Haïti - Solar electrification of 15 schools as part of the COntributing to the MOdernisation of the Haitian Education System(COMOSEH) project

Presentation of the NGO

Groupement des Educateurs sans Frontières (GREF)

Created in 1990, the GREF brings together volunteers from the fields of education, continued training, animation, social work and economics. Created in a spirit of solidarity and exchange, GREF offers its contribution in educational projects that aim, in a spirit of secularism, to :
– promote the practical learning of democracy
– promote education for a better development of individual potential
– develop entrepreneurship
– encourage the free reinvestment of knowledge acquired in the service of the community.

Within the framework of the «COntribution à la MOdernisation du Système Educatif Haïtien» (COMOSEH) programme, the GREF is the leader of a consortium of French and Haitian organizations that have come together to build ways «to promote conditions with access to education for all… in accordance with national and regional policies and with the participation of Haitians».
To this end, a general agreement was concluded between the French partners (Collectif Haïti de France, Haiti Futur and GREF) and the Haitian organisations (GRAHN and REFERANS). The Haitian Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training is also a stakeholder in the project.

Context of the project

In 2016, according to the report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Haiti’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranked it 163rd out of 188 countries. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, aggravated by natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes) and a failure of state governance.
The project meets the needs of most schools in the country that receive little or no support from the Ministry and are often supported by foreign associations.
We observe:
– unsuitable premises;
– very few trained teachers;
– poor access to electricity, drinking water and toilets;
– the insufficient implementation of canteens due to a lack of resources.
Out of a total school population of 18,500 schools for 3 million pupils, one school in three has no hygienic facilities. Where they do exist, latrines are very poorly maintained and common to girls and boys, teachers and pupils, children and adults; 77% of public schools do not have electricity (90% in rural areas) (GREF data).

Presentation of the project

The energy problem

While 37% of the Haitian population have access to electricity, 92% of production is from oil, gas and coal sources (World Bank data). Where installations exist, there are many power outages and the inhabitants have on average only 2 to 3 hours of electricity per day. Expensive individual generators partially compensate for these deficiencies.

Electricité d’Haïti (EDH), the largest state-owned company that constitutionally holds the marketing monopoly, has chronic and disastrous deficits for maintenance and necessary expansion of the networks. Invoices are not paid by users. The State must subsidise EDH up to US$ 200 million each year. In the current state of affairs, any increase in megawatt production only increases the deficit of EDH (NGO data).

The adopted solutions

The schools have established a precise diagnosis of the reality of their functioning and defined an improvement plan indicating their priorities according to the following themes: water and sanitation, electrification and the Interactive Numerical Table (INT), canteens and school gardens, short or long term training of teachers and directors. Fifteen schools have been selected as a priority to be electrified and to benefit from INT, which will be financed by the COMOSEH project.
This project is also supported by an ambitious digital education programme (called PRIMTICE), which has been operating since 2010, aimed at improving the quality of education by installing 500 INTs in the country’s public schools. This program is conducted in partnership with Haiti Futur and the Haitian Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training. It allows COMOSEH to benefit from the intervention of its field teams and the skills of the selected companies (GRETCO, GENINOV, ENISET, ENERSA, ELMECEN) to install the INTs of the 15 selected schools.

Each school outlines detail of its requirements: number of rooms to be lit, computers and computer room, INT, operating time, and occasionally pump for water supply. Also, in some cases, a neighbouring site with desks and streetlights is planned to facilitate the practice of homework and evening lessons, thus promoting students’ success and school investment.
Concerning the electrification and installation of INT, the company in charge of the installation will train a technical agent on site in order to independently ensure routine maintenance.