At a recent gathering called Communities of Hope: Advancing Human Dignity and Development for Sustainable Futures at the United Nations Plaza, Sister Limétèze Pierre-Gilles, Assistant Director of Engagement for Beyond Borders, shared how community-led movements are advancing human dignity and sustainable development in Haiti.
Her address highlights the vital importance of walking alongside local movement leaders to tackle interconnected challenges—from child protection and gender equality to poverty alleviation.
Read the full transcript below to learn how citizen-led action and authentic community ownership are building lasting hope and driving progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals:
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for this opportunity to share about Beyond Borders’ work in Haiti.
Wòch nan dlo pa konnen doulè wòch nan solèy is a Haitian proverb that inspires the work of Beyond Borders.
The stone in the water does not know the suffering of the stone in the sun. This proverb illustrates that those who live the realities of injustice possess knowledge, credibility, and leadership that cannot be replicated from a distance.
This belief is foundational to Beyond Borders’ work. Beyond Borders offers not a single program, but rather a holistic framework supporting four interconnected, community-led movements.
Through 33 years of walking alongside Haitian communities and learning from local movement leaders, some core principles have emerged that we believe offer a meaningful path forward for the wider development community:
- First, strategies must be fully inclusive and genuinely citizen-led.
- Second, interventions must be as interconnected as the problems themselves.
- Third, we must commit to the long course of implementation. Injustices that took centuries to construct cannot be dismantled in a single season.
- Fourth, an inclusive, relational, and culturally appropriate approach is non-negotiable. Lasting change requires trust built from within—through Haitian language, culture, and community traditions like konbit, the Haitian tradition of communal labor, and the lakou, Haiti’s multi-generational system of shared protection and mutual aid.
- Finally, the goal must always be fostering collective agency, self-determination, and authentic community ownership—not holding power or creating dependency.
We see promising evidence of what is possible when these principles are put into practice, directly aligning with our shared global goals. Approaches like our 24-month Family Graduation Model directly advance Sustainable Development Goals 1 (No Poverty) and 2 (Zero Hunger) by showing that, when those facing extreme poverty are accompanied and supported with housing, productive assets, and a social safety net, the economic desperation that drives child servitude begins to lift.
Child Protection Brigades and Survivor Groups have organically evolved into neighborhood safety nets—supporting children to escape servitude and reunite with families where they are loved and educated. As these local groups connect with others across the country, their advocacy strengthens child protection systems and influences policy from the grassroots upward—advancing Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions): ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and violence against children (Target 16.2) while building effective, accountable institutions (Target 16.6).
Under Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality), community activists and movement leaders use evidence-based methodologies to engage all sectors of local society to challenge harmful norms, reduce intimate partner violence, and create communities where women and girls live free from violence and are embraced as leaders.
Even as this progress is taking place, this work is unfolding in one of the world's most challenging environments, where driving factors are continuously evolving. In Haiti today, political instability and gang violence have created unprecedented insecurity and displacement within the country. Gangs are using systematic, weaponized sexual violence against women and girls, while children represent an estimated 30–50% of gang involvement—trafficked and exploited through forced labor, armed conflict, domestic servitude, and sexual violence.
Displaced families fleeing violence have lost livelihoods, housing, and support networks. Climate-related shocks, deepening food insecurity, and rising costs of basicgoods and transportation are intensifying pressures. Meanwhile, reduced international funding leaves local staff responding to the growing community needs with fewer resources.
Compounding this is the threat of mass deportations of hundreds of thousands of Haitian nationals from the United States due to the termination of Temporary Protected Status (Also known as TPS).
Global efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals in complex environments like Haiti must move beyond siloed, externally designed approaches that overlook interconnected root causes and community strengths. Funding structures must shift from short-term responses toward sustained investments that recognize communities not as passive recipients of aid, but as leaders of their own development.
Since 1804, Haiti has stood as a defiant beacon, its history forged by an unwavering spirit of self-liberation. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in this complex landscape calls us to honor that living legacy—not by creating solutions for communities, but by standing alongside the movements already building them.
I invite you to learn more about Beyond Borders’ work by visiting our website or reaching out to us.
Thank you very much. Mèsi anpil.
(Limeteze Pierre-Gilles, Assistant Director of Engagement, Beyond Borders July 10, 2026, 10th Floor, Church Center, 777 United Nations Plaza)