Since 1997, Plant With Purpose has witnessed farmers in rural Haiti changing their lives and their communities by partnering with one another. One of the goals of bringing people together is to revive a traditional Haitian practice called Konbit – a form of community cooperation where neighbors gather to help each other with agricultural tasks. Traditionally, Haitian communities were full of pride and solidarity. In short, they helped each other. Unfortunately, corruption from leaders and authorities spread distrust among many people. Neighbors became selfish and turned against each other.
But at Plant With Purpose, we are telling a different story. Currently, we have seen 400 communities form 1,258 Purpose Groups. Nearly 30,000 individual farmers have directly participated in these groups, and the number is growing every day. While some communities are facing disunity and distrust, the communities we work in are partnering together in new and exciting ways. These partnerships are reviving the practice of Konbit and breathing new life into the community.
Partnering with Farmers
When first introduced to Plant With Purpose, many people in Haiti assume that we distribute physical goods and materials, like other NGOs in the country do. But our philosophy is quite different. At Plant With Purpose we take great care to collaborate with farmers and local communities at every step of the way. Our philosophy is that farmers are our partners in community transformation, not simply beneficiaries of aid. We know that local people have a wealth of experience and expertise to share, and we take pride in learning from them and working alongside them.
Purpose Groups are at the heart of this collaboration. Through Plant With Purpose Haiti, farmers from the community form groups to save money together, support each other, and participate in training on everything from agroecology to microfinance. Purpose Groups are also deepening partnerships between neighbors and their community. For example, some Purpose Groups are saving a little extra money at their weekly meetings to support community needs, like clean and safe water sources or land to build a house for community meetings. Many groups go even further by building bridges to connect to distant communities when it rains, schools for young children who cannot walk to school, and repairing unsafe roads. Each of these incredible projects demonstrate the quality and quantity of talent that exists in Haiti's rural areas. These communities are too often forgotten, but when we invest in partnerships with rural farmers, the results bear fruit for years to come.
Partnering With Churches
Spiritual renewal is a key pillar of our work in communities in Haiti, and a core component of our theory of change. We’ve found that partnerships with local churches are what bring our Spiritual Renewal curriculum to life. Local churches play an important role in our holistic and integrated approach to restoration. Churches gather groups of motivated people to learn and work togethers, spreading our reach to ideal partners and making our shared goal and vision and mission truly shared in the entire community.
We invite local churches to partner with us by offering farmers leadership training to encourage healthy social practices, facilitating the formation of Purpose Groups to address community and individual needs, and encouraging creation care through agroecology. When faith leaders teach about creation care, they show that caring for your farms isn’t only an economic practice, it’s also a spiritual one.
Partnering With Schools
At Plant With Purpose, we believe that children are key to building a sustainable, more hopeful future. We’re motivated by the Bible verse, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Though we reach some children by working with their parents, it’s difficult to measure our progress without engaging children directly.
This is why Plant With Purpose Haiti works with schools as local partners through a program called: “School Agro-Ecological Education.” This program has two main objectives:
- To raise environmental awareness among children, encouraging them to become good creation stewards.
- To inspire children to become sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs.
When we partner with schools, we work together to host thematic conferences in agroecology, offer field trips to observe and restore local ecosystems, support school tree nurseries, celebrate Environment Celebration Day, and even hold school-wide environment and agriculture competitions.
At the end of the school year, we organize a time of celebration for students, teachers and any staff involved in these activities. At this time, schools and students receive some gifts from each regional program, and we reflect on our lessons and successes throughout the year.
At Plant With Purpose Haiti we have the privilege of witnessing rural farmers, local pastors, and community schools work together every day. As these partnerships deepen, we’ve come to believe that Konbit is not simply a traditional practice left in our cultural past. Instead, people are practicing Konbit in new ways every day. These partnerships remind us that lives, farms, and communities can only be transformed when we work together.
