Fonkoze welcomed members of the diaspora and supporters for a live, recorded update meeting on Haiti, Fonkoze’s work, and programs.
Event Information:
This event was recorded live on April 18. 2024
Speakers:
Dr. Erlantz Hyppolite, Executive Director of Fonkoze USA, and Carine Roenen, Executive Director of the Fonkoze Foundation, will provide updates to the group followed by an opportunity for participants to ask questions.
About the Speakers:
Dr. Erlantz Hyppolite is a Executive Director of Fonkoze USA. He brings 10 years of management and technical experience leading local to national interventions and strategies in Haiti, in education, the arts, and health, most recently with the Artist’s Institute. Erlantz is a passionate cross-cultural communicator and advocate for Haitian culture, and he is fluent in French, Kreyol, and English. Dr. Hyppolite started his career as a Public Health expert in the Artibonite Valley working in primary health care, reproductive health, maternal and child health, nutrition and HIV/TB. Later he worked on case-based health surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation at a national level. He is a great-great-grandson of Florvil Hyppolite, Haitian president in the late 1800s, to whom he bears a strong resemblance. He lived in Haiti until mid-2020, and keeps strong connections to the country. Erlantz currently lives in Maryland with his wife and 2 children.
Carine Roenen is the Executive Director of the Fonkoze Foundation in Haiti. She started working with the foundation in 2005 as a board member, and became the executive director in November 2009. Carine works with the Foundation’s 12 person leadership team to achieve the Foundation’s mission in the Fonkoze family, which is to be a partner that mobilizes resources and provides the tools needed by individuals and organizations in Haiti to create wealth locally for the sustainable well-being of their families and communities
Rachel Pierre-Champagne serves as the Director of the Human Capacity Development Program at Fondasyon Kolè Zepol (Fonkoze), delivering digital adult education courses for Haiti’s ultra-poor and leads Boujonnen Lavi, a USAID project aiding earthquake-affected households. For over a decade, Rachel has excelled in international development, focusing on community empowerment, education, and workforce development. She is also the Founder of Innovators for Change (IFC), driving for transformative initiatives in Haiti. Rachel previously led projects at the Digicel Foundation, fostering sustainability in education and community projects, and worked with non-profits like Making Cents International and BRAC International. Actively involved, she chairs Special Olympics Haiti and holds degrees from Columbia University and Wheaton College, and is currently working in Haiti.
Steven Werlin is the CLM program’s Communications and Learning Officer. Originally a college instructor, he started spending time in Haiti in 1997 to work with adult literacy programs. He began advising Fonkoze’s literacy programs in 2005, and he joined the institution full-time in 2009. Since 2010, he has been working for the CLM program. He publishes stories of the women he works with in his blog.
Thank you to our supporters and partners who attended. We appreciate your engagement.
