During the spring break of 2008 the Inter-University Institute for Research and Development (INURED) hosted a group of University of Miami students on the island of Hispaniola. The trip was a continuation of a course studying Haiti and the Dominican Republic, bringing text readings and class discussions to the experience of life on the ground.

The most powerful experience that INURED enabled during the trip was a series of meetings between us (UMiami students), Haitian University students, and youth community leaders in Cite Soleil. As we learned and discussed with these leaders about their lives in Cite Soleil, we realized a need for greater connectivity and collaboration between the diversity of youth that our group represented. The serious challenges and injustices we were (and are) dealing with remain fundamentally human problems. Towards overcoming distortions of nationality, race, class, and color—distinctions that have been so deeply involved in creating our problems—we all saw the need for meaningful cultural exchanges and communication among youth.

We resolved to continue this spirit by working to establish a network of youth-to-youth community centers beginning in Cite Soleil. These spaces were envisioned to serve the immediate needs of local youth (building local capacities by empowering them to educational, vocational, and cultural opportunities) and as meeting points of interaction and exchange across borders—whether gang territories or national boundaries. And in collaboration with local community leaders we successfully founded one such prototype center. We were in the process of expanding the reach of the network as a project for the upcoming Clinton Global Initiative. In fact, the day of the earthquake our youth-to-youth initiative, called Soley Ini, had been meeting and organizing with local youth leaders in Cite Soleil to establish two more community centers.

This cooperative spirit emanated from our hosting institution: the Inter-University Institute for Research and Development (INURED). INURED is a unique center for policy development and community-based research. The Inter-University Institute was formed in 2007 after years of working with the Haitian government, the United Nations Haitian Stabilization Force, Ambassadors from Canada, the United States and Brazil, and scholars from thirty five (35) universities and research institutions across the Americas: in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Canada, France, Chile, Argentina, Cuba, and the United States (including the University of Miami, University of South Carolina, New School for Social Research, Social Science Research Council, and Florida International University among others). Through its institutional partnership with these universities, the Institute conducts ongoing field research on issues as diverse as water distribution and sanitation, gang violence and prevention, evaluation of international aid projects, and national education policies. This research is often undertaken with community members and shared extensively throughout the international aid and NGO community in Haiti.

INURED has achieved rare distinction amongst UN officials, aid workers and communities for its active engagement with poor communities. Its efforts have catalyzed transformations in sprawling slums settlements like Cite Soleil (350,000 residents) and Martissant—plagued by years of violence and neglect—into neighborhoods of peaceful yet politically engaged communities. Building on this progress, the Institute has facilitated a network of burgeoning Community Forums, the youth-to-youth initiative, and international scholarships that have allowed residents of Cite Soleil, despite ongoing violence and deprivation, to develop policy perspective and training, attend prestigious academic institutions, and build institutional networks. These activities are enabling Haiti’s best and brightest to actively engage in their own community development.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Inter-University Institute’s roots as a participatory research center have made it a vital component for Haiti’s recovery strategy. As Haiti transitions from the immediate relief to long-term recovery and development, the Institute’s incisive research in collaboration with its network of Community Forums are enabling the Haitian government, the UN, and US institutions to better execute recovery and aid on the ground. By connecting its community networks and local relationships in partnerships with government and international agencies, the Institute has already significantly increased relief coordination to neglected areas like Cite Soleil. Moving forward the challenges we face are immense and manifold. But the Institute offers a model and great potential for channeling international expertise in energy, the environment, housing, health, and education in partnership with local capacities to help rebuild in the months and years ahead.

Already INURED has generated research with rapid assessments evaluating the community experiences and international responses after the earthquake. Of particular significance has been the evaluation of higher education in the aftermath. A huge portion of young people studying to be Haiti’s future leaders were buried and killed in collapsed schools and universities. Many surviving students are now left in limbo unable to develop their talents necessary to rebuild and determine Haiti’s future. The magnitude of the loss to Haiti’s rising generation cannot be overemphasized as discussed in a recent New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/world/americas/14schools.html?ref=americas).

The destruction and loss has rendered the youth-to-youth initiative much more urgent. More so the international community has traditionally neglected the importance of developing institutions of higher learning within Haiti. Investing in developing local brainpower and intellectual capacities is essential for Haiti to grow and prosper out of this tragedy. Without a systematic investment in a new framework of academic institutions, Haiti will only be rebuilt as a human disaster. Moving forward the youth-to-youth project is dedicated to building the network of community centers and helping to empower local youths. Already INURED has attained 10 scholarships for students in Cite Soleil to study with the Institute’s partner Universities in Brazil. And almost all of the local youth partners have survived the devastation.

Please see INURED’s website at www.inured.org

The Soley Ini group is on facebook and can be reached at soleyuniproject@gmail.com for anyone interested in getting involved or partnering with us.