Haiti

Since 2007, LWB has supported access to education and information in Haiti through donations of books (chosen with the help of Haitian libraries), training librarians, and supporting the network of libraries in sharing collections and practices. The 2010 earthquake led LWB to redirect its actions towards the reconstruction and reinforcement of libraries around three main axes: support for primary, secondary, and university education; access to reading for all; and support for human rights and justice.

Story boxes to dream and rebuild

The January 12, 2010 earthquake killed 280,000 people, injured 300,000, and left 1.3 million homeless. Many infrastructures were also destroyed – libraries, universities, and schools – and most students were displaced. Damage and losses were estimated at over eight billion US dollars, or 120% of GDP.

Afterwards, we supported the creation of libraries and access points for books in nearly twenty camps on the island: 300 “story boxes” were installed, the precursor to the future Ideas Box. Information boards were also set up to share verified information and combat rumors. These spaces have allowed Haitians to find themselves, to better understand their future, and to rebuild their lives.

At the same time, LWB continues its collaboration with the libraries of the schools at the University of Haiti to support their recovery and to envision the future. Through the provision of books and training of personnel, LWB also supports the development of teacher training centers throughout the country, the School of Magistrates, and the Court of Port-au-Prince.

The January 12, 2010 earthquake killed 280,000 people, injured 300,000, and left 1.3 million homeless. Many infrastructures were also destroyed – libraries, universities, and schools – and most students were displaced. Damage and losses were estimated at over eight billion US dollars, or 120% of GDP.

In the aftermath, LWB supported the creation of libraries and access points for books in nearly twenty camps on the island: 300 “story boxes” were installed, the precursor to the future Ideas Box. Information boards were also set up to share verified information and combat rumors. These spaces have allowed Haitians to find each other, to better understand their future, and to rebuild their lives.

At the same time, LWB continued its collaboration with the libraries of the schools at the University of Haiti to support their recovery and to envision their  future. Through the provision of books and training of personnel, LWB also supports the development of teacher training centers throughout the country, the School of Magistrates, and the Court of Port-au-Prince.

 In 2012, LWB brought reading to life for all in Haiti through three mobile libraries that travel the roads of the island to reach rural and isolated communities: the BiblioTaptap was born! At the end of 2014, LWB transferred the libraries to  local Haitian partners. LWB also supported the central women’s prison in Port-au-Prince and set  up a sound library to facilitate access to books for the visually impaired and  for illiterate people.

Since 2015, LWB’s actions in Haiti have been more one-off through the delivery of books and librarian trainers as was done for the community libraries of Gonaïves in 2015 and 2016, or in the support for projects such as the Bibliomoto of Jeunesse en Développement in 2016 and 2017.

Donation Mission

Since 2007, Libraries Without Borders has collected books from institutions, editors, and individuals in France. Organized and referenced by the team and by volunteers at our collection center at Épône, the books sustain our projects and libraries all around the world, from refugee camps in Burundi to rural areas in France. In 13 years, we have sent 380,000 books to 30 countries. 

More than 30,000 books are referenced in our online catalogue, readily available to libraries and partner associations of LWB. Others are resold as second-hand goods or resold during monthly farmer’s markets  which help finance our actions. 

Since 2008, LWB has sent more than 140,000 books to Haiti.

More about our actions in Haiti


Story Boxes – library kits for children affected by the 2010 earthquake

Objective

Emergency & post-conflict situations


Start date

2011


Status

Closed


BACKGROUND

After Haiti’s tragic earthquake, more than a million people took shelter in tents at refugee camps in the metropolitan center of Port-au-Prince. The education of children has gradually resumed in the refugee camps and it quickly became essential to offer these refugee children the necessary supplies to help them in their schooling. In addition, the resumption of these structured activities has helped Haitians cope with their grieving.

It was under these circumstances that UNICEF called upon LWB to design and create 300 library kits known as “Story Boxes” to be deployed in the camps in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. Each kit consisted of a trunk of 100 books in French and Haitian Creole, accompanied by activity equipment and an activities guide, combining both educational and recreational activities for children.

OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of these mobile libraries was to facilitate literacy and to allow the children access to reading activities. These Story Boxes offered cultural and educational activities designed to help kids discover the concept of “pleasure reading” and overcome the traumatic experiences they had from the earthquake.

BENEFICIARIES

Children living in the 300 UNICEF-installed camp playgrounds in areas affected by the earthquake

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Financial partners

Executive partners

A library for the visually impaired in Haiti

Objective

Access to education & culture


Start date

2013


Status

Closed


BACKGROUND

Haiti has 80,000 visually impaired people, of which 15,000 are totally blind. Despite the constitutional recognition of the rights of people with disabilities in work, health, and education in 1987, much remains to be done to improve their living conditions and their integration into society (lack of specialized institutions, insufficient financial aid, social exclusion, inadequate means of transport). These needs have become even more significant since the January 2010 earthquake, which resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of people suffering from visual impairment.

With the creation of the Roger Dorsinville Library for the visually impaired in Port-au-Prince, LWB and its partners provided a space for consultation and a collection of audiobooks, which represents a significant progress in the integration and inclusion of visually impaired people in the cultural sphere.

OBJECTIVES

  • to act in the favor of the integration of visually impaired people in the cultural sphere;
  • to record new audio books from the Haitian literary heritage in both French and Creole;
  • to promote access to culture through partnerships with Haitian radio stations to disseminate works over the airwaves and thus reach non-literate populations and those without access to libraries.

BENEFICIARIES

The visually impaired community in the capital, Port-au-Prince

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Financial partners

Executive partners

The first digital university library in Haiti

Objective

Access to education & culture


Start date

2011


Status

Closed


BACKGROUND

While 11 of the 12 libraries of the State University of Haiti in Port-au-Prince were seriously damaged during the 12th January 2010 earthquake and remained inaccessible for years after the catastrophe, an academic digital library opened in the meantime. This new 100 square meter building, located right in the center of the city, within the UEH Science department, was constructed to withstand both seismic and cyclonic activities. It offers to students, researchers and professors 80 computers equipped with broadband Internet access.

Thanks to the support of the University of French West Indies and Guiana and 20 online editors’ partners, millions of worldwide excellent academic resources will be available online to the 15,000 UEH’s students as well as the university staff, including e-books, joint publications and academic periodicals. The digital library will also support documentary research training as well as the development of new technologies of information and communication within the university

ACTIONS

  • Construction of the 100m2 building that will house the digital library
  • Equiping the library with computers and setting up an Internet connection
  • Training over 80 librarians from the State University of Haiti

OBJECTIVES

  • Allow Haitian students, professors and researchers to have access to quality documentary resources through the digital library.

BENEFICIARIES

The 15,000 UEH’s students, researchers and professors

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Financial partners

Executive partners

BiblioTaptaps: book mobiles for Haiti

Objective

Access to education & culture


Start date

2012


Status

Closed


BACKGROUND

The earthquake that hit Haiti in January 2010 damaged many of the libraries in the metropolitan zone of the capital Port-au-Prince and made them inaccessible to the public. Outside of the capital, the availability of cultural spaces and access to information is structurally weak and has experienced significant pressure following the earthquake with the influx of people who left Port-au-Prince.

In order to bring access to culture and reading to these hard-to-reach and underserved locations, Libraries Without Borders and its partners launched three Haitian bookmobiles, the BiblioTaptaps, starting in July 2012.  The BiblioTaptaps borrow their name from Haiti’s taptap’s—the term used for the local shared taxis— commonly found on Haiti’s roads and who have become a mainstay of Haitian culture. At every stop, the Taptap’s two facilitators (one for adults and one for kids) organized a wide variety of group activities (public readings, debates, workshops, etc.) and allow beneficiaries to borrow books and enjoy personal reading time.

ACTIVITIES

  • Construction and customization of 3 BiblioTaptaps covering Port-au-Prince, the North and the Center Departments.
  • Creation of a book collection for the BiblioTaptaps
  • Training BiblioTaptap personnel to cultural facilitation

OBJECTIVES

  • To promote access to culture, education and information for remote populations who lack access to books and libraries
  • To accompany the decentralization of basic public services in a country where everything is concentrated around the capital.

BENEFICIARIES

500 children and adults per month from hard to reach zones in Haiti

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Financial partners

Executive partners

Libraries for displaced people camps in Haiti

Objective

Emergency & post-conflict situations


Start date

2010


Status

Closed


BACKGROUND

After Haiti’s tragic earthquake, more than a million people took shelter in tents in camps in the metropolitan center of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake damaged many of the libraries and other cultural venues in the metropolitan zone of the capital Port-au-Prince and made them inaccessible to the public.

While most efforts by non-profits and the international community concentrated on reconstruction and providing much needed basic aid (food, water, medicines, shelter), we realized that nothing was being done to adress the lack of access to information, culture and education in the post-emergency context. As a result, Libraries Without Borders began building tent libraries in camps set up around Port-au-Prince.

ACTIVITIES

  • Construction of libraries in the internally displaced camps
  • Equipping libraries with books and other material
  • Facilitating access to the libraries, hosting activities

OBJECTIVES

  • To promote access to culture, reading and information for displaced populations
  • To strengthen resilience and fight against trauma and boredom in the camps

BENEFICIARIES

79,000 children and adults in 17 internally displaced people camps around Port-au-Prince

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Financial partners