Haitian fellowship programme to strengthen sustainable livelihoods for biodiversity conservation (Yves Renard Fellowship Programme)

The first cohort of Yves Renard Fellows on their last day at CANARI’s office, Trinidad and Tobago. From right to left: Anderson JEAN (ACSEH), Rose Linda ST VICTOR (FoProBiM), Jimmy MARCEL (Haiti Survie), Jean Ernest PIERRE (CROSE), and Emmanuella FEUILLÉ (GADDIH). Credit: CANARI

Empowering Caribbean civil society to foster sustainable livelihoods and conserve critical biodiversity for resilient and equitable communities.

Like many developing nations, Haiti has found it difficult to fulfil its obligations under international biodiversity and development conventions, treaties and agreements to which it is a signatory, due to a deficit in capacity to address emerging and increasingly complex and interconnected issues.

As a response, CANARI designed a fellowship programme that seeks to strengthen technical build the capacity of Caribbean civil society organisations (CSO) in sustainable livelihoods and nature-based enterprises to support biodiversity conservation and reduce poverty.

About the project

Five environmental professionals representing five local CSOs working in priority key biodiversity areas (KBAs) in Haiti were selected to participate as the inaugural cohort.

The Fellows were Anderson Jean from Action pour la Sauvegarde de l’Ecologie en Haïti (ACSEH), Jean Ernst Pierre from Coordination Regionale des Organisations du Sud-Est (CROSE), Rose Linda St. Victor from Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine (FoProBiM), Jimmy Marcel from Haiti Survie, and Emmanuella Feuille from Groupe d’Action pour le Développement Durable et Intégré d’Haiti (GADDIH).

How is this project benefiting the Caribbean region?

Beyond the first cohort, this landmark fellowship programme will support Caribbean nationals pursuing a career in line with CANARI’s mission of promoting and facilitating stakeholder participation and collaboration in the stewardship of renewable natural resources in the Caribbean for sustainability, resilience, equity, justice and inclusive governance.

The fellowship programme is dedicated to CANARI’s late co-founder Yves Renard, to continue his commitment to fostering a new generation of Caribbean conservation practitioners equipped with the skills, knowledge, tools and networks needed to address pressing challenges to Caribbean sustainable development.

What activities did we undertake to achieve this?

Capacity building: This fellowship programme followed CANARI’s model of combining mentoring and micro-grants for business strengthening and ecosystem stewardship. The nominating CSOs and Fellows’ interests and needs were identified through a series of capacity assessments, which informed the development of a fellowship training curriculum to facilitate knowledge exchange among Fellows and Trinidad and Tobago CSOs through face-to-face and virtual meetings, field visits and ‘learning by doing’ on projects that are being implemented by the Institute.

On the ground practical actions: Another crucial component of the fellowship was the practical application of the knowledge and skills that the Fellows gained while working with CANARI and its partners. The Fellows worked with their nominating organisations to develop project proposals aimed to support the development of business strengthening or ecosystem stewardship activities in Haiti.

Communication & ICT products dissemination: A communication engagement and product dissemination strategy was designed and implemented to guide work under the project. By the end of the project, the Fellows created innovative information products based on the results of their interventions and lessons learned. These products were disseminated to increase knowledge mobilisation and information exchange among Haitian CSOs, local communities, nature-based enterprises in and around Haitian KBAs and stakeholders in Creole-speaking Caribbean islands about sustainable livelihoods for biodiversity conservation.

What did we achieve?

During a three-months stay in Trinidad and Tobago, the Fellows received practical training in sustainable livelihoods, poverty reduction and, information and communication technology (ICT) tools from CANARI and partner CSOs, including Future Fishers, IAMovement, the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project, D’Market Movers, the Brasso Seco Paria Tourist Action Committee and Twigs Naturals. CANARI’s implementing partner, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), also provided virtual training and coaching to the Fellows.

Since their return to Haiti, the Fellows participated in stakeholder engagement activities and conducted assessments using one or more of the CANARI tools they were trained in, to identify and support suitable projects their nominating CSOs can implement in or around Haitian KBAs. Each nominating CSO received a microgrant to implement their respective projects. Of the five microgrant projects, two projects were related to effective and sustainable beekeeping and honey harvesting approaches; two projects worked with fishing communities to boost their earning capacity while practising marine conservation; and one project focused on the identification of medicinal plants and trees for its sustainable use among communities with limited access to health care. By building sustainable enterprises in the short-term, the five microgrant projects supported the strengthening of two beneficiary fishing associations, two beneficiary beekeeping associations, one implementing CSO, rural communities and other marginalised populations throughout Haiti.

The Fellows each created storymaps of their experiences while in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as key results from their microgrant projects. These Information and Communication Technology products were used to expand the reach of important conservation messages across Haiti and the French and Creole-speaking Caribbean. See the links to the Fellows’ storymaps under project-related communications.

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