PIP’s strategic partner in Deslandes, the Centre d'Inspiration Jeunesse (CIJ) or “Youth Inspiration Center," is dedicated to “educating and integrating youth in the sustainable development of their community.” CIJ recognizes that sustainable development cannot happen without investing in the place where you live and having faith in the collective capacity of people to drive change. Deslandes is a rural community located in the Artibonite Valley of Haiti. In 2006, with facilitation by CIJ, elders and others community members developed a visionary plan for sustainable development. Partners in Progress is a relatively new collaborator to their strategic vision.  We are currently teaming on two major projects and have recently helped to complete another. Current projects include the Compressed Earth Block (CEB) School Construction and the Initiative to Improve Soil Health and Increase Food Security. A significant restoration of the community water supply was recently completed.

Compressed Earth Block (CEB) School Construction

The CEB school construction project is an initiative of the Centre d'Inspiration Jeunesse (CIJ), PIP’s partner organization dedicated to educating and integrating youth in sustainable community development.  

 

The purpose of the project is to:

• Provide an environment conducive to learning in a spacious and permanent facility
• Provide training in CEB construction methods for skilled builders and community members
• Promote economic development opportunities in sustainable building technology
• Provide a model for rural sustainable building methods
  

The project incorporates “compressed earth block” (CEB) technology, which is a more cost efficient, hurricane and earthquake resistant, and environmentally sustainable alternative to conventional concrete block construction.   

The present school, founded in 1996, enrolls an average of 300 elementary students annually and is a focal point of community life in Deslandes, hosting a range of youth enrichment activities and community gatherings each year.

 

The present school building, an open post and sheet metal structure, is inadequate to meet the growing demand for space, is subject to disruptions of weather, and makes for a difficult learning environment.  The CIJ school construction project will provide enough classroom space to meet present and estimated future needs for several years and include a multi-purpose space that can serve as a student cafeteria and setting for cultural celebrations, civic meetings, and other community functions.

 

In addition to meeting infrastructure needs of the school and community, the project will provide training in sustainable CEB construction to skilled builders and community members. In 2008 PIP sponsored three members of the Deslandes community for training in “CEB Production, Construction, and Stabilization”  at the Tierra y Cal Institute in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico under the direction of Jim Hallock, an international expert and consultant in sustainable construction.  Training in various aspects of CEB has continued as part of school construction.

 

Construction of classroom building #1 is nearing completion. Both the building and site plans were designed by a young Deslandes builder, Brandt Proferne, and Tierra y Cal architect, Adriana Duran. Tierra y Cal continues to provide training and construction management for the project. Construction of the two remaining buildings is scheduled for next year contingent upon funding.

Existing School in Deslandes Close-up	Existing School in Deslandes From a Distance	Initial Rendering of CEB School Construction Building #1
CEB Manual Machine in Action	Foundation Construction of CEB School Building #1	Nearly Finished Building #1

Initiative to Improve Soil Health and Increase Food Security

Soil is the “natural capital” – and for many the only capital – of Haiti’s peasant farmers.  Degradation and catastrophic loss of vital soil resources underlies many of the most serious problems facing Haiti today including a precipitous decline in agricultural production, decreased food security, widespread malnutrition, and a resulting decline in public health. It is a major driver of rural-to-urban migration (particularly among the young) that results in the drain of talent and ingenuity from rural communities. 

 

Partners in Progress, in collaboration with CIJ, has launched the Deslandes “Initiative to Improve Soil Health and Increase Food Security”.  This initiative provides farmers opportunities and resources needed to test – with minimum risk – new ways of growing food and economically valued crops that simultaneously improve soil health and will provide the opportunity and resources needed to discover, re-discover, apply and integrate traditional and “scientific” agro-ecological techniques for managing and improving soil structure, chemistry, and biology.  

The goals of the project are to revitalize and perpetuate cultural traditions of caring for the land and to start a new tradition of continuously working together to find new ways of growing food and managing natural resources.  Forty-five farmers from Deslandes and surrounding villages engage in cross-village knowledge and resource sharing, design and test agroecology strategies that improve soil biology, conserve heirloom crops and multi-purpose trees and plants, and receive training, assistance and development of micro-enterprises based on culturally important specialty crops. Youth and farmers work together to assess the impacts of agroecology strategies through monitoring activities that are integrated into local secondary math and science curriculum.  

Farmers and their families benefit by developing skills in self-organizing, cooperative agricultural and natural resource management innovation. Food production is increased, malnutrition reduced, and income-generating opportunities diversified as a result. The community benefits through increased social, cultural and ecological resiliency which reduces vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and improves capacity for sustainable community development. Our world benefits through restoration of critical ecosystems and through the strategies identified for mitigating and adapting to climate change in rural communities.  
 

Community Knowledge Sharing and Planning Session	Knowledge Sharing and Crop Evaluation	Crops in Deslandes

Community Water Restoration Project

Still recovering from famine conditions brought on by the disastrous hurricanes of 2008 and coping with an influx of “earthquake refugees” that flooded the region following the massive quake that shook Haiti in January, PIP’s partner community of Deslandes faced yet another crisis when the community water supply was disrupted by a broken pipe in a decades-old system that provides water to some 7000 residents. Community leaders in PIP’s partner organization – the Centre d'Inspiration Jeunesse (CIJ) or Youth Inspiration Center – organized a very successful collaboration to restore service by bringing together residents of Deslandes to provide labor, technical experts from the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in nearby Deschapelles, and financial support from Partners in Progress. Funding for the renovation came from Western PA Rotary clubs, individual donors, and St. Margaret Mary Church in Lower Burrell, PA.

To accomplish the project some 90 men and women – including 30 volunteers – labored for two months. They carried dozens of rocks and more than 60 sacks of cement to the water source in the mountains above Deslandes where they constructed a new “spring house” to protect and preserve the source and built a new public fountain to provide convenient access to nearby residents. Workers laid almost one mile of new pipe over rugged terrain between the source and two giant cisterns that supply water to Deslandes. They replaced broken valves and sections of pipe throughout the town and reburied pipes that had become exposed by erosion. A new water line was extended to the CIJ school and a new public fountain installed in the neighborhood of La Bord. Congratulations and thanks to all for this successful, international, community-wide collaboration!

Below is an example of the water carrying pipe that needed to be repaired and recovered