Title: The Shifting Role of the Haitian Diaspora in U.S. Politics

By: the Haitian-Americans for Progress (HAP)

Overview:

Haitian Americans for Progress is a Florida Political Committee dedicated to empowering Haitian Americans across the United States and increasing awareness of issues that impact their community and personal living. The empowerment of Haitian Americans is inclusive of the role that we play on U.S. Politics; therefore it is imperative to discuss this matter in a panel forum.

In the United States, political activism is a gateway for our communities to get involved in the political process. It consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, economic, or environmental change. As one author stated, “Activism is action that goes beyond conventional politics, typically being more energetic, passionate, innovative, and committed. In systems of representative government, conventional politics includes election campaigning, voting, passing laws, and lobbying politicians.” As two generations of Haitian Americans, it is critical that we be apart of that process by raising money for politicians who believe in our ideals, increase voter engagement and visibility, and strategically identify tactics that will position us to “sit at the table”. Beyond the rhetoric of politics, the shifting role of the Haitian Diaspora in U.S. politics will require that we participate on the front end, which for us, has not been done. This includes: considering the role of Haitian women in politics, changing dynamics of Generation YZ, and the influence of art, music and media politics on the youth.

Moderator: TBA

Participants:

• Cassandra Theramene, Ed.D, MBA, Executive Director, Scholars Today, Leaders of Tomorrow, Inc. & International Business Developer, EDMC
• Jean Monestime, Chairman of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners
• Michelle Austin Pamies, Esq., Austin Pamies Norris, Weeks, LLC
• Larry Pierre, M.D., M.P.H., Executive Director, Center for Haitian Studies, Health & Human Services
• JP Austin, M.D., Physician, 21st Century Oncology

 

 

 

Title: Perspectives on the Continuum of Entrepreneurship, Private Enterprise, and Public-Private Partnerships

Overview:

Welcome to the breakout session that is all about you! How is your career going? Have you ever considered working for yourself? Do you want to hear about concrete action steps that you can take to be a strong player in a substantive role in the corporate world? Are you passionate about social entrepreneurship and need resources to help scale your effectiveness? Do you wonder how it could be beneficial to partner with the public sector, either as a business or as a non-profit concern? This is your opportunity to get your burning questions answered, and to hear about specific strategies from others who have had good results in these areas.

Outcomes:

Success in any domain is not easy. By leveraging the knowledge and experiences of others to augment your own efforts, the path can be less intimidating, and you can move from challenges that frustrate you to results that can take you to the next level. We will explore:

• Managing your career at every stage
• Steering a large corporate organization
• Entrepreneurship, as a means of taking advantage of opportunities with less bureaucracy
• Possibility of win-win strategy when engaging with the public sector
• Credible examples of successful public-private partnerships

Moderators:

This team consists of a group of leaders with specific expertise in at least two of these areas. Mr. Guy Francois, Jr., the Consul General based in Miami, has a background as an entrepreneur. Mr. Jacques M. Jean has held increasingly more complex corporate roles, with responsibilities for global divisions. Mrs. Kareen Kircher made the leap from senior technical roles in financial technology to entrepreneurship; has advised many individuals on negotiation tactics, and she has experience providing and securing large donors for nonprofits. Mr. Vladimir Laborde has a corporate background and has been instrumental in crafting multilateral accords; his non-profit activities have also led to public infrastructure improvements.

• Consul Guy Francois, Jr.
• Mrs. Kareen Kircher
• Mr. Vladimir Laborde
• Mr. Jacques M. Jean

Title: Bridging the Gap and Connecting the Dots between Generations

By: The Haitian American Chamber of Commerce of Florida (HACCOF)

Overview:

The Haitian American Chamber of Commerce of Florida presents a panel discussion on bridging the gap between current and upcoming community leaders while identifying the opportunities to showcase the ability of the upcoming generation to carry the torch. This discussion will address the current obstacles and hurdles while proposing opportunities for collaboration. Issues such as strengthening the communication among generations will be addressed. This discussion will serve as a platform for new generation of community leaders to learn from current leaders and provide an open dialogue of lessons learned. This panel discussion will transcend commercial sectors including politics, international business, health and public advocacy. The ultimate goal is to strategize on how to make better strides at a cohesive and collected community while identifying potential opportunities such as mentoring as a catalyst for progress.

Introductions: Jeff Lozama, Chairman of the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce

Moderator: Joann Milord, Executive Director of the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce

Panelists:

• Politics: Andre Pierre and Cassandra Theramene
• Business: Pierre Saliba and Kara Ferrier
• Medical/Health: TBA
• Advocacy: Gepsie Metellus

Title: The Different Facets of Healthcare Challenges in Haiti

By: The Haitian American Nurses Association of Florida Inc (HANA)

Overview:

The purpose of this presentation is to address the various facets of healthcare challenges in Haiti that are negatively affecting its people, and develop a comprehensive plan for a sustainable healthcare system. After the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti continues to suffer a myriad of challenges which impact its health care system and resources. Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere and is the least equipped to recover from natural disasters. Population disease-specific, public health concerns, health systems responses, challenges and constraints will be addressed. A call to health care reform will be addressed and proposed options or opportunities for improving or strengthening the health system.

We will also address the need for regulating nursing practice. Nursing is the largest group of health care professionals who needs to advocate for the public as well as ensure protection of the citizens of Haiti. We have a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate the great global impact that can be made by instituting strategies to promote safety through regulations of schools of nursing as well as ensure that unsafe practitioners are restricted from practicing. Professional nurses have an obligation safeguard the public’s health and promote quality health care.

Objectives:

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify underlining major social determinants and healthcare issues affecting the people of Haiti.
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the health care system.
• Compare and contrast alternatives from other developing countries.
• Explore and or develop a road map toward a comprehensive healthcare system in Haiti.
• Relate the Economic Opportunities in Haiti’s Healthcare Industry.

Access to Healthcare in Haiti:

Emerging Strategies Focused on Developing a Comprehensive and Sustainable Healthcare System in Haiti

The right to health has been recognized as a fundamental human right in international and national constitutions since 1946, creating entitlements and obligations in relation to access to adequate health care and the underlying determinants of health. Hence, one might expect governments to strive at generating conditions in which a population can be as healthy as possible. These conditions range from ensuring the availability of health services, nutritious food, sanitation, safe and potable water, and essential drugs.

Haiti ranks last in the western hemisphere in health care. Economic instability has limited any growth in this area. According to World Health Organization, Haiti’s expenditure per capita on health care is the lowest in the region. Only one-fourth of births are attended by a skilled health professional. The distribution of population, health care personnel, and beds per 100,000 population by department, reveal the disparities in access to health care in Haiti. Most rural areas have no access to health care, making residents susceptible to otherwise treatable diseases. The majority of the population has no sanitation, no potable water, and is malnourished.

This presentation will give an overview of the state of the healthcare system in Haiti. It will map out the locations of existing healthcare facilities throughout the country. Analyze the system’s strength and weaknesses. Provide alternatives based on examples of proven success from other developing countries. Advance a road map with necessary policies toward a comprehensive and sustainable Healthcare System that include the core indispensable elements: water, sanitation, food and essential drugs. It would also highlight economic opportunities that exist despite the financial shortcomings of the country.

Our research is built on previous studies and statistics made available by the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, Haiti’s Department of Health, and other studies done on health conditions in the Caribbean and other developing countries.

Moderator: Nahomie Mirville, MSNEd, FNP, RN, Assist Professor, Chamberlain College of Nursing/HANA

Speakers / Guest Panelists:

• Amina Dubuisson MSN, RN, MBA/HCM, LNHA, President, Haitian American Nurses Association of Florida, Inc. (HANA)
• Marie O. Etienne, DNP, ARNP, PLNC, Professor, Miami Dade College, Benjamin Leon School of Nursing/HANA
• Jessie M. Colin, PhD, RN, FRE, FAAN, Professor,Barry University/HANA
• Aude M. L. Sicard, MBA, Jackson Health System, Haitian American Democratic Club

Title: An Integrated Health Care Delivery System for Haiti

Overview:

As Haiti has continued to develop, it faces the double burden of communicable disease and chronic disease. A rapidly growing population with a high percentage of young people, Haiti’s increasingly elderly population is often overlooked. Poor healthcare infrastructure is one of the biggest barriers to development in Haiti, but finding financial resources, and a pathway to provide better access and better health care for populations has been elusive.

In the past, most foreign aid directed at healthcare Haiti has been for immediate needs, such as managing the cholera epidemic. There has been little provision to address the underlying, fractured healthcare delivery systems, plagued by or lack of coordination, misalignment of incentives, and inefficient allocation of resources. This panel will explore a paradigm shift in Haiti towards investment in an integrated delivery system. – building the workforce, establishing comprehensive primary care services, and ensuring accountability. provide a long-term and holistic analysis of sustainable health systems.

• Strengthen the work force
• Embrace data and information to transform health and care.
• Innovate healthcare delivery
• Increase access
• Improve population health
• Manage costs

Moderator: Marjorie Pierre Brennan, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, George Washington University School of Medicine, Children’s National Health System

Participants:

• Paul Pierre MD, MPH, Deputy Medical Director, Partners in Health, Boston, MA
• Nancy Charles Larco, MD, Medecine Interne, Maladies metaboliques, Bois-Verna Port-au-Prince, Haiti
• Lee D. Jacobs, MD, Bethesda Referral & Teaching Hospital, Inc., Port Lafito, Haiti

Title: Presentation of GRAHN-World’s Innovation Pole of the Greater North of Haiti (PIGraN) – The City of Knowledge [Pôle d’Innovation du Grand Nord – La Cité du Savoir].

Presenters: GRAHN-World in partnership with:

• CIASTH  (Congrès des Ingénieurs, Architectes, Scientifiques et Technologues Haïtiens; or Congress of Haitian Engineers, Architects, Scientists and Technologists)
• HAES (Haitian-American Association of Engineers and Scientists)
• AIHC (Association des Ingénieurs Haïtiano-Canadiens; or Association of Haitian-Canadian Engineers)
• ADIHA  (Association des Ingénieurs et Scientifiques Haïtiano-Américains; or Association of Haitian-American Engineers and Scientists)
• SHEAB (Society of Haitian Engineers and Architects of Boston)

Overview:

PIGraN is the main campus of ISTEAH, the Institute of Science, Technology, and Advanced Studies of Haiti. ISTEAH was founded by GRAHN-World, the Group for Reflection and Action for a New Haiti.

GRAHN-Monde (or GRAHN-World) was launched in Montreal, Canada, on January 20, 2010, one week after the earthquake. It is a worldwide citizen-watch organization that wants to contribute, through well thought-out actions, to solving the problems of Haiti. It aims to be a nonpartisan civil society movement, focused on the construction of a new Haiti that is founded on the rule of law, on sharing, solidarity, education, respect for the environment, and a strong commitment for the common good. GRAHN-USA is the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt branch of GRAHN-World in the U.S.

GRAHN-World established ISTEAH on January 8, 2013. Dedicated exclusively to graduate studies in Haiti, ISTEAH obtained from the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training the authorization to operate on January 14, 2013, and then, on March 31, 2014, its certificate of accreditation as an institution authorized to confer masters and doctoral degrees. ISTEAH is the first institution ever in Haiti to receive such an accreditation. ISTEAH operates simultaneously on four sites located in Cap-Haïtien, Hinche, Les Cayes, and Port-au-Prince, combining distance learning with face-to-face learning. Today ISTEAH has a student body of nearly 200, recruited following rigorous admission tests. ISTEAH’s motto is: 1,000 Scientists for Haiti in 10 Years.

GRAHN-World opted to build the main campus of ISTEAH in the North of the country, in Génipailler, a rural district of the city of Milot, at about 5 kilometers (3.2 miles) from the Cap-Haïtien airport and city. This primary campus will serve as the nucleus for a larger project titled Innovation Pole of the Greater North (PIGraN) – The City of Knowledge.

An innovation pole is a network of independent enterprises (small, medium and large) linked to institutions of higher education and research, which is active in one or multiple sectors of activity within a specific region. A pole is designed to stimulate innovation activities by promoting intense interactions, the sharing of equipment, knowledge and expertise; thus, a pole effectively contributes to the transfer of technology, and to the networking of the enterprises included in the consortium, as well as the dissemination of information among them. An innovation pole is characterized by its ability to develop solutions that meet the needs of small enterprises, and to support them in their efforts to grow through innovation (technological, organizational, environmental and social).

PIGRaN will consist (1) of the City of Knowledge, whose planning will be done exclusively by ISTEAH, GRAHN-World, and their partners; (2) of the immediate environment of the campus, and its planning will be done in collaboration with the bordering property owners and local authorities; (3) of the surrounding urban community in which the project is integrated, and its planning will be done by the local authorities with the technical support of ISTEAH, GRAHN-World, and their partners; and (4) of the surrounding geographic departments at large (North, Northeast, Northwest, and Artibonite), with which two-way exchanges will be conducted.

PIGraN will work closely with the relevant government ministries, chambers of commerce, businesses and local cooperatives, schools and higher-learning institutions established in the region, thus creating a socio-economic ecosystem that will lead to wealth and job creation in order to reduce poverty. From a steady-state perspective, we estimate that approximately 20,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created from the implementation in the region of ISTEAH’s main campus, as the central component in The Innovation Pole of the Greater North. This number excludes the direct and indirect spinoffs, in terms of job opportunities, that will be generated on ISTEAH’s satellite sites.

GRAHN’s hope is that, as an economic and social development model, PIGraN will pave the way for PIGraS (Innovation Pole of the Greater South) and PIGraC (Innovation Pole of the Greater Centre).

To be sure, GRAHN-World will not be able to achieve this ambitious goal without the significant support of individuals and organizations, both Haitian and friendly to Haiti. For this participation in the 4^th Annual Conference of NAHP, GRAHN-World is delighted to collaborate with CIASTH, HAES, AIHC, ADIHA and SHEAB, which are trusted partner organizations.

After completing this session the participant will understand the potential of an unprecedented project to contribute to unleashing positive forces for the long-term development of Haiti and for sustained and sustainable reduction of poverty.

Moderator: Luckner Bayas, P.E., GRAHN-Boston, CIASTH and SHEAB

Participants:

• Ludovic Comeau Jr, Ph.D., GRAHN-USA and GRAHN-World
• Max Massac, P.E., HAES and CIASTH
• Others TBA
  

Title: The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Integrated Economic Zones

Overview:

The presentation will cover the importance and impact of foreign direct investment (“FDI), and development of integrated economic zones (“IEZ”) in Haiti.   FDI has an economic multiplier impact and has direct effects in employment, income and output, indirect effects of re-spending that arise through purchases from local supplier industries and induced effects which are created with payrolls increase and workers in affected industry sectors spend more on local goods and services (household spending effect).

However in order to attract foreign investment critical elements must be in place.  Haiti has not done a good job of either attracting foreign capital due to many of these elements.  The International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) and the Dutch development agency, FMO, funded a study on the importance of integrated economic zones and it impact on development in Haiti. There is strong investor interest in Haiti that could generate 380,000 jobs by 2030. With abundant affordable labor and close proximity to the U.S., Haiti possesses good potential to capture new investments in the apparel, agri-business, construction/building materials, logistics, and tourism sectors in the near term, while transitioning over time to other higher- value industries and services. With highly favorable trade access for apparel products under the U.S. Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act, both existing and potential new apparel manufacturers in Haiti are well-positioned to capture a greater share of U.S. market demand, delivering up to an additional 35 million dozen knit products (cotton t-shirts, bottoms, and tops) and 80 million woven products (basic chinos, jeans, and uniforms) each year to U.S. buyers at competitive prices. Based on an analysis of demand, over 2,000 hectares (ha) of serviced land will be needed for apparel, agri-business, construction/building materials, logistics and warehousing (including cold storage), tourism, and residential investors over the next 20 years.

However, a variety of market, legal, regulatory, and institutional constraints continue to impede the realization of this potential that is vital to Haiti’s economic growth. In this context, Integrated Economic Zones (IEZs) can facilitate these investment opportunities by providing a precise, targeted, and quickly implementable framework to address these constraints. IEZs can provide serviced land, pre-built facilities, reliable utilities, and a streamlined business environment through transparent procedures and a “one-stop” shop approach. They can also act as platforms to develop clusters and growth poles to energize private sector activity around them. With effective Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approaches, the private-sector could fund IEZs, which can become flexible market-driven platforms to deliver site-specific infrastructure needs for industrial, residential, and tourism uses across Haiti in line with the GoH’s Reconstruction and Development Goals. A number of other countries have done this elsewhere with significant results (e.g., Jebel Ali in Dubai, Aqaba in Jordan, Subic Bay in the Philippines, Panamá Pacífico in Panamá, zones in the Dominican Republic (DR) and Mexico (Maquiladoras), and a number of IEZs on the eastern seaboard of China). Lessons learned from these countries can be applied in Haiti to catalyze investment generation and growth.

Haiti offers a strong competitive position for the apparel, agri-business, construction materials, and other sectors. Specifically, Haiti provides: competitive wage rates (on average, 50 percent less) for unskilled labor; and competitive sea-freight costs (on average, 21 percent less) and shipping times to the U.S. (Figure 1). In addition to preferential market access to the U.S. under the HELP Act for apparel investors, these are among two of the most critical cost factors for potential investors now considering Haiti to establish operations.

Lafito Global is a integrated economic zone being developed 19 km north of Port-au-Prince.  Lafteau is one of the areas identified by the IFC as a high potential area for the development of an IEZ.  The first two phases are well under development, Port Lafito and Lafito Industrial Free Zone.    Industrial development within Lafito Global has already started further industrial development as a new cement plant is under construction.   Lafito Global has signed an agreement to support a teaching and referral hospital.  The next phases include further build out of the lafito industrial free zone, the industrial park, commercial and residential development.   GB Group has been successfully investing in Haiti for over 70 years creating jobs, economic activity and growth and its investment in Lafito Global is another example of continuing to believe in a better future for Haiti.

After completing this session, the participant will be able to understand the importance and impact of foreign direct investment, the role of integrated economic zones and the role the diaspora.

Moderator: Richard Noritake, Executive Vice President, GB Group

Participants: TBA