The Health Policy Project ended in 2016. Work continued under Health Policy Plus (HP+) until 2022.

Haiti

Health Policy Project

Get the Country Results Summary (pdf)

Overview

The Health Policy Project (HPP) AKSE (Aksyon Kolektif pou Sekirite kont Eksplwatasyon—“collective action for security against exploitation”) responds to children, women, and sexual minorities’ increasing vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labor, and domestic violence. Building on a previous program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the 18-month HPP AKSE program works with local partners to strengthen human rights protections and expand access to SGBV and child protection services for vulnerable groups. The program:

Enhances child protection
Strengthens gender-based rights and improve SGBV monitoring and response
Fosters a supportive policy environment for child protection, gender, and other human rights

What We Do

Enhancing Child Protection

Map child protection referral networks in the North and Northeast
Improve monitoring and reporting systems for child protection
Improve coverage and quality of child protection services offered by NGOs

Strengthening gender-based rights and improving SGBV monitoring and response

Analyze state of gender-based rights within existing policy frameworks
Map active SGBV networks
Map mechanisms for monitoring and reporting on gender-based rights and SGBV
Improve coverage and quality of services provided by NGOs working on gender-based rights and SGBV

Fostering a supportive policy environment for child protection, gender, and other human rights

Improve awareness and understanding of human rights enshrined in the new Adoption Law
Support the government to formulate its response to findings of the Survey on Violence against Children in Haiti (VACS 2012), including drafting a new national child protection strategy
Increase knowledge of social protection laws and regulations in seven jurisdiction

Multisectoral coordination

Support NGO efforts to disseminate new adoption and trafficking laws
Work with partners to reinvigorate a coordination committee that will work with the government to respond to challenges related to SGBV, child protection, and gender-based rights
Train magistrates on child protection laws and regulations in five targeted jurisdictions
Provide technical assistance and support for inter-ministerial commission meetings
Conduct capacity assessments of key partners

Publications and Resources

Brief Series from the White Paper on the Status of Women in Haiti
HPP worked with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Women’s Rights (MCFDF) to publish the White Paper on the status of women in Haiti, which presents findings and recommendations from county and national-level participatory fora on 5 key themes for women in Haiti: education, health, leadership and political participation, economy, and justice. The briefs present key findings and bring together data from a wide array of sources.

Loi réformant l’Adoption, Republique d'Haïti
In October 2013, the Haitian government passed a law to regularize adoption. The USAID-funded Health Policy Project AKSE program reproduced the text of the law in this booklet to make it accessible to actors in the child protection chain and to promote its application through trainings for Haitian judicial actors and dissemination among human rights NGOs.

Loi sur la Paternité, la Maternité et la Filiation, République d'Haïti
In June 2014, the government of Haiti passed a new law: the Responsible Paternity Act. With this law, Haiti sent a clear signal promoting the “protection of all children, without discrimination.” This booklet reproduces the text of the law, and was produced by the USAID-funded Health Policy Project AKSE program to educate parents and judicial actors about the new law and advocate for its concrete application.

Loi sur la Lutte Contre la Traite des Personnes, République d'Haïti
In June 2014, government of Haiti passed a new law against human trafficking. The main purpose of the legislation was to minimize the incentives for people to become human traffickers. The USAID-funded Health Policy Project AKSE program published this law to disseminate the content of this important legal instrument and help protect survivors of trafficking.

Survey on Violence Against Children in Haiti: A Summary
In 2012, the Government of Haiti worked in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention to conduct the Violence Against Children Survey (VACS). The USAID-funded HPP AKSE developed this brief to provide context and information to guide the Government of Haiti's strategies to respond VACS survey results and identify ways to strengthen child protection.