American Institutes for Research’s Clinton Global Initiative Commitments Benefit Children in Haiti Affected by the January 2010 Earthquake
Washington, D.C. – The American Institutes for Research (AIR), as part of its commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to help Haiti’s education system, has responded to the devastating January 2010 earthquake by assembling emergency classrooms and providing special training for teachers to help them cope with the lingering effects of the disaster.
AIR will participate in the CGI Exchange and Haiti Action Network during CGI’s annual meeting, to be held September 20-23, 2010, at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in New York City, New York.
Working in partnership with Haiti’s Ministry of Education and Professional Training (MENFP), AIR has assembled temporary schools and classrooms, improved school hygiene facilities, distributed school materials, and provided training and psychosocial support for teachers and school directors.
As of September 2010, AIR has delivered improved educational services to Haiti in the following ways:
- At least 322 emergency classrooms have been assembled.
- More than 25,000 students have been able to resume their education.
- A total of 733 teachers and school directors have received special training so they can return to work.
AIR has also compiled a directory that identifies Haitian organizations that support primary and secondary education and school-based health activities in the country. The directory has made it easier to identify organizations working to provide education assistance in Haiti.
The directory, Supporting Education in Haiti: A Directory of Civil Service Organizations Working in the Education Sector in Haiti, has been updated to reflect changes following the earthquake. It provides information about organizational functionality, an organization’s education activities, contact and staffing information and an update on each organization’s post-earthquake education activities. The directory is available on the AIR website.
The majority of AIR’s activities in Haiti are funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Programme Haïtien d’Appui à la Réforme de l’Education (PHARE) provides technical assistance and training to strengthen the capacity of MENFP to prepare teachers and help increase the access of Haitian youth to quality basic education.
AIR also continues to support the Secretariat of Deworm the World. Deworm the World has shipped over 88 million doses of deworming drugs to school children in 26 developing nations around the world, and is well on its way to reaching its three year targets.
The Clinton Global Initiative, created by the William J. Clinton Foundation, provides global leaders the opportunity to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges. The action-oriented mission of CGI relies on its members to develop specific and measurable Commitments to Action to channel the capacities of individuals and organizations to realize change.
About AIR
Established in 1946, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education and workforce productivity. For more information, visit www.air.org.
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