Crisis 2: Financial

Helping young people in Haiti is hard work. But last Fall, it got even harder.

On September 28, 2020, the value of the US Dollar suddenly tumbled 45% due to an unexpected move by the government, artificially increasing the Gourde – US Dollar exchange rate.

At the same time, the food inflation in Haiti was at an all-time high of 36% - hitting us and many international organizations with a double financial challenge. And all this happened on the backdrop of the financial consequences of COVID-19.

The pandemic affected our income because donations and grant opportunities decreased, while our expenses stayed the same.

You don’t need to be an economist to understand how the three situations caused a major imbalance between our income and our financial needs and sent us scrambling to raise double the funds we had planned to raise.

International organizations were not the only ones suffering. Nationwide, over 60% of the Haitian economy* thrives on foreign money. Businesses and individuals alike, heavily depend on money transfers from abroad. Though the government claimed the financial move was to protect poor people – the opposite happened: many of the poor suffered more because their money came from relatives in the United States. Politically, increasing the country’s purchasing power is good for the government, which has struggled to attract foreign investments, create jobs and provide political stability amid violent anti-government protests.

*https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article246109040.html

How does KCH cope in the midst of a financial crisis?

  • We paused the education of 50 of our 100 students, prioritizing high school kids;

  • We increased our focus on in-house services such as workshops, English, and other clubs/activities.

  • We put a temporary hold on our health fund, which was the newest part of our program. The two nurses that we hired are now functioning on an ad-hoc basis only;

  • We provided our students with a month’s worth of food items during the food scarcity;

  • We’re strongly encouraging and supporting our students who start micro businesses to help them overcome the food scarcity. 

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