Fonkoze-Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM)
Extreme poverty in Haiti
Fonkoze’s Chemin Lavi Miyo (CLM) project is designed as an intervention to tackle extreme poverty in Haiti. A web of interlocking constraints such as political instability, extreme isolation, degradation of natural capital, poor infrastructure, unemployment, rising population, etc create a situation where 75% of Haiti’s population live below the US2$ per day poverty line, and 49% living in extreme poverty (below US$1 per day). In other words, 4 million people out of Haiti’s population of 8 million can be categorized as extremely poor, with the vast majority living in rural areas (World Bank, 2006).
In the face of little to no existing social safety nets, rural communities in Haiti are resilient and adapt coping mechanisms to the myriad of constraints that plague them. However, these are often not sustainable as they lead to household and environmental asset depletion. As in most fragile states, the extreme poor in Haiti face increasing inequality, social marginalization, and lack of sustainable livelihood options. This is now reinforced by a tremendous global increase in food prices.
Poverty in Haiti is characterized by livelihood insecurity, vulnerability and an absence of social safety nets. Rather than being chronically poor through generations, extreme poverty mostly results from a serious shock (most often related to illness or death), with families being forced them sell off assets or accumulate significant debt.
Concept of CLM
In response to this complex set of deprivations, Fonkoze (with the technical assistance of Concern Worldwide and financing from Concern Worldwide and CGAP) initiated a multipronged livelihoods protection and promotion scheme designed to provide extremely poor women in rural Haiti with assets for entrepreneurial use, enterprise training, health services, housing support, a consumption stipend, social links with village elites, facilitated by the close support of a CLM case-manager.
CLM is a replication of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee’s (BRAC’s) Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP) program. Its ingenuity is that in it provides a safety net and promotes improved livelihoods, and provides a means for future support. After 18 months of programmatic support, participants will have an established savings base, be ready to integrate into Fonkoze’s microfinance stream (as savers and/or borrowers) and support themselves via an income-generating scheme (promotional) (See Figure 1)
The purpose of CLM is to strengthen the productive assets and asset management skills of the extreme poor so they can graduate into one of two paths which will assure continuing and sustainable progress out of poverty:
• Join Ti Kredi, the small loan program that is the next step up from CLM in Fonkoze’s tiered strategy
• Use their savings and existing assets to grow and diversify their capital base The aim, therefore, is not to move CLM members out of poverty in 18 months, but bring them to the stage that they can successfully graduate to the next level (see Figure 2).
Simanowitz, Anton and Huda, Karishma. CHEMIN LEVI MIYO – MIDTERM EVALUATION. 2008, pages 4-5.
Fonkoze’s Chemin Lavi Miyo (CLM) project is designed as an intervention to tackle extreme poverty in Haiti. A web of interlocking constraints such as political instability, extreme isolation, degradation of natural capital, poor infrastructure, unemployment, rising population, etc create a situation where 75% of Haiti’s population live below the US2$ per day poverty line, and 49% living in extreme poverty (below US$1 per day). In other words, 4 million people out of Haiti’s population of 8 million can be categorized as extremely poor, with the vast majority living in rural areas (World Bank, 2006).
In the face of little to no existing social safety nets, rural communities in Haiti are resilient and adapt coping mechanisms to the myriad of constraints that plague them. However, these are often not sustainable as they lead to household and environmental asset depletion. As in most fragile states, the extreme poor in Haiti face increasing inequality, social marginalization, and lack of sustainable livelihood options. This is now reinforced by a tremendous global increase in food prices.
Poverty in Haiti is characterized by livelihood insecurity, vulnerability and an absence of social safety nets. Rather than being chronically poor through generations, extreme poverty mostly results from a serious shock (most often related to illness or death), with families being forced them sell off assets or accumulate significant debt.
Concept of CLM
In response to this complex set of deprivations, Fonkoze (with the technical assistance of Concern Worldwide and financing from Concern Worldwide and CGAP) initiated a multipronged livelihoods protection and promotion scheme designed to provide extremely poor women in rural Haiti with assets for entrepreneurial use, enterprise training, health services, housing support, a consumption stipend, social links with village elites, facilitated by the close support of a CLM case-manager.
CLM is a replication of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee’s (BRAC’s) Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP) program. Its ingenuity is that in it provides a safety net and promotes improved livelihoods, and provides a means for future support. After 18 months of programmatic support, participants will have an established savings base, be ready to integrate into Fonkoze’s microfinance stream (as savers and/or borrowers) and support themselves via an income-generating scheme (promotional) (See Figure 1)
The purpose of CLM is to strengthen the productive assets and asset management skills of the extreme poor so they can graduate into one of two paths which will assure continuing and sustainable progress out of poverty:
• Join Ti Kredi, the small loan program that is the next step up from CLM in Fonkoze’s tiered strategy
• Use their savings and existing assets to grow and diversify their capital base The aim, therefore, is not to move CLM members out of poverty in 18 months, but bring them to the stage that they can successfully graduate to the next level (see Figure 2).
Simanowitz, Anton and Huda, Karishma. CHEMIN LEVI MIYO – MIDTERM EVALUATION. 2008, pages 4-5.
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