who we are
OUR VALUES
Leadership
Equity
Civic Engagement
Inclusion
Decentralization
OUR VISION
We seek a new Haiti built hand-in-hand with opportunity and equity for all.
OUR MISSION
We work to build communities by supporting local leaders, strengthening organizations, and connecting stakeholders for systemic impact.
OUR STORY
HDI is a legacy of The Haiti Fund, a five-year fund established at the Boston Foundation to respond to Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010 in solidarity with the Greater Boston Haitian-American community.
The Haiti Fund adopted a different approach from many disaster response initiatives. It was steered by a Haitian-led committee and provided grants directly to vetted local Haitian nonprofit organizations already in communities working on the long-term development efforts that make communities less vulnerable. The Haiti Fund made 145 grants totaling $2.65 million in greater Boston and across 9 out of 10 departments in Haiti.
This experience showed us that rural communities have the inspiration and committed local leadership to undertake projects to improve livelihoods, education and health. But they need support, not only financial but organizational.
Rural leaders need training, coaching, and access to data, networks and connections to help them grow organizations that can sustain and scale their work. The nonprofit sector as well as the public and private sectors need support to work in partnership to drive communities’ overall development.
Meanwhile, donors who wish to achieve sustainable impact need advice and in-country resources and accompaniment to support local initiatives and build local capacity effectively.
So the Haiti Development Institute was created.
HDI was registered as a Haitian nonprofit in 2017, and has been certified as a 501(c)(3) equivalent with NGO Source since 2018. We established our headquarters in Arcahaie, Haiti in 2018.
OUR TEAM
Our team has the background and expertise to support real and sustainable progress in Haiti. We are experts in economic and social development and in organizational strengthening.
OUR BOARD
Our Board is composed of Haitian and non-Haitian members, based both inside and outside of Haiti, who are experts in philanthropy, development, management, finance and communications.
OUR PARTNERS
We’re fortunate to have wonderful investors and collaborators with us on this journey.
HDI’s logo is styled after a conch shell. The shell is significant in Haitian history and culture because it represents the Haitian people’s successful fight for freedom. The leaders of the Haitian Revolution used the conch shell as a means to communicate and call the enslaved people together to overthrow their oppressors.
Today, the shell symbolizes HDI’s call to action, to come together in unity to create a better future.
