Sustainability
As the video available on this site explains, one of the primary principles of Haiti Creates and Haiti Allies (the U.S. based non-profit partner of the Haiti Creates brand) is cooperative development.
Sustainability on every level is at the heart of this principle. The purpose of the factory is to generate income for the workers who are parents of students at Cite Soleil Community School. This enables them to have a sustainable way to put food on their own tables and to experience the dignity and joy that comes with earning a living wage.
The factory's net profits help underwrite and sustain the operating costs of the school and the daily meal program for the staff and students--many of whom would not eat an actual meal more than once or twice a week without the school meals.
All Haiti Creates products are made out of recycled materials, thus embracing a sustainable source of production materials.
The machines at the factory are powered as much as possible by solar panels, a sustainable energy source.
The entire enterprise was conceived from the outset to provide the School and its Haitian owned parent organization (SPARE) with a sustainable source of funds that will help break the cycles of dependency upon foreign charity. While well intended, the efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and faith base mission groups have often perpetuated dynamics of dependency that ultimately violate the dignity and best interests of the Haitian people. The CS Art Center and the Haiti Creates brand, owned and run by Haitian citizens, represents a model of international partnership that we believe is more respectful of the long term well-being of the people of Haiti.