Haiti's Model Communities: Ending Restavèk Child Domestic Servitude. Monitoring and Evaluation Project Report

Haiti’s Model Communities Ending Restavèk Child Domestic Servitude Monitoring & Evaluation Project Report Best Practices and Lessons Learned March 2014 U.S. State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP)  Free the Slaves liberates slaves, helps them rebuild their lives, and transforms the social, economic and political forces that allow slavery to persist. We support community-driven interventions in partnership with local groups that help people to sustainable freedom and dismantle a region’s system of slavery. We convince governments, international development organizations and businesses to implement key changes required for global eradication. We document and disseminate leading-edge practices to help the anti-slavery movement work more effectively. We raise awareness and promote action by opinion leaders, decision makers and the public. Free the Slaves is showing the world that ending slavery is possible. Fondasyon Limyè Lavi (FLL) is a Haitian foundation established in 1992. FLL operates in the following areas: child protection, formal and alternative education, advocacy and organizational capacity building. We work primarily in the most remote and marginalized rural communities in the country to combat child domestic servitude known as restavèk. One of the priorities of the Foundation is to support the poor to become “Model Communities” where families, community leaders and members who live there develop strategies to improve their socioeconomic conditions and protect and defend the rights of the child. This report is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP). The contents are the responsibility of Free the Slaves and do not necessarily reflect the U.S. State Department views of the Department of State or the United States Government. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) A 12-minute mini-documentary video (in English and Haitian Creole) has been produced to showcase the Model Communities approach in action. It is available for online viewing at www.freetheslaves.net/haiti. Table of Contents 6 Executive Summary 8 Introduction 8 Restavèk in Haiti 9 Haitian Law and Protection Mechanisms for Restavèk 10 Partnership between Free the Slaves and Fondasyon Limyè Lavi to Address Restavèk 11 Model Communities Approach 14 Evaluation Methods 16 Evaluation Results 16 Children Retrieved from Restavèk 17 Effectiveness and Impact of Project Components 22 Sustainability 24 Efficiency 25 Lessons Learned 29 Conclusion 30 Endnotes  Acronyms CPC Child Protection Committee ESK Edikasyon se yon Konvèsasyon – “Education is a Conversation” participatory learning method ESK-DT Child Rights Series of the ESK methodology ESK-SR Reproductive Health Series of the ESK methodology FLL Fondasyon Limyè Lavi FTS Free the Slaves HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus ILO International Labor Organization M&E Monitoring and Evaluation STD Sexually Transmitted Disease 4 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Acknowledgements This report is based on a project evaluation led by Laurie Richardson in collaboration with Cara Kennedy and members of Fondasyon Limyè Lavi (FLL) and Free the Slaves (FTS). Contributors to the report are Sujata Bijou, Christy Gillmore, Smith Maximé and Karen Stauss. We thank other members of the Model Communities team including Guerda Constant and Muriel Chaperon of FLL; former FTS staffer Zorba Leslie, and the staff of Beyond Borders. This report was edited by Terry FitzPatrick and designed by Alison Mitchell. French translation by Linda Gueye. Photos by Terry FitzPatrick and Zorba Leslie. Cover illustration by Ben Bertucci. We especially thank the residents of the project communities, recognizing the resilience and courage of their children, and the activists devoted to ending restavèk in Haiti. © Copyright 2014 Free the Slaves March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 5 • A reproductive health participatory learning communities of origin. It also contributed module was included in the project because strongly to the reintegration of children who family size and parental health can affect whether have returned from restavèk by serving 53 children are sent into restavèk. The intervention percent of the returnees in the communities increased knowledge among approximately 500 assessed. participants about reproductive health, including • Returned children reported overwhelmingly that how to prevent pregnancy and STDs; created they feel happier to be home with their families, a shift among participants toward attitudes feel freedom that they didn’t experience when favorable of family planning and prevention of they were in restavèk, and are glad to be in STDs; and helped change behavior, including school. Children enjoy positive relationships increased use of birth control. with peers and siblings. • An accelerated education component provided • Parents are facing difficulties in providing for a complete year of nearly-free education returned children as a result of underproductive to an average of 148 children each year, farmland and little to no work opportunities. helping to retain at-risk children in their Lessons Learned and Recommendations The outcomes attained during this project demonstrate program effectiveness. Lessons learned during the project and evaluation point to the need to refine components of the Model Communities approach. Standardize the use of social mapping and participatory wealth ranking exercises Community-Based Assessment for use at baseline, follow-up and end-line, incorporating slight adjustments. Use the data to conduct follow-up verification, to constitute caseloads for tracking, and to target project activities. Ensure that the risk of overly directive facilitation is properly managed in order Education is a to maximize participation by all community members. Simplify monitoring and Conversation (ESK) evaluation for ESK. Ensure that real or perceived barriers to access to birth control are addressed, Reproductive Health including resistance from religious leaders and spousal partners. Child Protection Committees Ensure that returnee households have access to adequate psychosocial support. Increase education investments at the design stage to boost quality and success rates. Continue to reinforce the standard of non-violent discipline within classes. Accelerated Education Enhance relevance by incorporating hands-on life skills. Seek to deliver all classes in the morning. Ensure that the stated and intended focus, targets and materials for grassroots Advocacy advocacy align with core concerns and capacity of affected communities. Ensure that all future Model Communities projects include livelihoods programming Livelihoods targeting the most vulnerable—including households that retrieve children. Define a timeline and criteria for exiting project communities. Focus overall M&E M & E, Exit Strategy on learning first, with key accountability points second. March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 7  Introduction Restavèk in Haiti Restavèk is a traditional system in which children are forced to do age-inappropriate chores; not sent to sent from home to live and work elsewhere, most school; and treated as inferior to the children of the often from impoverished rural families to wealthier “host” or receiving family. urban families seeking a domestic servant. In many cases, restavèk becomes child trafficking The Haitian government has estimated that 150,000 and forced labor, meeting international criteria for children have been living in restavèk servitude. slavery:2 many restavèk children are completely The Pan American Development Foundation has controlled through violence and exploited by estimated the figure of urban restavèks to be members of the households where they work. Often 225,000, two-thirds of them girls.3 The National far from home, isolated and excluded within their Coalition for Haitian rights has estimated the own environments, children in restavèk slavery have number of urban and rural restavèks nationwide to no viable options, are under physical control, and be 300,000. thus cannot walk away. Restavèk slaves are abused physically, verbally, emotionally and sexually; The U.S. Labor Department conducted a qualitative study including current and former restavèk children, in both sending families and receiving families, to understand the root causes and factors that maintain the restavèk system.4 Sending families cited poverty or inability to look after their children as the principal drivers of their decision to send their children away, conditions which they reported often resulted from the death of one parent, parental unemployment due to injury or disability, familial discord and/or the consequences of the 2010 earthquake. Receiving families cited the need for inexpensive domestic labor to manage the household of relatively large families, as well as their intention to offer a goodwill gesture to provide children with a much needed home. 8 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Haitian Law and Protection Mechanisms for Restavèk Haiti is party to the Universal Declaration on Human which prohibits servitude, forced or compulsory Rights 5 and the Convention on the Rights of the labor, and the use of children in criminal activities Child.6 Haiti has also ratified the International or armed conflict. The act also criminalizes child Labor Organization (ILO) Convention Concerning the trafficking and the recruitment of children for Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination sexual exploitation, such as pornography, and for of the Worst Forms of Child Labor7 (Convention 182), illicit activities. However, there are no penalties and the ILO Minimum Age Convention8 (Convention established for committing abuse and violence 138). Each of these conventions prohibits child against children through any of the crimes discussed slavery and servitude and provides for children to in the act. It should be noted that the first article have the right to education and the right to be free in the act annuls Chapter 9 of the Haitian Labor 10 from degrading and inhumane treatment. Code, which contained specific stipulations guiding the treatment, rights and privileges of a child working In accordance with these international conventions, in domestic service. The intent was to make illegal in 2003 Haiti passed the Act on the Prohibition any child domestic service, but as a result, there and Elimination of All Forms of Abuse, Violence, Ill- are no longer minimum guidelines for what a child 9 treatment or Inhumane Treatment against Children, deserves when working in domestic service. March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 9  Despite the existence of these measures, which working group on restavèk (Table Sectorielle Sur should assure the eradication of restavèk and the Les Enfants en Domesticité) launched a process protection of all children, the restavèk practice to develop a national plan to eradicate restavèk in continues largely unchecked. The continued Haiti by 2030. This plan will extend over 15 years lack of legislation prohibiting all forms of human and is aligned with the national strategic plan trafficking, as well as a lack of formal protections for Haiti’s development. The working group has for trafficking victims, remain serious problems. completed a draft of the national plan. In addition, An anti-trafficking bill has been introduced, but the creation of an inter-ministerial group to address has not passed the Haitian parliament. However, human trafficking and officials’ stated commitment there are indications of the government of Haiti’s to passage and implementation of anti-trafficking commitment to building upon existing efforts. The legislation may lead to improved results in the Haitian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor-led future. Partnership between Free the Slaves and Fondasyon Limyè Lavi to Address Restavèk In 2011, FTS began a three-year project in reduces the sending of children into the restavèk partnership with FLL entitled “Freedom for Haiti’s system and increases reintegration of former Children: Community Action to End Slavery Locally restavèk children. and Nationally,” funded by the U.S. State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Objective 2: Document and promote an effective, (J/TIP). The FTS-FLL project supports broader and grassroots-based model for community resistance longer-term FLL child protection programming to pilot and response to restavèk slavery in local, national the Model Communities methodology in Haiti, an and international forums. effort involving 12 communities in two communes. The FTS-FLL partnership activities evaluated in this Objective 3: Strengthen advocacy for passage 11 report were implemented in six rural communities of an effective legislative framework to combat around Jacmel, with work in three of them reflecting restavèk slavery by perspectives and priorities from a continuation of efforts initiated in previous communities and individuals most affected by the years (May 2009 to May 2011) under an earlier restavèk system. 12 J/TIP grant. Free the Slaves conducted an evaluation of the The goal of the FTS-FLL project was to “prevent most recent three-year period of the “Freedom for and reverse the flow of children from Haitian Haiti’s Children” project. This report is intended to source communities into restavèk slavery through disseminate the findings of that evaluation, highlight an approach that recognizes and reinforces the the best practices that emerged through the project, strength of those most severely affected—restavèk provide recommendations for other organizations children and their families and communities.” The wishing to adopt the project strategies and develop project was structured around three objectives: programs that address the root causes of restavèk. Objective 1: Develop, test, and refine an effective grassroots-based model for source community resistance and response to restavèk slavery that 10 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Model Communities Approach The program design that undergirds the “Freedom for and experience in the fight to end child slavery laid Haiti’s Children” project is the Model Communities the groundwork for the development of this holistic approach—a holistic model for community approach and for FLL’s collaboration with partners development that is one of the first of its kind in FTS and Beyond Borders in its implementation. Haiti. The Model Communities approach is based on an analysis of risk factors that contribute The evaluation reported here takes into account the to sending of children into restavèk, as well as three-year project period immediately preceding it, and community and family support that is necessary to each of the project strategies conducted within that prevent this phenomenon and help families retrieve period. To initiate the project, baseline assessments restavèk children. The approach emerged from the were conducted to orient the subsequent strategies long-standing involvement of FLL in the Campaign and provide comparison with follow-up data. to End Child Servitude (Kanpay pou Elimine Sistèm Awareness-raising and capacity-building strategies Restavèk) and the organization’s experience in were designed to spark community engagement organizing networks of grassroots child rights and organizing around child rights, including support organizations both in Port-au-Prince and in the for the reintegration of children who had been sent Southeast department of Haiti. FLL’s positioning into servitude. The primary strategies for community organizing, awareness raising, capacity building, and participatory community-based evaluation included the following: Community-Based Assessment: Household surveys, social mapping and participatory wealth ranking community assessment exercises. These methods were designed to provide project staff and community members baseline information regarding core indicators of the flow of children into and out of servitude, the extent of their effective access to education, and the general economic wellbeing of the most vulnerable households. Social mapping and participatory wealth ranking exercises were conducted and the resulting data was quickly tabulated and reported. Field workers were also trained and conducted more than 1,000 household surveys. However, the team was unable to analyze the resulting survey data due to technical March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 11  behavior in the treatment of children. A pool of local volunteers was trained to facilitate the child rights curriculum via small groups meeting in their community throughout a six-month period. An attempt was made to target parents from households identified in social mapping and participatory wealth ranking as having children in restavèk or being vulnerable. A total of 525 community members participated in ESK-DT child rights, exceeding project projections. The reproductive health and family planning curriculum (ESK-SR) was used in the same fashion, reaching 500 community members, nearly twice the number projected in project planning. Child Protection Committees (CPCs): Groups complications. As a result, follow-up data collection of community members trained and motivated to at the end of the project period was conducted using provide support to the most vulnerable families, only social mapping and participatory wealth ranking to promote child protection and to intervene in processes, and not household surveys. All available specific cases to prevent children being sent away data was analyzed as part of the broader project or to encourage return and reintegration. To ensure evaluation process. sustainability of gains in child protection, during the project period, CPCs were established where they did not yet exist and strengthened where Open Space Technology: A highly scalable and they did. Approximately 10 members of a central adaptable meeting approach that encourages and committee from each community shared knowledge enables self-organizing discussions related to a and strategies with the broader membership and particular theme, allowing participants to suggest community, undergoing training and participating their own specific subtopics and group themselves in exchange visits with members of CPCs in according to their interests and passions. FLL has other communities. The broader CPC membership been using open space technology for the past 10 averaged 55 members (47 percent of whom were years and organized multiple open space dialogues in each community as a way of involving community members and gathering community input at each critical stage of the project. Education is a Conversation (referred to by Haitian Creole acronym ESK): A participatory dialogue-based learning method that uses illustrated story books to guide participants in a process of discovery and transformation. Two ESK curricula were used in the current project—one that focuses on children’s rights (ESK-DT) and another that focuses on reproductive health and family planning (ESK-SR). The children’s rights curriculum (ESK-DT) has been found to increase compassion toward children who have been in restavèk, and lead to improved 12 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 women) in each community. The CPC membership included a cross-section of the community. However, parents whose children had been sent away were sometimes targeted for participation in ESK and thus could be more likely to join the CPCs upon completion of ESK. Accelerated Education: A curriculum developed by the Haitian Ministry of Education designed to equip students over the average age for primary school enrollments with the knowledge and skills necessary to transfer to secondary school. This program allows overage children to complete the standard, six-year primary school curriculum in three years. The inability to provide for a child’s education was one of the most oft-cited reasons by evaluation participants for sending children away or being reluctant to retrieve them. Given past research showing that overage children are particularly at risk, efforts to increase their access to education were targeted through providing accelerated education to an average of seven classrooms and 148 children each school toward government on behalf of their own priorities— year, consisting of children either returned from or whether on national legislation, local services or at risk of being sent into restavèk. any other matters of concern; b) to influence the quality of advocacy for an anti-trafficking bill that has not passed the Haitian parliament by having such Advocacy: The fundamental aims of grassroots advocacy informed by the perspectives of grassroots advocacy activities were: a) to help communities communities. Another advocacy component of the understand their potential role in formulating final part of the project related to promoting cost- positions on matters relevant to them and advocating effective and replicable elements of the Model Communities approach as a strategy for addressing restavèk. Livelihoods: The importance of a livelihoods intervention to address the economic risk factors for the sending of children into restavèk was recognized at the beginning of the project. The J/TIP funding was not sufficient to address this need, and the partners planned to identify other sources of funding to implement this program component. However, they were unable to identify those resources. In year three of the project period, due to cost savings in other areas, FTS redirected a portion of J/TIP grant funding to FLL to enable the hiring of a livelihoods expert. The expert has trained communities in how to set up savings and loan initiatives that are now in the early stages of implementation. March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 13  Evaluation Methods An internal evaluation of the project was managed Core fieldwork was conducted between November by two international consultants: the lead with 6 and November 9, 2013, with visits to five of expertise in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and the six project communities: Sous Platon, Bas project management, and the second with a Ph.D. in Jeffré, Gou/Denard, Marre, and Menaud. The field psychology and specific expertise in mental health teams consisted of five external agents with prior issues faced by children coming out of restavèk. The experience in conducting field interviews on the international consultants were not directly engaged subject of restavèk and six members of the FLL Model in field-based data collection, but developed the Communities team. After the last field exercise, methodology and tools, trained field teams, and the lead consultant conducted final interviews and conducted the data analysis. The FTS director of queries of staff from FLL and Beyond Borders. monitoring and evaluation provided feedback on overall evaluation methodology and field instruments, The general framework and tailored questions that and provided support for issues related to sampling were used to guide the evaluation are described in and processing of data from pre- and post-tests. Table 1. Table 1: M&E General Framework and Tailored Questions • To what extent are the needs and priorities of children in restavèk or at risk of being sent into Relevance restavèk addressed? • Are some elements of the project more relevant to these key stakeholders than others? • To what extent have project outcomes and objectives been achieved? What factors significantly helped or hindered? Were there particular project components that contributed more than others? How were risks managed? Effectiveness • To what extent has the project contributed to the level of community organization and to what extent did that organization contribute to project effectiveness? • Was there a change in knowledge and attitudes of community members toward engaging the government to fulfill its responsibilities? • Has the project enabled progress toward preventing and reversing the flow of children from Haitian source communities into restavèk? How many children from target communities were enslaved at the beginning of the grant, how many were retrieved; how many of those retrieved Impact were kept in school; how many at-risk children were sent into restavèk and how many were retained, and in school, during this period? • What significant changes has the project brought about in the lives of the beneficiaries intended or unintended, positive or negative? Did some project components contribute more than others to these changes? 14 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014  • Was sustainability adequately addressed in the project design and was management responsive to any issues arising during implementation? • What is the projected level of sustainable benefit? Have key project processes, structures and tools, been mastered by local actors and can they be expected to operate/be used after the project ends? Sustainability • What is the projected sustainability of emerging impact? Have underlying causes been addressed, have norms or policies undergone sustainable shifts? Will children returned likely remain? Does the lack of a strong livelihoods component hamper long-term sustainability or even have a negative impact (does it make children more vulnerable?) • Is there capacity and commitment at FLL to continue to manage such interventions and to attract additional partners? • Was the project implemented in a cost-efficient manner, giving value for money, compared to Efficiency alternatives? • Were the logical framework and the work plans followed and used as an implementation tool? A mixed-methods approach to data collection households whose children were not in restavèk, across the five communities included semi- participants in ESK groups, and members of CPCs. structured interviews and focus groups with Finally, a brief transect survey was conducted with a parents of children formerly in restavèk, parents convenience sample of community members. of children currently in restavèk, and children who had been retrieved from restavèk. Semi-structured The sample sizes for each data collection method interviews were conducted with teachers in the are provided in Table 2. accelerated education program, and focus groups were conducted with groups of parents in vulnerable Table 2: Sample Sizes for Data Collection Methods Target Group Focus Groups Semi-Structured Interview (#Groups, # Total Participants) Total (#Female, #Male) Parents of Children Formerly In Restavèk 3 groups, 31 participants 8 (4F, 4M) Parents of Children Currently In Restavèk 4 groups, 26 participants 4 (3F, 1M) Children Retrieved From Restavèk 11 (7F, 4M) 16 participants Accelerated Education Teachers/Administrators (7 administrators, 9 teachers) Parents in Vulnerable Households Whose 5 groups, 73 participants Children Are Not in Restavèk ESK-SR Participants 3 groups, 33 participants CPC Members 5 groups, 81 participants March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 15  Evaluation Results Children Retrieved from Restavèk The project has enabled progress toward the been overwhelmingly positive. The children’s rights prevention and reversal of the flow of children curriculum from ESK, the child protection committees from participating communities into restavèk. and the provision of support for education (including Numerous significant positive changes in the lives but not limited to the accelerated education of beneficiaries can be attributed at least partially program) were seen as the primary contributors to to the project. They are described in this section of core project impacts. Due to the limits of existing the report, by strategy. project data and the constraints of the evaluation, it was not possible to quantify the number of at-risk An estimated 27 percent of children initially children that were sent into restavèk or the number identified as being in restavèk from communities for that were prevented from being sent into restavèk which baseline data was available are now back at during the period. However, anecdotal evidence 13 home (see Table 3). indicates that the sending of children into servitude has decreased, and that project strategies have Returned children and their parents who were contributed to the prevention of sending children interviewed report that the reintegration process has away. The reintegration is described in primarily Table 3: Retrieval of Children Population of Children Estimated # in Total # of Community at End Line14 Restavèk at Baseline Retrievals Reported Sous Platon 365 30 4 Bas Jeffré 444 40 20 Haut Jeffré 335 35 5 Marre 607 < 100 15 Gou/Denard 579 combined 11 Menaud 15 574 0 0 16 Total 2,904 205 55 16 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 positive terms by both parents and children, with in no better economic situation, and in many cases all expressing happiness about their reunion their situations have degraded through decreased and the child’s freedom from harm and abuse, agricultural production and limited revenue- attendance in school and relationships with peers generating opportunities, leading many to express and siblings. It is necessary to point out, however, significant concerns about being able to provide for that families who sent their children away are largely their children. Effectiveness and Impact of Project Components Community-Based Assessment was effectively achieved Open Space Technology: The effectiveness of primarily through social mapping and, to a lesser open space as a strategy to empower community extent, participatory wealth ranking, as it was members to form consensus solutions to restavèk found that the volume of data provided through the could not be formally evaluated. Most activities had detailed household survey census overwhelmed not yet been completed, documentation of those project capacities and therefore had to be finally set held was limited, and attribution of effect would aside. Baseline and follow-up social mapping and have been difficult. However, anecdotal reports from participatory wealth ranking yielded most of the core community members and FLL staff indicate that this data needed for targeting interventions and tracking strategy was viewed positively both by staff and by change; however, resulting baseline data was not participants, contributed to overall understanding used as efficiently as possible, and could not be of the project and of the CPCs, and contributed to accessed for some communities, which reduced its community consensus regarding the importance of overall contribution to project effectiveness. protecting children from restavèk. Table 4: ESK-DT Pre- and Post-Test Data % Desirable % Desirable Improvement Questionnaire Statement Response Response From Pre- to at Pre-Test at Post-Test Post-Test My child is mine and I can treat him/her as I wish. 48% 69% 21 points (Question investigates parental attitudes.) I treat my child as I wish. 42% 71% 29 points (Question investigates actual parental behavior.) If a parent is mistreating his or her child, it is none of my business; If a parent is mistreating someone 64% 72% 8 points else’s child, it is none of my business. I speak to other parents when they are 94% 98% 4 points mistreating children. Children should obey adults without question. 22% 49% 27 points March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 17  Education is a Conversation Child Rights (ESK-DT): ESK-DT stimulated retrievals from restavèk in all Use of ESK-DT was found to be very effective at communities where there were restavèks to retrieve. shifting norms by changing awareness, knowledge, It also played a role in prevention. As one parent attitudes, and—in many cases—behaviors in from Marre explained: “[The children] told me relation to child rights in general and the practice they weren’t well...but I didn’t have the means to of restavèk more specifically. An analysis of pre- and go get them. News of them, plus the ESK books, post-test questionnaire data from ESK participants encouraged me to go get them.” 17 indicates that desirable attitudes toward treatment of one’s own child improved by 21 percentage points Impacts attributed to this program component include the prevention of some children from being sent into restavèk and the return of others from restavèk, which has spared them from neglect and “If it weren’t for ESK, abuse and is seen in some cases to have saved their lives. A parent from Gou/Denard after retrieving her I could have lost my child shared: “If it weren’t for ESK, I could have lost my children. If I hadn’t gone to get them they would have died, Limyè Lavi saved my children. Because of children.” Limyè Lavi they are alive today.” The ESK-DT methodology is especially well suited to work in rural communities with high levels of illiteracy. By enabling the emergence of child rights (See Table 4). Desirable reported behavior leaders, ESK-DT effectively laid the groundwork improved by 29 percentage points. Attitudes toward for the establishment of the CPC. It led to better intervention in the face of mistreatment of the reported treatment of children at home and in the children of others showed more limited improvement, community, and is reported to have had a related improving 8 percentage points on average for the effect of increasing dialogue generally, contributing two questions analyzed. A question regarding to a strengthened social fabric. whether or not children should obey adults without question found a desirable shift of 27 percentage points. The same question asked on the transect survey elicited desirable responses from only 12 percent (three of 25) of those respondents who had not participated in ESK-DT, which could be seen as a comparison group, albeit small. The findings specifically related to changes in behavior were also illustrated by the following quotes: “I used to beat my children a lot; I don’t do that anymore. Now, I talk to them instead of beating them.” (Marre ESK participant.) “I used to beat my child a lot, but when I participated in this training I came to see that I shouldn’t act like that anymore.” (Bas Jeffré ESK participant.) 18 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Education is a Conversation Reproductive Health regarding family planning included resistance from (ESK-SR): ESK-SR successfully reached more than partners and religious leaders, as well as lack of the projected number of participants, and the easy access to effective birth control methods. methodology was well adapted to the participants Increased coverage as well as time to allow and the context. Available data indicate that conversations to progress and catalyze change may its effects were greatest in enabling shifts in be needed. knowledge, attitude and perceived capacity among participants, and relatively less effective Using most significant change18 evaluation in empowering changes in their behavior. Impacts methodology, groups reported the most significant attributed to ESK-SR include increased knowledge changes they experienced as a result of participating among participants about reproductive health, in ESK-SR. Eleven groups highlighted changes including how to prevent pregnancy and STDs; a specifically related to HIV/STDs, four groups focused shift among participants toward attitudes favorable specifically on reproduction or birth control, and of family planning and prevention of STDs; a sense seven used more general, overarching language. of increased capacity to discuss these issues Table 5 presents a compilation of the community- with others; and, to a lesser degree, reports of level consensus statements for most significant changed behavior including increased use of birth changes produced by the ESK-SR programming, control and more open care-seeking when needed. which were captured approximately six months after Reported barriers to converting new knowledge, completion of the dialogue sessions. attitudes and capacity into changed behavior Table 5: Number of Groups Indicating Various Consensus-Level Most Significant Changes Reported by ESK-SR Participants Number of ESK-SR Groups Who Came Most Significant Changes to Consensus on the Given Most Significant Change Know more about health and reproduction 1 Know more about STDs, about how to prevent STDs 2 Knowledge Know what water to wash with to avoid infection 1 Learned I should seek help if my genitals give off a strong smell 1 Know more about reproduction/having children 1 It’s important to raise awareness in the community 2 re: how to prevent STDs Attitude Family planning is not a bad thing, it’s good 1 Can speak more knowledgeably with others / teach them about reproductive health 5 Able to counsel youth about sex 1 Capacity Can help others prevent STDs 3 Can speak with or educate others about how to stay healthy 2 Can use my knowledge to help others better understand what to consider when thinking about having kids 1 Have a method to control the number of children I have 1 Behavior Nothing reported 0 March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 19  Child Protection Committees (CPC): The project has CPC members provided encouragement, advice, effectively enabled the emergence of a CPC in school referrals, and—in some cases—small each target community. They are actively engaged financial contributions, all of which contributed to in efforts to prevent the sending of children into the quality of the reintegration of returned children. restavèk, to support returned children’s reintegration Speaking about reintegration, a CPC member from and to promote overall child welfare. Menaud noted: “These kids are now well integrated into the community because the community An example of this was shared by a member of the welcomes them. The CPC works with the community CPC in Menaud: “One father had two children in to prepare them, to ensure that they understand restavèk and he was going to send a third. Because that all human beings are equal, because they used of the awareness raising that CPC members did to to humiliate these children.” prevent him from sending the third away, not only did he not send the third, but he retrieved the two that The evaluation revealed that the capacity of CPCs were away.” to address the depth and breadth of the needs of the most vulnerable families remains limited, and CPC members showed a strong consensus around the importance of strengthening CPC capacity to a clear child protection role for their groups, which continue to support families considering retrieval enjoy fairly strong recognition among the general was indicated by a drop in retrievals soon after public. In Marre, a parent pointed out the vigilance the completion of ESK sessions. The evaluation and attention that the CPC demonstrates: “I have also indicated the importance of ensuring that CPC a child who went away for the vacation period and discourse and strategy remain focused on helping a CPC member came by to ask for the child. That families to better understand the potential risks shows me that they are checking up on all kids in of sending their child away, and the reality of the the community.” conditions of restavèk, so that parents can make an informed but not unduly influenced decision when considering sending and/or retrieving their children. It is important for the CPC approach to be one of enabling a retrieval or retention through a combination of awareness raising and the resolution of other practical barriers (logistical, economic, etc.). Otherwise, there is a risk that the CPC could become too prescriptive or attempt to pressure families into retaining or retrieving children. Accelerated Education: Programming contributed to the prevention of restavèk by providing education to an average of 148 overage children during each project year, thus helping to retain at-risk children in their communities of origin, and leading to both a perceived reduction in delinquency in the community and a greater likelihood that pupils can take care of themselves as adults. Children taking part in accelerated education might not have been be able to attend school otherwise, due to the discrepancy between their age and their grade level. As a result of the program, they were able to complete their primary school more quickly. Without access to education for their children, parents are more likely to feel little choice but to send them into restavèk. 20 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Beyond providing material support, community will help to ensure that children can maximize this members recognized the importance of accelerated educational opportunity and overcome barriers. education in helping children to know their own Additional constraints to better success that need worth: “The child used to sit at home. We couldn’t to be addressed include improvement of the quality pay for school, so [accelerated education is] a great of the learning spaces and adequate and timely support. I see how it’s a support for all of the other provision of materials. children in the community; they want all children to feel that they have worth.” (Gou/Denard parent of Advocacy: Given that most of the relevant advocacy returned child.) activities had not taken place at the time of the evaluation, it would be premature to draw conclusions Accelerated education is also contributing strongly on their effectiveness. However, it can be said that to the reintegration of children who have returned CPC members illustrated an awareness of advocacy from restavèk by serving 53 percent of the channels, and that both CPC members and a number returnees in communities assessed in the of parents formulated advocacy demands focused evaluation. 19 The interface between accelerated primarily on increasing investment from both the education programming and the work of the CPCs government and non-governmental organizations was strong, with the latter engaged in outreach, into the creation of sustainable livelihoods (farming, referrals and supporting access to accelerated commerce and other small businesses) and education for the most vulnerable, as well as accessible education. tracking dropouts. The overall retention rate in the accelerated education program was 80 percent and the pass rate was 55 percent, which are relatively Livelihoods: Efforts to pilot livelihoods activities, high for the rural Haitian context. Asked whether which began in year three, had not yet reached accelerated education classes were seen to be the project’s principal intended beneficiaries— inferior to mainstream classes, stakeholders were households with children formerly or currently in unanimous in stating that recent exam results restavèk—because the chosen activities were have made it so popular that some parents now primarily designed for and targeted to CPC members. express a preference for accelerated education over Though interventions were limited and had not yet traditional classes. “Many parents didn’t believe had sufficient implementation time, CPC members in this program at first because they didn’t believe who participated in livelihoods training and savings the child would be ready for exams in three years. and loan activities were enthusiastic and could Now they see it is serious because of the results on already cite practical economic benefits as a result exams.” (Marre resident.) of increased access to small loans to invest in education, farming or commercial activities. As There are disparities in the retention and pass one beneficiary in Marre noted: “The [livelihoods] rates across different schools, however, with activities were well done and are bearing fruit. We the completion rate for one cohort as low as 10 are pooling our savings via the savings and loan. percent. These disparities point to the need for We are storing corn and beans. We are lending more concentrated efforts in some areas to ensure money to people for petty commerce. We have an sufficient and equitable quality is being provided. almond business to make more money.” Haitian Efforts would include increased training for teachers, stakeholders who participated in the evaluation who expressed this need: “The training should be widely noted the need for sustainable livelihoods for continuous. We have not yet mastered the curriculum the most vulnerable as a central priority. and need more training in lesson preparation.” (Bas Jeffré teacher.) “We feel we still need more training and better techniques to make sure that kids stay in school.” (Sous Platon teacher.) Case management procedures that can quickly identify challenges to attendance and completion March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 21  Children’s Voices: Whether the result of ESK, the and my other favorite thing is living with my mom CPCs, accelerated education, a broader shift in and dad.” (Bas Jeffre child.) community norms, or a combination of these, children expressed some of the clearest and most poignant Children for the most part enjoy positive relationships benefits of the change in knowledge, attitudes with their peers and siblings, and many commented and behaviors that their parents demonstrated. on how they share everything with siblings—an Children reported overwhelmingly that they felt experience that had been lacking while in restavèk. happier with their families, felt freedom that they “If they buy a piece of bread they share with me didn’t experience when they were in restavèk, and equally. We do each other’s hair; we go get water were glad to be in school. “My favorite thing is together; we cook together. When we bathe, we going to school so that I can become something, scrub each other’s backs.” (Gou/Denard child.) Sustainability High levels of community participation, a prerequisite • Stories from the ESK series continue to be to community-level sustainability, were built in to the told by community members when asked their project design. Core tools such as open space and thoughts about children’s rights or reproductive ESK were projected to engage a significant portion health. of the population in a process of sustainable norms • A sizeable core of CPC members can be change, using relatively simple-to-deliver and highly expected to sustain basic child protection cost-efficient methodologies, thus increasing the activities without significant investment. potential for future roll-out. A community-based child protection structure was included, to serve Individual impacts that are expected to be sustained as an ongoing conduit for child rights activism and include the benefits of accelerated education reintegration of children returned from restavèk. for child participants; the impact of savings and Accelerated education programming was utilized loan activities; the changes in knowledge and to cement the reintegration process for overage attitudes brought about by ESK (including increased returnees. A grassroots advocacy component was awareness of the risks of restavèk and decreased carried out to transform the community members’ social acceptability of sending children into restavèk; view of their role in advocacy, ensuring that broader improved attitudes toward family planning and care advocacy initiatives such as passage of a national for STDs and for people living with HIV; and increased anti-trafficking bill were informed by the perspectives awareness of the risks of unprotected sex); and of rural community members (voices which otherwise benefits accruing from the generally improved social appear not to have been solicited). Further advocacy fabric in participating communities. promoting support for and replication of the Model Communities approach was also included. Relatively small investments that could lead to greater sustainability include the following: Based on this evaluation’s findings, operational sustainability of core tools, processes and structures • Training community members as open space are expected to be sustained, at least partially. To facilitators. highlight a few ways in which this is expected to occur: • Providing small stipends for the already-trained ESK facilitators and a new set of illustrated • A pool of local ESK facilitators exists in each of books in each community. the communities, as do the ESK-DT and ESK-SR • Training of community members to conduct series materials. social mapping and participatory wealth ranking. 22 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Accelerated education programming is not intended to be operationally sustainable. There is potential for challenges to the sustainability of retrieval and prevention success rates because parents are facing difficulties in providing for returned children. The children themselves expressed tolerance for economic hardships they face, noting that being with their family, having the freedom to go to school, playing with friends and enjoying the love of their parents and siblings is a dramatic change and improvement from the situations they faced while in restavèk. In the words of a child from Marre: “I’m more comfortable with my mom, even if she doesn’t have food for us. I feel better, because they do everything they can so that member from Menaud explained: “One of the biggest I can go to school, and our mom takes care of us difficulties we are facing is that when the children better, even if we sometimes go two days without return, the parents think that the CPC will take care eating. Where we used to be, they didn’t take care of them, because they don’t have the means to do of us.” The parent of a returned child from Bas that. There are parents who consider the child who Jeffre shared her own child’s willingness to focus on has returned to be an additional burden—another the positive, as well: “My child says she’s hungry, child to send to school and to take care of.” but I don’t have anything to give her. But in times like that, she says: ‘Mom, I’m hungry, but I’m not Economic challenges remain significant for most, being beaten.’” and dire for some, and do lead to a concern that parents will eventually find the challenges too great However, parents openly expressed their own and will send their children away again. difficulty in sending their children to school hungry and not seeing how they will be able to provide for them, as a result of underproductive farmland land and little to no work opportunities. “[The Model Communities program partners] pay for school, it’s true, but when they [the children] get up in the morning you don’t have anything to give them; you don’t have shoes to give them to wear. They learn, but sometimes the teachers tell you the child sleeps in school, and we understand that. If the child goes to school without eating, it’s normal for him to be like that.” (Bas Jeffre parent of returned child.) There is evidence that some parents who have retrieved their children are hopeful that recovering one or more children should or will allow them to receive support to care for those children. But available support is extremely limited. A CPC March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 23  Efficiency A number of core project components were highly Taking all project components and expenses 20 cost-efficient. These included open space, the ESK into account, overall cost-effectiveness could be children’s rights and reproductive health curricula, improved by: a) a reduction in personnel costs; and, and the child protection committees, which to a lesser extent, b) streamlining of data collection constitute substantial components of the Model procedures. It should be noted that the communities Communities approach. participating in this project are relatively isolated and personnel costs may have been higher as a result Accelerated education programming, while financially of significant time devoted to travel for activities. efficient, could be made more so through increased Alternative or adjusted packages of programming investment to boost the quality of instruction and should be explored to maximize the use of the most the provision of small subsidies to families to cost-effective elements with highest impact. cover school costs, thereby improving retention and success rates. This would also increase the efficiency of the educational investment that is made by the households themselves. 24 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Lessons Learned The project team is not aware of any similar models • The full child rights ESK curriculum, with which to compare the Model Communities followed by the formation of child protection approach in order to evaluate its effectiveness. committees. Given the vast array of factors that drive and maintain • Capacity building for child protection the restavèk practice, we expect that the outcomes committees to conduct case management attained during this project (a 27% retrieval rate; home visits, provide psychosocial support very positive reintegration experiences for returned and update social maps periodically. children; demonstrated changes in attitudes, knowledge and behavior regarding the practice of • Enhanced delivery of accelerated education restavèk and the treatment of children) indicate and subsidies to families to cover school program effectiveness. However, the fact that a costs. Further investments into the quality majority of parents did not retrieve their children of the accelerated education programming from restavèk and that some who did, did not retrieve are suggested, including increased teacher all of them, points to the need to continue to derive training and achievement of minimum quality lessons from and refine the Model Communities standards for learning spaces. approach to attain greater effectiveness. For even greater impact toward preventing and While a number of interventions were determined reversing restavèk, the approach will require other to be highly cost-effective, which relates to adjustments. One key recommendation would be sustainability, the Model Communities approach a more robust livelihoods component designed to could potentially be made more cost-effective by reach the key target group (i.e. the most vulnerable concentrating more narrowly on a smaller menu households)—whether implemented within a specific of deliverables without spending large sums on project or delivered alongside by a coordinating delivery costs. This would involve the following five organization. As livelihoods programming is components: a specialized field with potential for negative outcomes, it may be in most organizations’ • A simplified baseline and follow-up best interest to partner with an institution assessment using social mapping and with a high degree of skill and experience in participatory wealth ranking. livelihoods support. Care should be taken that livelihoods support is not seen as a reward for • Open space community meetings to retrieval, nor for it to inadvertently encourage the launch the project and encourage periodic practice of sending children into restavèk. The community dialogue. Chemen Lavi Miyò program in Haiti, designed and March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 25  • Simplify monitoring and evaluation for ESK. delivered by Fonkoze, is one example of a program Given existing evidence of the effectiveness that has taken such considerations into account and of ESK as a methodology, the use of pre- and is attentive to the particular challenges of working post-questionnaires may be unnecessary. The with the most economically vulnerable. use of consensus most significant change evaluation methodology could be retained as Other key recommendations based on the lessons a means for participants to socialize emerging learned during this project period for each of the results and for implementers to gather stories Model Communities program components: for accountability to donors. Alternately, tools could be developed to track actual shifts in behavior in the post-ESK period and to probe ongoing obstacles to behavior change. Community-Based Assessment • Standardize the utilization of social mapping and participatory wealth ranking at baseline, Child Protection Committees • Ensure that returnee households have access follow-up and end-line, incorporating slight to adequate psychosocial support. Anecdotal adjustments. It is important that social information indicates that returnees in the mapping and participatory wealth ranking evaluated program appear generally well exercises follow a standard protocol. Once adjusted. However, the evaluation interviews collected, data should be quickly transferred did not directly ask about their experience in and analyzed based on vulnerability indicators. restavèk. What emerged spontaneously in the Once data is extracted and cleaned, take a interviews about what children experienced high-quality digital photo of the social map indicates that both they and their parents are and return the original to the community (or likely to benefit from psychosocial support. replicate, if preferred) and hold a session with In addition to helping children heal from the community to discuss core data findings. their experiences, such support would help parents understand what children may have • Use data generated by social mapping and experienced, how it may manifest in their participatory wealth ranking exercises to feelings and behaviors once home, and what conduct follow-up verification, to constitute skills they can use to manage children’s caseloads for tracking, and to target project reactions if and when they arise. Psychosocial activities (e.g. accelerated education, ESK, training should be given to as many CPC CPC home visits, livelihoods support). Conduct members as possible, and they should be verification of key indicators of vulnerability via mentored to organize leisure activities for a second source, such as a home visit to the the children. However, CPC members cannot vulnerable household. Indicate updates on (or substitute for a trained psychologist and a alongside) social mapping. plan to access such support when needed should be included at the design phase. • Conduct a new social mapping and participatory wealth ranking exercise every three years, or Accelerated Education: possibly on shorter cycles if rapid change has • Increase investments for accelerated occurred. education programming at the design stage in order to boost quality and success rates. ESK – Education is a Conversation Infrastructure that meets minimal quality • Manage the risk of overly-directive ESK standards should be either identified facilitation. Deepen discussions with others using ESK (including FLL and Beyond Borders) and secured in the design phase, or built to compare approaches and results in training into budgeting as a contingency or a new and monitoring of ESK facilitators, with a view partnership, so that the physical space to ensuring that ESK sessions are effectively in which classes take place is conducive a safe space for open dialogue and sharing of to learning. (Consider the potential of 21 experiences. 26 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014  leveraging additional partnerships at the design phase in support of infrastructure improvements and school breakfast/lunch programming.) Provide sufficient training, support and supervision for accelerated education teachers to increase the quality of instruction. Higher levels of training could be seen as a perk, and performance bonuses (whether monetary or not) could be offered for evidence of consistent good practice. Ensure adequate quantities of books to cover all pupils. Ensure adequate financing for a full bell curve of programming in each participating community (four - five years), so that repeaters can be accommodated. • Continue to reinforce the standard of non- violent discipline within accelerated education classes by ensuring that all teachers sign a standard code of conduct, by increasing training and coaching in non-violent classroom discipline, by including accelerated education personnel in ESK-DT dialogues and by Reproductive Health Services increasing training in psychosocial support. • Ensure that real or perceived barriers to • Seek to further enhance the relevance of access to birth control are addressed, whether accelerated education programming by via efforts built into the project or delivered incorporating hands-on life skills. Budget and alongside by others. In particular, attention plan from the outset to effectively ensure the should be given in communities where implementation of school gardens in linkage access is determined to be a problem. In new with livelihoods efforts. Explore the potential communities, contact should be made with to introduce elements of sexual education existing health care facilities or providers at or (even if after school) with the support of prior to launch. ESK-SR graduates and CPC members. • Seek to deliver all accelerated education Advocacy classes in the morning. Doing so will help • Ensure that the focus, targets, and materials guarantee sufficient class time in the face for advocacy align with the core concerns and of afternoon rains and impending darkness, capacity of the affected communities. and it will prevent any sense of stigmatization Pursue community-identified priorities such that could arise from differentiated treatment. as increased support for education, access This may involve planning at design stage for to productive inputs and microcredit, additional investments in sufficient space and access to technical support via agricultural teachers (i.e. teacher training). extension agents and experts in small business support, and support for access to markets via improved penetration routes. March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 27  Invest in efforts to develop effective strategies Defining an Exit Strategy for leveraging needed external investments • Define a timeline and criteria for project into participating communities—whether exit from target communities. Ensure that a from the Haitian government, the Haitian projected arc of investment and criteria for exit private sector, national or international are taken into account during the design phase NGOs/agencies, the Haitian diaspora, or the and discussed transparently with participating international public. communities during launch and annually thereafter. Establish linkages with local and departmental level civil protection agents, with a view to attracting support to boost Focusing Monitoring and Evaluation the resiliency of participating communities. • Focus overall M&E on learning first and a few key accountability points second. Consider use of an annual learning question at each Livelihoods level, keep the M&E plan simple and relevant, • Ensure that Model Communities programming includes delivery of livelihoods programming only tracking data that will be used. Ensure that is targeted to the most vulnerable— that all field instruments are in Haitian Creole including households that retrieve children. to give the best chance for transmission of Increasing and targeting activities to the most accurate and rich data. Ensure quality control vulnerable was the top priority of the project’s by reviewing the data together as a team in beneficiaries and a key recommendation relative real time. made by all Haitian stakeholders. Care should be taken that livelihood activities do not create inadvertent negative consequences. Organizations that specialize in livelihoods programming should be consulted. 28 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 Conclusion The results of this evaluation reveal the potency and effectiveness of a community-based program involving highly participatory awareness-raising and capacity-building strategies for addressing a problem as deeply-rooted and devastating as restavèk in Haiti. The best practices highlighted in this report point to effective, sustainable, and scalable approaches for addressing some of the facets driving the sending of children into restavèk and for supporting their return and reintegration. The lessons learned provide a road map for other organizations to adapt and adopt these approaches for use in other affected communities. It is the project team’s sincere hope that readers of this report will do just that. March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 29  End Notes 1. The official Haitian government estimate of children living in restavèk is 150,000 (available at http://www.fafo.no/ais/other/haiti/childlabour/EEDH_ Report_final_french.pdf). In the largest field survey of human rights violations in Haiti, conducted in 2007-2008, the Pan American Development Foundation estimated more than 225,000 children, two-thirds of them girls, were living in urban restavèk slavery. As restavèk is not an exclusively urban phenomenon, total prevalence of restavèk has also been estimated by the National Coalition for Haitian Rights to be closer to 300,000 children nationwide (source: Restavèk no more: Eliminating child slavery in Haiti, published 2002). 2. Bales, K. (1999). Disposable people: New slavery in the global economy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press 3. Pan American Development Foundation defined restavèk as “an unpaid child servant living and working away from home, who is treated in a manner distinctly different from children born to the household.” Because in all cases of restavèk the distinctly different treatment involves abuse, exploitation, neglect, and/or humiliation, this definition is used for the purposes of FTS work. 4. Allen Cooper, Pablo Diego-Rosell & Christelle Gogue, Child Labor in Domestic Service (restavèks) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (2012), at www.dol.gov/ilab/ programs/ocft/PDF/2012RestavekHaiti.pdf. 5. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, available at http://www.un.org/en/ documents/udhr/. 6. Convention on the Rights of the Child, available at http://www.ohchr.org/en/ professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx 7. Convention Concerning The Prohibition And Immediate Action For The Elimination Of The Worst Forms Of Child Labour, Convention 182, available at http://www. ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/com-chic.htm 8. Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, Convention 138, available at http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:121 00:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138. 9. Loi Relative À L’interdiction Et À L’élimination De Toutes Formes D’abus, De Violences, De Mauvais Traitements Ou Traitements Inhumains Contre Les Enfants, Le Moniteur N° 41 enacted June 5, 2003. Available at http://www. hsph.harvard.edu/population/trafficking/haiti.traf.03.doc 10. Haitian labor code, available at: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ WEBTEXT/135/64790/F61HTI01.htm. 11. The work on La Gonâve (Mòn Ramye), one of the model communities supported under the original J/TIP grant which is no longer receiving support, was not included in field work, although it is included in the accelerated education statistics in this report. 30 Haiti’s Model Communities Project Report March 2014 12. FLL receives additional support for work in these six communities and in the remaining six communities that are a part of the Model Communities project through a partnership with the U.S.-based organization Beyond Borders. 13. A reliable calculation of the percentage of reduction in the prevalence of children in restavèk is not possible given inconsistencies in triangulated data. Baseline data for three of the communities (Marre, Gou/Denard, and Menaud) was not accessible, rendering pre-post calculation for those communities impossible. For Sous Platon, Bas Jeffré, and Haut Jeffré, a comparison of social mapping data from baseline to follow up shows a 70% drop of children presumed to be in restavèk; however there is only evidence for a 27% net reintegration rate based on documented cases. 14. Measured by social mapping. 15. Although the number of restavèks at baseline was zero, and therefore no retrievals, there was a desire by FLL to continue working in Menaud to assist vulnerable families. This has been noted by the project team as a lesson learned. 16. Note: This total does not include children retrieved from La Gonâve (Mòn Ramye) since that community was not included in the evaluation. 17. Desirable responses refer to the desired target response to an item designed to measure the effectiveness of a concept addressed within ESK. 18. The “Most Significant Change” Technique: A guide to its use. Available at http:// www.mande.co.uk/docs/MSCGuide.pdf. 19. Project staff indicated that the remainder of the returned children were in traditional classes. However, the evaluation found evidence that at least one returnee had not been enrolled in classes and that one had dropped out at the highest grade level. 20. The analysis of financial efficiency is complicated by the fact that J/TIP funds are effectively being supplemented by additional investments into some of the same communities via a FLL-Beyond Borders partnership. 21. The Beyond Borders child protection programming in urban areas uses an approach where a small core of community members are themselves brought through the three-month dialogue program before facilitating sessions, as it was judged that the improved results justified the additional investment in time and money. March 2014 Project Report Haiti’s Model Communities 31 Learn More Free the Slaves freetheslaves.net ftsblog.net facebook.com/freetheslaves @freetheslaves Fondasyon Limyè Lavi fondationlimyelavi.net fondasyonlimyelavi@gmail.com U.S. State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) state.gov/j/tip/index.htm