Aug 2021 – Fonkoze’s CLM (Chemen Lavi Miyò or Pathway to a Better Life) program has empowered thousands of rural women living in the most extreme poverty (ultra-poverty) with the life skills tools, training and close accompaniment needed to break the cycle of poverty and plan for a better future. The program has recently added a youth-focused element that will equip children of CLM participants with skills and opportunities that will enable them to have a better chance at thriving in life. In 2020, over 1,800 families joined CLM, and the graduation rate of those who had reached the end of their 18-month term was 94.7%.
From its inception in 1994, Fonkoze has focused much of its work on empowering rural women, one of the most marginalized groups in Haiti. Throughout the country, women in rural areas continue to lag behind their male and urban counterparts in all development indicators. Enabling rural women to improve their financial literacy is one of the most powerful ways Fonkoze is keeping them “out of the dark” and informed as they work to take control of their lives and ultimately break the cycle of poverty.
