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EKO HAITI collections include all works, published and unpublished by Anthropologists Gerald Murray, Glenn Smucker and Timothy Schwartz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.

This document describes an evidence-based evaluation of the immediate and long-term impact of LEVE/USAID grants to the fishfarming entities Caribbean Harvest Foundation and Caribbean Harvest Social Enterprise, both hereon referred to jointly as CH. Specifically, the study was interested in evaluating the impact on the resiliency of participating households.

After two months of intensive review of all the available literature, internet searches, hundreds of interviews, 10 focus groups, censuses of five villages, a nutritional survey of children, and in- depth follow-up surveys, our conclusion is that CH and its partners have had little to no impact on the resiliency of any more than a few beneficiaries. Specifically, there are only four impoverished lakeside fisherfolk who are currently project participants. Indeed, the CH activities are so insignificant that the Socio-Dig team could not identify a sample large enough to evaluate impact on beneficiary resiliency. Thus, most of the efforts of the research were focused on documenting and explaining the radical disjunction between CH and partners claims to have, for example, increased income levels by 1,000 percent for hundreds (if not thousands) of beneficiaries, and the reality of the program.

In 2014, LEVE gave a $250,000 grant to the CH project to increase its Croix-des-Bouquets hatchery solar energy capacity from 70 kw to 133 kw and to finance the construction of 257 cages for fishfarmers. In 2017 LEVE gave another $50,000 to CH to underwrite the establishment of a network of fish sales points. The Socio-Dig research team was tasked with evaluating the impact of these investments, specifically with respect to impact on the resiliency (capacity to resist shocks) of CH fishfarming beneficiaries in comparison to non-fishfarming families. While the study did find significantly better nutritional status among children in the community where CH currently shares cages with fishfarmers and supports social programs, there is little to no evidence that this has anything to do with CH activities.

The way the CH model is supposed to work is that each fish-farmer receives a kit, which contains two 4 m3 fish cages, 1,200 fingerlings (small fish), and enough feed to raise the fish to harvestable size, a process that takes 4 months. The beneficiaries are responsible for feeding the fish three times daily. At harvest, CH gives 10 percent of the fish to the families for consumption and then sells the remaining 90 percent of fish. From the proceeds, CH deducts the cost of feed and other inputs, and then shares the profits with the beneficiary family that care for the fish. The beneficiary household receives 40 percent of the profits, CH takes 40 percent of the profits as business income and for reinvestment in the CH social enterprise, and then uses the remaining 20 percent of profits to finance social programs in the communities where the fishfarmers live. These social programs include educational subsidies, provision of water, healthcare, and improved housing.