The Haiti Development Institute (HDI) is a legacy of The Haiti Fund, a five-year fund founded at The Boston Foundation, following the devastating 2010 earthquake. The five-year Haiti Fund was established as an expression of the Greater Boston community’s concern for the people of Haiti and their local Boston friends and relatives. The Haiti Development Institute (HDI) was created to address the deficiencies and inefficiencies in the deployment of philanthropic capital and to increase the intended impact of grassroots organizations in Haiti.
Their mission is to build sustainable communities by supporting local leaders, strengthening organizations, and connecting sectors to achieve transformative systemic impact. Through HDI’s work over the past six years, they have come to the conclusion that for too long aid has generally failed Haiti; instead of building local capacity, it has largely supported donor-driven short-term projects. As a result while the nonprofit sector provides tremendous value to communities, it is unable to help local communities outpace poverty and overcome crippling social inequities. Building a new Haiti will only be possible if strong civil society organizations are at the forefront of that change increasing civic engagement, leading communities to take part in and/or lead their own development.
HDI is built on the belief that an integrated approach to development is necessary to usher in real social change in Haiti. They know that local leaders, civil society organizations, and social entrepreneurs have the potential to bring about transformative changes to benefit local communities and engender systemic change throughout the country.
HDI operates by acting as a:
-Major investor in nonprofits through their organizational capacity building program for leaders and mission-driven Haitian-led organizations;
-Philanthropic intermediary and advisor for philanthropists and foundations looking to invest in Haitian organizations or guidance inform their grant making;
-Open-sourced warehouse for research and data for implementers and funders alike; and
-Civic leader, connector, and convener, leading cross-sector conversations to help identify and drive levers of change.
History:
The Haiti Development Institute (HDI) is a legacy of The Haiti Fund; a five-year fund established at The Boston Foundation following the devastating 2010 earthquake to provide immediate relief to affected communities, while also supporting long-term reconstruction efforts by Haitian communities and the Greater-Boston Haitian diaspora.
Central to the Haiti Fund were several key findings:
-sustainability is dependent upon the leadership and participation of Haitians;
-decentralization is essential to support progress in rural communities;
-capacity building is crucially needed.
During its five years in existence, the Haiti Fund made 140 grants in Haiti and the Greater Boston area, supported advocacy work for and in Haiti, and conducted extensive studies on how to strengthen the nonprofit sector in Haiti and philanthropy's impact through supporting it. Additionally, the Haiti Fund created a network of Haiti funders convening yearly to share findings and best practices, identified opportunities for collaboration, and met with government officials for public alignment. Their grantmaking strategy was to address immediate relief as well as longer term reconstruction efforts through grants.
