Fonkoze USA

Program: Literacy and Life Skills

Program Description:

Program Long-Term Success:

Participants are moved out of poverty.

Program Short-Term Success:

Literacy and life skills help women run a micro-business much more efficiently.

Program Success Monitored by:

Social Performance Management staff in Haiti.

Program Success Examples:

Fanm se Poto Mitan

            “Poto mitan” is an architectural term. It refers to a building’s central support post, its mainstay. “Fanm se poto mitan” means “women are the mainstays.” It’s the name of a large Fonkoze credit center in Gwomòn, a small city in northern Haiti. The center has about 65 members, all businesswomen who support their families through micro enterprises they run themselves. Fonkoze supplies them with the credit that they need to sustain their businesses and make them grow.

            But Fonkoze offers more than just credit. It offers them educational programs as well. In Gwomòn, the programs have been financed with support of the International Foundation. Like over 50% of all Haitians, most of Fanm se Poto Mitan’s members are illiterate. They never went to school, never learned to read or write. Fonkoze trained four of the center’s members to teach its four-month Basic Literacy class. Now every member of the center can sign her name.

            Some of the members, however, had been to school before. They were ready for something more than Basic Literacy. So Fonkoze trained one of them, Ycleda, to teach its Business Development Skills class. The class teaches basic good business practices, and participants in Gwomòn say it’s been helping them a lot.

            “I never really had control of the money I was spending. I go to the market and sell some merchandise and wonder where my profit was. I didn’t think to keep track of money I was spending on food and drink while I was in the market. I figured that the money just disappeared,” one participant said.

            “I learned how to calculate prices to make sure I make a profit by including all the costs of purchasing, not just the price of the merchandise I buy.

            “I never really knew how much merchandise I had. Each time I went buying, I’d just pile what I bought on top of what I already had. Now I always take inventory before I buy,” added another.

            “The lessons I learned about keeping control of my business apply at home as well. I used to just toss whatever ingredients I had into the meals I cooked. Now I put in what I need and save the rest. It’s helping me save money every day,” said a third.

            The center’s members hope to keep learning. Right now, some of them are taking Basic Literacy 2, and others are taking Health Education. Some say they’d like to learn cooking or sewing, but most say that they’re looking forward to whatever Fonkoze decides to offer next.

The classes teach them important life skills, but they do much more. They develop solidarity and leadership in the credit center, as the women learn to learn from one another.