Open Source Archives

We strive to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and the implementation of progressive and  participatory research methods, with the goal of generating tangible, durable changes in the way research about Haiti is conceptualized, implemented and applied.

ABOUT US

Research Hub & Open Source Archives

EKO HAITI Research Hub is a research and knowledge mobilization platform focused on creative, collaborative and interdisciplinary research and associated research-based learning. We aim to become the intellectual “home” for research about Haiti by creating and providing open access to the largest crowdsourced research archive dedicated to Haiti, by fostering cross-disciplinary research and innovation, and by providing support for progressive research in the form of contextual expertise and training.

“The trees fall from time to time, but the voice of the forest never loses its power. Life begins.”

Jacques Alexis, Les Arbres Musiciens (Paris, 1957)
Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
LITTERATURE
HAITIAN LITTERATURE
Haiti is the birthplace of a rich literary heritage that deserves more attention. Haitian authors open a window into this Caribbean nation’s vibrant culture and tumultuous history.

Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
ANTHROPOLOGY
EKO HAITI collections include all works, published and unpublished by Anthropologists Gerald Murray, Glenn Smucker and Timothy Schwartz
Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE
HAITI IN PICTURES
Dedicated to the late great, Kreyolicious (Katheline St. Fort), our photographs archives holds a large collection of images dating back to the late 1800's .
Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
DEVELOPMENT ARCHIVE
DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH
40 years of development reports, evaluations and survey databases many of which are not publicly available, are buried in drawers, closets, private libraries of NGOs and government donors.

ORAL HISTORIES

Oral histories are a powerful tool in developing historical understanding

Oral history offers an alternative to conventional history, filling gaps in traditional research with personal accounts of historically significant events or simply life in a specific place and time. Oral histories do more than provide charming details to dry historical accounts. In fact, oral histories help others recapture lived experiences that are not written down in traditional sources.

> Transcripts archive

" Bwa pi wo di li wè lwen, men grenn pwomennen di li wè pi lwen pase l "

The tallest tree says that it sees far, but the seed that travels says that it sees even further.

GET INVOLVED

Support EKO HAITI

As an independent institute, we rely on crowdsourcing and donations to continue expanding the depth and scope of our archives.  Your contribution enable us to provide open access to a vast collection of ethnographic and research material which in turn aims at fostering further research and contribute to a better understanding of the country.

Haiti, located in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, has a human development index of 0.44, ranking 112 out of 157 countries (WDI, 2018). This means that a child born in Haiti today will be 45 percent as productive when she grows up as she could be if she enjoyed complete education and full health. More needs to be done in the health sector so that a child born in 2018 in Haiti has the capacity to reach her full potential by the time she enters the labor force. This dissertation investigates reasons behind the poor performance of Haiti’s health sector, which impedes improvements in its human capital and providing Universal Health Coverage (UHC). UHC is a key part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and is monitored by the UHC service index coverage and rate of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE).

The first paper assesses inequalities in health service utilization and out-of-pocket payment (OOPP) for health using the 2012 and 2013 household surveys. The rate of CHE increased from 9.43% in 2012 to 11.54% in 2013, most particularly for the poorest (from 11.62% in 2012 to 18.20% in 2013), which also coincides with a sharp decrease in external funding. Econometric analysis demonstrates that wealth quintiles had a stronger influence on the incidence of CHE in 2013 than in 2012, and that community outreach was pro-poor and protected households against CHE, while medicines were the key drivers of OOPP.

The second paper examines the role of health insurance on health service utilization and CHE rate using the 2013 household survey. The main finding is that households with health insurance are associated with higher health service utilization, but this also contributes to an increase in the CHE rate and undermines financial protection.

The third paper assesses the effect of community outreach activities on the number of institutional visits, using the 2014 Service Provision Assessment and routine information management data from 2016 to 2018. Main findings are that community productivity leads to better health facility production up to a point. But there is turning point by which having more community staff has a diminishing return for health facility production: nurses working at the community level will contribute to community productivity, but may spend less time at the facility, hence hindering the number of institutional visits.

As Haiti is about to review its National Health Strategy Plan, findings from the three papers suggest that Haiti may explore scaling up community outreach as a pro-poor policy. Additionally, better guidelines are needed to clarify the role of community and institutional staff with respect to community outreach to ensure facility production and service coverage is not affected. The Government of Haiti may also consider the feasibility of subsidizing the poorest to get health insurance to address adverse selection and poor financial protection. However, this requires reviewing the package of health services covered by the health insurance premium and making sure the latter addresses populations’ needs, e.g., medicines, which is the main driver of OOPP in Haiti.