grown too old to start first grade. Going forward, we plan to mobilize local people to hold the government accountable for using new funding for education in the most responsible and effective way possible. We are also working to provide more tools and educational methods that teachers can use to prepare their students to face Haiti’s challenges outside the classroom and build a brighter future. ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS 1 in 3 Haitian women and girls have experienced domestic or sexual violence. While the most direct, negative impact of this violence is on the physical and mental health of the survivor herself, the whole community suffers. Children conceived through rape are especially vulnerable. The risk of sexually transmitted disease, including HIV, is greatly increased, and economic development is also jeopardized. Beyond Borders' community-based initiative, Rethinking Power, works to address the root causes of this violence—the imbalance in power between women and men in Haitian society. Each day in towns and villages throughout southeastern Haiti, dozens of female and male activists, community and religious leaders, and others powerful groups are working together to spark community change. Rethinking Power equips these leaders to help people examine the power relationships in their day to day lives and become activists in the various roles they play as market women, motorcycle-taxi drivers, students, pastors, and much more. Beyond Borders works with key people in 6 Haitian communities to help them examine their power to address violence against women and girls and HIV/AIDS. SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS Beyond Borders supports the movement in Haiti to replace systems that oppress the poor with systems that support dignified work and sustainable livelihoods. Food Security Our efforts to bolster household income and food security will focus increasingly on the most vulnerable households in the community - those at risk for sending their children into servitude or struggling to ensure their return and reintegration. As the vast majority of these families depend upon farming and small scale trading to survive, we will increase their capacity to make those activities more productive and profitable. Local Farmer Groups To do so, we will enable communities to establish (or strengthen, where existing) local farmer groups. Known as gwoupman, they have a solid track record in Haiti as structures with great potential for boosting the social engagement and livelihoods skills of their members. Members meet regularly not only to talk about the challenges of farming and how to overcome them, but also to help one another in their fields, to pool some of their resources, and to reflect on broader community issues. As their group relationship strengthens, they are able to take on increasingly complex cooperative activities and develop networks. Some of the strongest and most enduring civil society movements and organizations in Haiti to date have been built by farmers and have gwoupman at their base. Improved Agricultural Practices Finally, we work with existing and newly-formed gwoupman to assess existing agricultural practices and potential, to promote awareness of improved and sustainable agricultural and environmental practices and to support experimentation with promising agricultural and agro-economic interventions. In most of the communities in which we work there are active gwoupman associations. Some of these groups may already be doing good agricultural and livelihoods work. A key challenge that will require focused attention is assessing the capacity of each local association and identifying opportunities for productive collaboration especially around strategies for including the most vulnerable families.