The stay in Haiti began with a preparatory meeting of the agenda, which had the participation of Nadine Perrault, from UNICEF TACRO; Vanel Benjamin, Pierre Diem and Jean Louis Rooselvet, from the IBESR (the state agency for the protection of children); Georges Revoulus and Jules Hans de Beauvoir, from UNICEF Haiti.

The next day, Matilde Luna and Daniel Moreira visited two children's homes, accompanied by representatives of the local office of UNICEF (Patricia Landinez and George Revoulus) and the IBESR (Pierre Diem and Vanel Benjamin). The centres visited were an SOS Village and Amer Haitien. The first of them maintains the traditional model of Children's Villages, in which there is a large number of houses and a woman in charge of a group of children. In addition, there is a school attended by the children of the village and others in the community. The second, linked to religious organisations from the United States, works exclusively with children from ages 3 to 14. Up to this age, girls attend the school which is located within the Home.

The same day in the afternoon, in the Conference Room of the Minister of Social Action and Work, there was a workshop with children and adolescents to validate the translation of the Child friendly version of the Guidelines in French and to apply it. The workshop, led by RELAF, IBESR and UNICEF, was in top participation mode, with playful techniques contributed by Geslet Bordes of UNICEF. Children between the ages of 8 and 10 years and a group of adolescents participated. Each group worked with different techniques and all material was observed with great dedication and interest. A plenary was held where the participants shared their views and concerns.

Besides, the adults responsible for the care of the children participated in the validation workshops. Divided into two groups- one in the morning and one in the afternoon- the participants worked with presentation techniques also in charge of Geslet Bordes; and then the representatives of UNICEF made an exposition about RELAF's work and about the Guidelines and their Friendly Versions. In that sphere, they spoke about the situation of institutionalized children and exchanged views on the friendly versions.

Another notable event was the seminar "The Rights of the Children without Parental Protection" organised by IBESR and UNICEF which had the presence of representatives from official bodies and civil society entities linked to childhood. With the situation in Haiti as a central axis, the issues addressed included the situation of institutionalised children and the actions that the country intends to realise with priority. Matilde Luna, RELAF's Project Leader, presented a report on the Latin American context, in which the problems that lead to the deprivation of parental care were contextualised, and strategies for the region were discussed, presenting the joint initiatives of UNICEF and RELAF to end the serious situations described.

In a workshop with members of civil society organisations, with officials from the agency for childhood and others in the government and with the specialists from UNICEF, the most pressing problems of institutionalised children in Haiti were identified and discussed, keeping in mind the six axes of work strategies that should be initiated to adapt to the practices to the principles of the rights of the child in that country.

For more information, download the June RELAF bulletin, dedicated especially to Haiti