World Teachers’ Day: With Support From FFTP and Taiwan, P4H Global Elevates Teacher Training in Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 5, 2023) – For the second consecutive year, the P4H Global Quality Education Initiative, supported by Food For The Poor (FFTP) and Taiwan, is garnering international attention during the UNESCO World Teachers’ Day celebration in Paris. Last year, P4H Global received the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development, and today, representatives are again in Paris to share insights on the impact of their work.
Introduced by UNESCO in 1994, World Teachers’ Day is celebrated annually on Oct. 5 and kicks off a conference addressing issues impacting teachers worldwide. In 2022, UNESCO’s international jury praised P4H for promoting creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, and collaboration among students, directors, and the community.
This year, a member of the program’s training staff will participate in a panel discussion to explore how teaching prizes may contribute to solving global teacher shortages.
“We are incredibly happy to be invited back,” said Bertrhude Albert, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of P4H Global. “And we are proud of what P4H has accomplished in Haiti.”
The P4H Quality Education Initiative is a three-year pilot program to empower teachers and school leaders in developing classroom environments that support student success. It began in 2020 with a diagnostic review, followed by intensive teacher training, classroom observation and monthly remote check-ins with their trainers. In addition, school directors receive training, and the program encourages parental and community involvement in each school.
P4H is working in 38 schools, training 482 teachers and impacting 7,151 students and 6,136 parents throughout northern Haiti. Currently, P4H continues to provide support through online virtual servers and monthly phone calls.
“During the three years of our partnership with P4H, we have seen improvement in the interaction with teachers, students, and directors of the schools in the program,” FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said. “Our goal is to help families overcome generational poverty, and education is essential in our efforts to develop sustainable programs that will help us achieve that goal.”
Earlier this year, FFTP partnered with Taiwan through its International Cooperation Development Fund in support of the program.
Quality education is crucial in Haiti, where the World Bank reports that 80 percent of educators lack adequate training, and 25 percent do not study beyond secondary school. Students also struggle, with 60 percent dropping out before finishing primary school and only 1 percent of those between ages 18 and 24 going to college.
Haiti also continues to struggle in the aftermath of the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, the lingering devastation of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace in August 2021, violent criminal gang activity, soaring inflation, and a severe hunger crisis. Although northern Haiti remained stable and relatively safe compared to other parts of the country, gas shortages, high fuel prices, and erratic school schedules due to rising insecurity were problems the program had to overcome.
“There were a lot of challenges that came our way, but the results of the program have been really positive,” P4H COO/Co-Founder Priscilla Zelaya, Ph.D., said. “Looking back on all that we have accomplished, the team is very proud. It’s been an amazing experience.”
Teachers also praise P4H and its trainers for their help and support.
“Before the training, I had big problems to manage all the children in my classroom, it was always ups and downs, with them,” said Jésula Antoine, a teacher at Institution Chrétienne Néhémie de Paloma in Paloma, Haiti. “With all the wonderful strategies you have shared with us on how to manage the classroom, I can say that it has brought much benefit to my work. These strategies allow me to manage my classroom better now and get better results with students.”
In addition to teacher training, the project supports women educators through development and empowerment in the classroom to help them become more confident and self-sufficient in their daily lives. It also helps girls, who are often pulled out of school to work at home, by showing parents that their daughters can succeed academically and that getting an education can put them on a path to a brighter future.
Student climate surveys at each school indicate that the program is working in that area, among others. Approximately 70 percent of students agreed that boys and girls are treated equally at school.
“Ideally, it would be 100 percent,” Albert said. “But that is a notable response, compared to what we see historically in Haiti, which is that boys are given preferred treatment over girls.”
P4H team members conducted the surveys face to face with a random selection of students from the second to sixth grades at each school. Created by the Gates Foundation, the surveys covered various topics, such as student-perceived safety, student-perceived teacher effectiveness and their perceived enjoyment of school.
“The students are very honest,” Zelaya said. “We asked questions about specific things with their teachers, and they were very blunt. They gave good, constructive feedback for the school.”
In addition, the P4H Global team helped establish School Councils now operating at 25 of the 38 schools, with plans to expand to others. Each school council is made up of parents, teachers, students, and a notable community member. Parent committees are also being developed to foster more community involvement.
“They’re a sustainable aspect of the program,” Zelaya said of the councils and committees. “The focus is identifying needs at each school and creating solutions to address those needs. We encourage them to think about ways they can work together with the community around them to accomplish projects without having to depend on outside help.”
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Ernestine Williams
Communications
305-321-7342
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