CHANGEA Catalyst for

Haiti’s Underutilized Educational and Human Capacity • One half of Haitian adults are illiterate and the average adult has 2.8 years of schooling. • 500,000 Haitian children are not enrolled in school, and only 33% who start school reach fifth grade. • Eighty-eight percent of Haitians live in poverty, and only 21% of schools receive public funding.

As discouraging as these statistics may seem, they also show the enormous untapped potential of education to renew Haiti.

The Haitian Catholic Education Initiative

The Haitian Catholic Education Initiative will advance a comprehensive strategy for transforming Haitian Catholic educa-tion. Focused on markedly improving educational quality, the initiative will pursue the following objectives for long-term, systemic change.

• Increase access to high quality Catholic schools; • System-wide teacher training and school leader formation; • Strengthen school governance capacity and effectiveness; and • Expand student-learning supports to address barriers to learning and teaching.

The Haitian Catholic Education Initiative is rooted in the belief that high quality Catholic education embodies a commit-ment to excellence and emphasizes leadership, service, and community. Its ultimate aim is to ensure that Haiti’s Catholic schools are, in the words of Notre Dame’s founder, Fr. Edward Sorin, CSC, “powerful forces for good.”

A Strong Network of Multi-Sector Partners

• The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE): Notre Dame’s premier provider of talent and services to Catholic schools globally, ACE brings extensive experience supporting Catholic school systems with strategic planning and implementation. Notre Dame has a permanent commitment to Haiti through its founding order, the Congre-gation of Holy Cross, which has been a leading educational provider in Haiti for over 70 years.

• Catholic Relief Services: Vast experience administering large-scale projects with multiple partners; internationally recog-nized for achieving transformative results in challenging situations. Since 1954, CRS has been engaged in relief and devel-opment work throughout Haiti. CRS currently has over 600 staff and four major offices operating programs throughout the country.

• Haitian Catholic Education Leaders and the Catholic Church: Under the leadership of the Haitian bishops, and with national guidance from the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education, 10 regional Offices of Diocesan Education support Catholic schools throughout Haiti. This network serves as the largest, cohesive provider of education in Haiti.

THE HAITIAN CATHOLICEDUCATION INITIATIVE

Educate: from the Latin educatus… educere "bring out, lead forth…"

Haitian Catholic Education Initiative Projects

The University of Notre Dame is the international partner and fiscal agent for projects centered on teacher training, leader-ship formation, ongoing data utilization, and strategic planning.

• Primary School Teacher Training—Research shows that teacher quality is one of the top factors affecting student achievement, and Haitian leaders consistently name teacher training as the priority for Catholic schools in Haiti (ACE Consulting 2012). With coordination of the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education, this project will form cadres of regional teacher trainers in 5 (arch)dioceses to train an estimated 2,400 teachers over 3 years, representing 18% of full-time primary Catholic school teachers in Haiti (ACE-CEEC-CRS 2012).

• Secondary School Teacher Training—This project will utilize technology and e-learning to strengthen the capacity and expand the scope of the Congregation of Holy Cross’ Marcel Bedard Teacher Institute, which provides training to secondary school teachers in Catholic schools throughout Haiti. This project will train up to 400 teachers over 3 years, representing 10% of full-time secondary Catholic school teachers in Haiti (ACE-CEEC-CRS 2012). The Institute will also serve as a repli-cable model for secondary school teacher certification for the system (ACE Consulting 2012).

• (Arch)diocesan Planning—This project responds to the need to strengthen capacity among Offices of Diocesan Educa-tion (ACE Consulting 2012), by supporting the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education’s efforts to assist these Offices with strategic planning and implementation support as well as tools and training to improve data utilization, budgeting, and financial management.

Catholic Relief Services is the international partner and fiscal agent for projects addressing effective governance of the Catholic education system. Projects in this arena will be focused on the use of technology, community engagement, and entrepreneurial initiatives.

• Community Engagement and Local Ownership of Catholic Schools—This project will implement new governance struc-tures at the school, deanery, parish, and (arch)diocesan levels (Catholic Education Project, 2007) in all10 (arch)dioceses to improve student and community participation in Catholic education, raising the proportion of participatory governance structures in Catholic schools from 30% (ACE-CEEC-CRS 2012) to universal coverage.

• Sustainable Leadership Through Entrepreneurship and Social Ventures—This project will work with FONKOZE, the leading microfinance institution in Haiti, to develop income generating strategies in all 10 (arch)dioceses to build needed sustainable support for Catholic education throughout Haiti (ACE-CEEC-CRS 2012). • Technology Strategy Development and Implementation—A task force will be assembled to lead strategies to increase technology utilization in schools beyond current meager levels–7% of schools have internet and 20% have computers (ACE-CEEC-CRS 2012). Implementation will include modernizing and equipping the Offices of Diocesan Education in all (arch)dioceses to allow effective leadership, communications, and data utilization throughout the Catholic school system.

Why Catholic Education is Vital for Haiti’s Future

With support from a committed, multi-sector group of Haitian and international collaborators, the Haitian CatholicEducation Initiative can lead to the revitalization and expansion of Catholic education in Haiti, allowing the schools to serve more Haitian children and offer a model of national education reform. High quality Catholic education can contribute to the realization of a vibrant, socioeconomically viable nation; it can serve as a catalyst for change.

Notre Dame and Catholic Relief Services seek assistance for the Haitian Catholic EducationInitiative to implement projects that have the power to significantly improve and renew thequality of Catholic schools in Haiti, and change the lives of thousands of children.