Ensuring Justice and Reparations for Displaced Farmers in Haiti

Alyssa Epstein (’21) and Tara Ohrtman (’21) continued, in partnership with Accountability Counsel, to monitor and advance the outcomes of an historic settlement agreement negotiated with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the Haitian Government on behalf of Haitian farmers displaced by an industrial park built with funding from the IADB. The ultimate goal is to ensure implementation of that agreement and the restoration of the livelihoods of this entire community. The students designed surveys aimed at eliciting the community’s baseline economic conditions, to be administered in person as well as through an automated phone survey, and then analyzed the data gathered with an eye towards realizing improvements in implementation. This project has continued from Spring 2019 when Rob La Croix (’20) reported on the delayed and unsatisfactory implementation of this agreement.