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Applied in 2004

Tranformational Development for Haiti

Floresta USA inc.

Program Facts

  • Paid (FTE) Staff Working: 19
  • Program Participants Last Year: 801
  • Meets about 2 time(s) with each participant per month
  • Participants remain in the program for 12 months

Volunteers

Volunteers per month: 20

Volunteers are trained:

Volunteer Training
AlwaysRarely

Volunteers are actively recruited:

Volunteer Recruiting
AlwaysRarely

Board Activities

  • Formally reviews the performance of the chief executive officer at least once every two years.
  • Formally approves the budget.
  • Ensures that arrangements with outside fund raising firms are made in writing.
  • Has formally approved a conflict of interest policy and regularly monitors it to ensure adherence.
  • Receives, at least quarterly, the organization's financial statement.
  • Receives, at least annually, an auditor's management letter and report.
  • Convenes an audit committee.

Outcomes & Measures: (self-reported)

Outcome 1
Farmers trained in soil and water conservation, fruit tree grafting, constructing erosion barriers, composting, caring for farm animals, agroforestry, seed storage, reforestation, and restoring soil fertility.

Measure
No. of trees planted. No. of farmers attending training sessions. Staff capacity to provide training in all areas. Number of farmers who are/are not able to perform techniques on their own. Farmerís ability/willingness to use techniques without guidance. Specific ways project has helped increase family income. Specific ways project has improved the land. No. of linear meters of erosion barriers constructed. No. of compost piles created and used. Amount of seeds stored and later used. No. of farm animals vaccinated.

Outcome 2
Community cooperatives managing loans and repayment of loans.

Measure
No. of loans made. No. of loans repaid Number of visits to the groups made per month by local staff. Number of times per month that cooperative members meet. Number of times per month that cooperative committees meet. Amount of accumulated capital and savings within cooperatives. Level of participation in training and work sessions. Level of satisfaction with credit/saving system. Number of participants who have/have not received credit. Why? Activities related to project that member uses credit for. Benefits experienced from credit received. Group suggestions for the credit program.

Outcome 3
Relationships between community members strengthened.

Measure
Kind gestures among community members previously not seen, such as: ïCommunity coming together to support one person experiencing a medical emergency. ïFarmers giving each other advice on better farming techniques. ïForgiveness.

Change Process: (self-reported)

The process begins with the participants’ willingness to change attitudes and behavior. They commit to a path that leads them to a new lifestyle. Through training in agroforestry, tree grafting, seed storage, tree nursery management, cover crops, and reforestation, slash-and-burn subsistence farmers are transformed from agents of deforestation into agents of reforestation.

Through credit in the form of micro-loans for agroforestry or other small businesses, it becomes economically advantageous for the agents of deforestation to change their practices. The result is a more diverse and stable village economy, which reduces stress on the forests and enables people to progress beyond subsistence. In addition, farmers work together as cooperatives, pooling financial resources and developing an indigenous source of financial and social capital.

Through discipleship training, the bonds of community are strengthened and cooperative relationships are created. We have many reports of communities working together to undertake additional projects as a result of what they had achieved together in the cooperative. In one community we were told how the cooperative members pooled their resources to get a sick woman to the hospital. “We would have never thought to do that before,” we were told.

This entire process empowers people to become self-sufficient by taking responsibility for their own problems, working collectively to solve them, and developing the self-confidence to implement them. This takes time, but ensures that both the immediate solutions and the ongoing process of development are sustainable.