KANPE, which means “to stand up” in Haitian Creole, is a foundation that supports Haiti’s most underserved communities on their path to autonomy through six pillars: access to healthcare, agroforestry, education, leadership, entrepreneurship, and local infrastructure strengthening. They work with the best local Haitian experts, and organizations to help these communities achieve their goals.

KANPE’s Work in Baille Tourible

KANPE is active in the remote highlands of Haiti’s Central Plateau. The area is known for its mountainous terrain and geographic isolation, and it is home to an underserved and vulnerable community — 98% of whom are subsistence farmers. With limited access to transportation and municipal services, locals have to walk sometimes for as long as six hours along steep mountain trails to reach the nearest city.

Until the 1980s, Baille Tourible had a strong vegetation cover, but today, more than half of the territory faces deforestation. Using charcoal for energy needs has put great pressure on the vegetation cover. Lack of support to find alternative sources of energy, insufficient access to resources, and vulnerability to climate change have accelerated deforestation and extreme poverty due to the decline in agricultural production caused by soil erosion and desertification.

The consequences manifest in a vicious cycle of environmental degradation, food insecurity, and impoverishment. Environmental damage has made the population more vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. It also continues to place excessive pressure on natural resources as the terrain cannot meet the agricultural production needs of the population, leading to weak economic opportunities for the population of Baille Tourible.

How Age of Union Is Helping

In 2021, Age of Union started a 5-year partnership with KANPE on an agroforestry initiative to produce and plant over 25,000 fruit and forest trees per year and support the activities of the experimental farm in Baille Tourible.

This project will help improve tree coverage in the community with the aim of benefiting the environment, increasing agricultural output, and promoting economic empowerment.