Local Social Networking + Marketplace.

Doctor of Medicine with a Master Degree in Family Medicine. I have been in practice in medical field during seven years in Haiti. My professional experience includes nonprofit sector too. I have helped founding 3 nonprofit organizations, worked as a grant writer and project management, consultant in projects with European Union, UN Habitat. I recently immigrated to United States and I am starting enjoy developing and scaling responsible businesses that can have a positive impact on communities. I'm the founder of Finclu, Incorporated in NY, USA (March 2019). The company will develop financial technology products and innovation solutions to build a new financial ecosystem that better meets the needs of the financially underserved, as well as assist those struggling to reach or maintain financial stability. I'm also the Founder of Make myself Aid for Humanity, a 501 c3 nonprofit organization.

In order to assist the informal sector in Haiti to adjust and adapt to new ways of life and thrive in the post-COVID 19 world with a new business reality mentality- Nipido.com, a self-sustaining local networking with more than one thousand members in Nippes department since it launching 2 months ago, intends to equip nipido.com with a marketplace that will offer men in women in the informal sector in Nippes department the opportunity to market and sell their products online, after that they can securely transfer their money to a bank account. The market will also be within the reach of Nippes diaspora to purchase goods for their families living in Nippes department, thus incomes will increase. Therefore improving the economic position of informal workers is thus a powerful potential lever for raising living standards and reducing poverty in the developing world and elevating humanity. 

The challenges associated with Haiti's Covid-19 experience include the concentrated loss of jobs in the informal sector, as well as its attendant problem of increased poverty levels. The far reaching implications of these problems are yet unknown; however, situations of increased poverty levels and unemployment have long been associated with food insecurity, starvation, poor health, and conflict. Prior to COVID-19 lock down, The informal sector was already isolated from digitalized market systems. The outbreak of the pandemic degenerates the situation and makes access to basic goods and services very difficult. Premised on this and the fact that the informal sector accounts for over 80% of livelihoods in Haiti,  with women over-represented in the most hard-hit sectors. In 2020, over 2 billion workers are earning their livelihoods in the informal economy.

Many women and men in the informal economy need to earn an income to feed themselves and their families, as most of them cannot rely on income replacement or savings. Not working and staying home means losing their jobs and their livelihoods. “To die from hunger or from the virus” is the all-too-real dilemma faced by many informal economy workers. is the all-too-real dilemma faced by many informal economy workers. 

A Local Social Networking serving people living in Nippes department and its Diaspora, through its unique model of engaging local communities to generate content, offers consumers access to locally relevant information about local news, political and local events, and entertainment, thereby directly serving local community needs and bringing real value to consumers and the informal sector. The marketplace will offer men and women in the informal sector without having to leave home everyday as before to expose themselves and their families to the virus and the risks of contagion the opportunity to market and sell their products, after that they can securely transfer their money to a bank account. The market will also be within the reach of Nippes diaspora and they will be able to purchase goods for their families living in Nippes department. Thus with the diaspora the market will be bigger so they will earn more money.  Upon the full establishment of the marketplace, people who are part of the informal sector (Youths, persons with disabilities, old aged men and women, widows and widowers), will be able to earn with safety and increase their income to sustainable livelihoods protection and recovery in Post Covid-19 Haiti.  

Nippes is one of Haiti’s poorest departments; 64% of the population live in the bottom two quintiles of socio-economic well-being. The most important economic activities include agriculture, petty trade, and fishing. Nippes has 11 communes, and a total estimated population of 343,000. Most people live in rural areas, approximately 89.5%.  

8.3% of children under five in Nippes are underweight, 0.9% of children in Nippes suffer from severe wasting (MSPP 2012). 55% of Haitians work in the informal economy, where earnings are less than half of those in the formal sector (World Bank 2017).

Middle-income households trade larger livestock and agricultural products, engage in commerce, and often have access to remittances. Remittances from abroad play a large part in extreme poverty reduction to people in Nippes, nearly two thirds of the total provided by domestic transfers (World bank 2017). 

The nipido.com, a self-sustaining local social networking is already operational and present into Nippes communities  with more than one thousand members in Nippes department since it launching 2 months ago.  Through its 48 5/20 agents capable of engaging local community members to generate content, and will constitute linkages for products delivery. 

We already know one of the disadvantages of developing countries' economies is the predominance of informal markets. Therefore improving the economic position of informal workers is thus a powerful potential lever for raising living standards and reducing poverty in the developing world. This proposal gives the developing countries the opportunity to create new jobs, to foster the financial inclusion, improving the financial health of young people and women in marginalized communities. This proposal gives the unbanked and underserved young people and women living in marginalized communities with unified digital financial infrastructure that enables them to access digital financial services.

The people of Nippes department have always wanted to own a social networking and have been mobilizing themselves in different fundraising activities and vision workshops whereby the community’s developmental ideas conceived the formation of the community networking. The social networking site is run as a nonprofit making organisation whereby its operations will be sustained by the income from selling adverts, subscription fees from its members, well‐wishers and fundraising activities which will be held at an interval (twice every year). The social networking site has been perceived to be a strategic tool for development in the area and that all the stakeholders have been working tirelessly to achieve this goal.  

The opportunity to incorporate the marketplace on the social networking has  been perceived to be a strategic tool for development in the area and that all the stakeholders have been working tirelessly to achieve this goal.  

My main passion about the project is because it will serve the poorest people in Haiti, my home country. Thus, the successful implementation of the project would offer another valuable lessons and experience to the government and NGOs interested in mass communication, to replicate this facility in other needy communities. The area where the local social networking experience is taking place is where I come from, Nippes department. People in the area, young people, women and base-organizations never stop thinking about how to bring solutions to their problems. But often they do not have the money to solve their problems. So for the local social networking and marketplace, they talked about it to me to help them. They explained to me the work I used to do in Nippes department is missing. In the meantime they took the opportunity to ask me how I can help them with local social networking at first place, and the marketplace later. I received this request with an open heart, and since that day I have started working with them to make their dream come true. 

Pascal Faustin is the team leader. A question that is always on my mind when I think about Humanity is: how can we do to make the world works  for every human being? What should we do to find a balance between humankind, animals and nature? So to keep looking for answers to those questions, I founded a nonprofit organization.I founded Finclu, Inc, a profit company that will develop financial technology products and innovation solutions in United States to build a new financial ecosystem that better meets the needs of the financially underserved, as well as assist those struggling to reach or maintain financial stability. I also founded a nonprofit organization: Make myself Aid for Humanity, Inc., with mission to advocate for a global governance system in a position to influence and bring leadership to the world's most pressing problems, and to promote the advancement or well-being of humankind in any part of the world. At the same time, I am from the area, I used to work with the community in the past. With all the experiences, exposure and passion sighted above, I can guide and lead the team towards the success of the project.

The nipido's project is both virtual and community. One of the difficulties we encountered in setting up the community aspect of the project with the recruitment of 5/20 agents. 5/20 agents form the core of the initiative.The person I gave the mandate to launch the process was not able to convince young people to take part in the initiative. Therefore, I was obliged to take everything on my responsibility. So i started calling every potential agent 5/20 to explain to everyone the merits of the initiative, and the benefits they can gain from the initiative and the impacts on the community. There are 48.I made these calls with great patience. By observing the reactions they showed during calls and after showed my calls were not in vain.  At the end, they congratulated me on the conception of nipido, and they agreed to take part in the initiative.

When I think about my leadership experiences, I have to go back to my time in Haiti after my medical studies in 2009. When i got there i found a shaky departmental health system. Young doctors who returned from Cuba before me at the time  were complaining about everything in department 's hospital where they worked. So, I had the chance to explain them that we are not outside the problem but we are part of the problems, whether we like it or not, we can help solve the problems. As a solution, under my leadership we have joined together in an association of professionals (APRODNIP). With this association, we have carried out several mobile clinics in the most remote areas of the department. We made recommendations to the departmental health management and to the Health Minister. currently thanks to my leadership, the inhabitants of the department of nippes are served by a departmental hospital, 4 community hospitals of references.

Project team is part a 501 c3 nonprofit organization Make myself Aid for Humanity, the leader of Nipido's project in Nippes department, Haiti.