GOALS Haiti

We are applying for the Elevate Prize because our holistic approach to community development starts with mentoring youth leaders who can shape their futures and improve their communities creating generational change. There are places in the world where it is hard to be a child. In rural Haiti, families live on the edge, walking the fine line of survival in the face of extreme poverty, without any formal support or safety net. More than half of Haiti’s population is under the age of twenty-four which means mobilizing the youth will have a dramatic effect on the future of the country. GOALS was created to use the power of sport to engage youth with education and leadership opportunities to connect them to their community and environment. Through soccer, education and community service, GOALS is helping  youth with tools to improve their confidence, and problem-solving skills. The prize would provide much needed support through funding plus the platform to raise awareness for our work. Funding would be used to expand our leadership program reaching kids in remote rural villages who otherwise would be left behind and provide training for staff as we strive to push the boundaries of sport for development. 

As a former Peace Corps volunteer who worked on small business community development in Haiti, I witnessed the severe needs plus the outdated and wasteful top down approach to development. GOALS Haiti was founded in 2010 to push the idea of how development in Haiti can be achieved in a “reverse aid dependency” approach in which organizations rely on local communities to drive forward the projects that matter to them. The cultivation of engaged citizens who have the opportunity to learn in a dynamic and culturally appropriate way which fosters both a gain in knowledge and a love of learning. With sports as a foundation to that education youth acquire life skills in a safe space that allows them to truly grow. Being part of the GOALS program inspires feeling of belonging, a sense of teamwork and a healthy competitiveness that will encourage young people to strive for more, not only for themselves but for their entire community. Youth have a stronger sense of self and of their capacity being equipped to make good choices for their health and wellbeing. Our goal for the future is for kids in rural Haiti to realize their potential. 

More Haitians are leaving the countryside now than ever before. Haiti’s rural areas have suffered without investment. Many young Haitians migrate to unsafe living conditions in overcrowded cities. The challenge is to find a new way to make an impact on the lives of rural families, because if young people cannot find basic opportunities in the villages where they are born, there is no incentive for them to stay and build their communities. GOALS focuses on rural areas where no other non-profit, private, or government services are available. The needs in these areas are severe. In a country devastated by a history of natural and political disasters, where development problems seem insurmountable, soccer brings people together to create simple solutions with big results. Over the last ten years, 2,200 children and youth have participated in GOALS programs and an additional 15,000 indirect beneficiaries have been impacted by the organization’s work. The concrete impacts of GOALS’ programming include the reduction of teenage birth rates (from 7% to just under 1%) and increased local options for education and health care. Youth are provided a healthy outlet that includes soccer and education which improves physical and mental health plus wellbeing. 

GOALS has already made a mark on the field of sports for development by using the approach to go further with education, gender equality and health programs as part of its commitment to promote positive physical and mental health. In Haiti, empowering children and youth is particularly challenging. The country only started to officially recognize the rights and protections for children over the last couple of decades. By approaching this critical issue through the lens of sports, GOALS has found a strategy that makes it possible to provide vital support for the health and development of Haiti’s youth while providing a space for them to be self-directed and even co-producers of their activities. The sport for development model places emphasis on self-direction and individual action while also highlighting the importance of supporting one another within the team. There are many parallels between this approach and Haiti’s traditional konbit culture, where the community comes together to perform the most labor-intensive tasks and works to support members of the community that are more vulnerable or have recently suffered a loss.  The natural resonance of the sport for development approach is rooted in the ways it mirrors Haitian values of community and service.

GOAL: Youth participation in soccer, education, health and development initiatives leading to:

a.      Improved quality of life

b.      Increase in local leadership

Improved quality of life, defined as:

1. Physical well-being: health, nutrition, clean drinking water, hygiene
2. Mental well-being: gender equality, education, confidence, social skills
3. Education: language, literacy, health/hygiene/sex-ed, formal school enrollment and life skills
4. Community development: environmental awareness and protection, litter removal and recycling, tree planting, infrastructure projects

Increase in local leadership, defined as:

1. Participation in local-led development projects and initiatives
2. Community members/parents/alumni civically engaged
3. Empowered adult and youth leaders
4. Volunteerism through youth led service projects

 Impact from GOALS activities include:

 •          Reduced Teen pregnancy from 7% to under 1%

•         40 coaches and youth leaders received 400 hours of advanced training

•         43 GOALS players recruited to train with Haiti National Youth League

o        88,000 meals served every year

•         20,000 pounds of plastic waste collected and recycled

•         Through the weekly program, 12 youth teams have performed 5,000 hours of community service

•         234 students have graduated from the literacy program to date and average testing scores improved from 13% to 66%

•         3,000 trees and six community gardens were planted and cultivated