Dear friends,

Welcome to the first issue of Haitian Leaders on Haitian Change (forwarded below; please share widely!)

Here, Haitian civil society leaders speak directly to you about the change they are working to make real.

While headlines focus on violence and political deadlock, something else is happening in Haiti. Across the country, community leaders, organizers, experts, and advocates are exposing corruption, advancing police reform, strengthening local institutions, pursuing justice, and fighting—often at great personal risk—for a democratic future.

They are actively debating Haiti’s path forward, and they have the experience and expertise to plan it. Yet their voices rarely reach U.S. and international decision makers.

This bulletin aims to change that.

Each issue will share clear, grounded insights from Haitian civil society leaders: how they understand the crisis, where they see opportunity, and their practical programs to support durable solutions.

We want to build community around this. The bulletin will be coupled with regular online gatherings with Haitian civil society leaders that provide opportunities to engage on their ideas and together contemplate possible paths forward.

Our authors’ perspectives are not always in agreement—Haiti’s problems are complex—but their proposals are based in their experience and work toward a stable, livable country.

Why now?

• • Decisions are imminent. A UN multinational force is being organized. The current transitional government’s mandate expires in February. Elections are planned for later in 2026.
  • Yet Haitian civil society voices remain largely excluded. Those advocating for long-term security, accountability, justice, and institutional reform have been sidelined in international negotiations.
  • Key stakeholders need better information. Insecurity and political changes have limited the reporting available in the past. Members of Congress, Haitian Americans, diplomats, and others need grounded insight.

This project is a collaboration among American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, the Haitian Ladies’ Network, and other organizations in Haiti and the U.S. The bulletin is temporarily hosted on the AJWS website until it moves to its online home in the coming months.

As international decisions shape life in Haiti, including civil society cannot be an afterthought. This project brings Haitian ideas, arguments, and proposals directly into the international conversation—where they belong—because our authors are the people shaping Haiti’s future.

Let’s build a community committed to listening to Haitian voices and supporting Haitian ideas for lasting change.

The Governance Issue: What Haitians Want Their Government to Do The mandate of the current transition government expires in February 2026. What next? Our authors argue that to resolve the crisis, Haiti needs leadership that responds to people’s needs—and a strategy to break the criminal stranglehold on the state. Sign up here to receive our bulletin What Next for Haiti after February 2026? As the transition government’s term expires, Haitians want to set up conditions for real change. | By Nixon Boumba Credit: Pierre Michel Jean/K2D. The term of the current transition government expires on February 7, 2026. The international community and the Haitian elites are already negotiating who will govern next. But there is a great gap between their conversation and the concerns of most Haitians. Most people I know want whoever is in government to focus on a plan to make life in Haiti livable.   We want to create mechanisms to prosecute criminally affiliated officials and business leaders and remove them from positions of power so they can no longer protect one another or sponsor gangs. Read more… Our Government Has Never Served Us My whole life, Haitians have demanded political representation. Now we need it more than ever. | By James Beltis Haitians demanded the government prosecute those responsible for massive corruption, but the government took no action. Credit: Pierre Michel Jean/K2D. As a child, my first perception of government was military uniforms, as Haiti went through repeated coups after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship. In our neighborhood, government men beat people and stole things.   I did not yet understand that this predation was far from incidental—it was the direct consequence of a government that did not represent the people it ruled. Without representation, leaders are not accountable to the population and can exploit people and resources with impunity. Read more… Please join us! Sign up here to receive our bulletin.

Haitian Leaders on Haitian Change is a collaborative project of American Jewish World Service, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and other organizations in Haiti and the U.S. For more information, please contact HaitianLeadersHaitianChange@gmail.com. Copyright (C) 2025 *Haitian Leaders on Haitian Change Bulletin*. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. /sign up form