Haïti-Cosmos website >>

Following the earthquake, our project to build a university in Hinche (pdf, 721KB) >>

In addition to the Sudan, which represents 80% of its allocated resources, ASASE has been present in Haiti for 14 years, through the association Haiti-Cosmos. 85% of the yearly budgets of Haïti-Cosmos development programs are funded by ASASE.

Haiti-Cosmos

Founded in 1993 in Geneva and presided by Mrs Françoise Aebi, Haiti Cosmos is supported by many municipalities in the canton of Geneva and by a known Foundation.
Its Vice-President, Jean-Claude Francois, is its inspirational leader. Haitian-born, he divides his time between Geneva and the plateau of Hinche in Haiti (130 km north of the capital), where all the development programs of Haiti-Cosmos are located.
A hundred people are currently employed by the association in Haiti, which means that about a thousand are living upon its activities.

The context in a few figures
80% of the Haitian population is living below the poverty line. The unemployment rate is around 70%. The average wage is 66 cents per day.
Two-thirds of Haitians depend on agriculture, mostly subsistence farming on a small scale, all the more vulnerable to frequent natural disasters (storms, hurricanes, earthquakes), that the Haitian side of the island has undergone a systematic deforestation over the last three centuries.
The country is overburden with a debt of 620 million euros. A ruined and corrupted state is dependent on international aid and the financial support of its emigrants.
Infrastructure is virtually nonexistent. 70% of Haitians lack access to sanitation, 50% to clean water.
46% of the population is under 18; only one child out of six goes to school. Education represents only 8% of the state expenses.
In Port-au-Prince, the slum Cité Soleil is one of the most dangerous places on earth.
In 2010, the earthquake made 230 000 deaths, 300 000 injured and one million displaced, leaving some 1,5 million people homeless (one out of six inhabitants).

The ongoing programs

1) A primary school in Céramond
Founded in 2003 in a church that was rebuilt after a hurricane, the school has 300 pupils aged 5 to 15 years. Some of them live two hours away. The school provides them with a daily hot meal.
Administrative procedures are undertaken for the recognition of this rural school by the authorities.

2) A technical school, Polytec
Founded in September 1995, Polytec offers courses in Accounting, Business Management and Agriculture. The curriculum lasts two or three years, according to the requirements of the course. The total number of students is about a hundred each year.
In total, nearly a hundred people have already graduated from this school. Two former students were awarded scholarships to continue their studies in the United States and Canada; two others became teachers in the school.

3) A Phyto-therapy laboratory
In 2001, the association has created a garden of medicinal plants. This nursery has 120 species of plants, from which about forty have been scientifically studied: non-toxic and easily cultivated, they do help treat common ailments in the region.
After a serious training and monitoring provided by a team of Pharmacists from Geneva’s University and Hospital, the Haitian technicians now actually produce a dozen drugs to treat influenza, gastritis, malaria, fungal infections, wounds, diarrhea, blood pressure problems, female infections, cough...
Pharmacies from the Central Plateau are interested in our products and do place orders.

4) 27 dispensaries
These clinics employ some 56 persons (including two doctors and 27 health assistants) and provide health care to a million people in the Central Plateau. Since 2007, they distribute the drugs produced by the laboratory.
The patients who can afford it pay their treatment the equivalent of CHF 1.50.
The people appreciate our medicines, which are more effective and cheaper than traditional ones.