Sixty children from the Port-au-Prince metro area will have the opportunity to gain valuable skills that can lead to a future job.
On July 31, Lorquet Foundation for a New Haiti (FOLONHA), in partnership with Alexandre Pétion High School, launched a summer camp for disadvantaged children in Port-au-Prince. The camp’s mission is to develop leadership and business management skills within the arts and crafts design industry. The summer camp runs until Aug. 18.
This program will allow children to unleash their creativity, strengthen their self-confidence, develop their professional skills, while playing healthily away from all deviant activities, said Jacquelin Liresmond,a project manager with FOLONHA.
I’m proud to lead an organization that “supports the aspirations of young Haitians, especially at a time when the Haitian youth is looking for models and benchmarks,” said Amos Cincir, president of FOLONHA.
The eradication of poverty continues to be a challenge for the approximately 70 percent of Haitians living in poverty. In an attempt to bolster the country’s economy, more attention has been placed on developing Haiti’s workforce and increasing access to jobs so that the skilled young professionals do not follow the historic trend of leaving Haiti for employment opportunities abroad.
The long-term goal is to create institutions and industries that prevent “qualified and skilled young people from fleeing the country to travel to Brazil, Chile, Canada, Mexico and more recently to the Republic of China,” Cincir said.
“This program is about promoting positive engagement with young Haitians,” said Jeeph Sergilles, vice-president of FOLONHA, especially “in key areas for social dimension, such as education, employment, citizen participation which is an important aspect of the mission of the FOLONHA.”