SISTER CITY PROGRAM
BHF has been laying the foundation for a Sister City relationship between Cap-Haitian in Haiti and Columbia, Maryland. A sister city organization is a volunteer group of ordinary citizens who, with the support of their local elected officials, form long-term relationships with people and organizations in a city abroad. Each sister city organization is independent and pursues the activities and thematic areas that are important to their organization and their community including municipal, business, trade, educational and cultural exchanges with their sister city. Sister City organizations promote peace “through people-to-people relationships” via offerings such as basic cultural exchange programs to shared research and development projects between cities with relationships. The community of Columbia, Maryland now has a fourth sister city — Cap-Haitien, Haiti, a community on the northern coast of the Caribbean island of Haiti with a population of about 190,000 people. It is home to the Palace of Sans Souci and the buildings at Ramiers and the Citadel, which together have been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site Cap-Haitien Mayor Jean Claude Mondesir signed the sister city agreement, facilitated by The Build Haiti Foundation, in July 2016 while joined by a delegation from Howard County, which is home to a large Haitian and Caribbean diaspora. That added Cap-Haitien to an expanding family that also includes Columbia’s sister cities in Cergy-Pontoise, France (since 1977); Tres Cantos, Spain (since 1990); and Tema, Ghana (since 2014). Each sister-city has a committee whose role is to identify different projects and engage the community to get them implemented. The Cap-Haitien Sister-City committee is already engaged in the following activities:
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PROGRAM/PROJECT MANAGEMENT
BHF provides principle investigation, program governance, and project planning on a wide range of administrative, research, technical programs, and support staff to our clients. We partner with universities to ensure a constant infusion of new methodologies and practices with new ideas. BHF also provides specialized training to increase the effectiveness and value of each member of the client team. Under this program, BHF manages school adoption, Sister Parish, International Rotary projects and other type of partner projects. |
SCHOOL ADOPTION PROGRAM
This program fosters the establishment of sister-school relationships between schools in Haiti and other international schools. Through the program, schools are able to share culture and resources in meaningful ways. These partnerships are nurtured in ways that avoid dependency and paternalism. They offer opportunities for participants to relate to the world with greater perspective and understanding. The sponsor school can make significant contributions through material, professional, and financial support while gaining significant opportunities for its own faculty and students. If you or your school can benefit from this program, please contact us by phone or email, or simply complete and submit the form that is below. |
SISTER PARISH/CHURCH MISSION SUPPORT BHF’s parish-to-parish program seeks to create a sister-parish relationship between a parish in Haiti and a parish in another country. The program allows parishes to share experiences of faith and resources in a meaningful way. These partnerships are nurtured in ways that avoid dependency and paternalism. They offer opportunities to be evangelized and changed as material and financial support are provided to the materially poor. If you or your church can benefit from this program, please contact us. |
INTERNATIONAL ROTARY
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FOR PROFIT AND NONPROFIT PARTNERSHIPS
An MOU (Memo of Understanding) has been established between the Henri Christophe University of Cap Haitien and the Build Haiti Foundation to collaborate with the University Engineering Department to address waste management issues in Haiti. As the relationship with the University becomes established hopefully teams of professionals will be attracted to finding creative projects to improve Haitian quality of life. The Build Haiti Foundation has also been seeking sponsorship support from the business community in the Baltimore / Washington metropolitan area for its programs to empower youth. |