Opportunity For All

Opportunity for All works with buildOn to construct schools in Haiti. We built our first school there in late 2010 and a second school in 2011. BuildOn launched its School Construction Program in Haiti in 2001 and has built 54 schools to date in the country’s Central Plateau and Les Cayes regions.

The devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010 brought business as usual in Haiti to a halt. BuildOn Haiti staff became first responders in a 10,000-person tent city in the residential neighborhood of Carrefour. In the days and weeks immediately following the disaster, buildOn Haiti staff started and operated a first-aid clinic staffed by local doctors and nurses that provided medical assistance, food, and water to the victims of the earthquake.

The UN’s Human Development Index ranks Haiti as the poorest country in the western hemisphere. 77% of the population lives below the poverty line of US $1.25 a day. buildOn has built 54 schools in Haiti since 2001 that are steadily improving opportunities for those living in rural areas. During the disastrous earthquake of 2010, many of these schools were used as shelters.

According to a UNICEF study almost half of all primary school-age children in Haiti do not attend school, and Haitian public schools have the capacity to serve only one quarter of the school-age population.