"Men anpil chay pa lou" (many hands make the load light)
- Haitian proverb
2015 was our founding year, and we’ve come a long way in a short time. Our team had fun (and found it therapeutic!) to compile a list of our biggest wins from 2015 and our goals and resolutions for the new year.
In 2015:
- Summits began managing a network of 41 primary schools in the Central Plateau powered by 426 teachers, administrators and staff serving nearly 10,000 students
- We provided two professional development workshops for the teachers and administrators in our network
- We secured 21 acres of land and finalized architectural plans for Summits Academy
- We forged partnerships with an array of remarkable organizations: Build Health International, Digicel Foundation, Zanmi Lasante, Anseye Pou Ayiti, University of Notre Dame
- Summits became the official education partner of Partners in Health in Haiti
- We partnered with the Haitian Ministry of Education to ensure that our programs are sustainable and in alignment with national priorities
- We received our first ever donations (THANK YOU!) and we assembled a talented team in Boston and Haiti to make our vision a reality
In 2016, we will:
- Officially launch Summits Education -- expect regular communications, opportunities to engage with and support our work, and ramped up impact from Summits
- Bring together our coalition of partners to create a collaborative model school district in the Central Plateau
- Provide consistent compensation, support and ongoing professional development for the teachers and administrators in Summits Primary Network
- Begin construction on Summits Academy
- Climb the highest peak in Haiti (can’t you just feel your quads burning?)
- Learn Kreyol (well, those of us based in Boston)
- Partner with an organization specializing in canteens to provide nutritious meals for the students in the Summits Primary Network
- Conduct baseline research to determine student and teacher performance levels to enable strong evaluation practices and data driven interventions
- Make several KEY hires to our team (keep an eye on http://www.summits.org/jobs/)
- Eat more KALE
- Grow a community of champions and partners powering our work, and provide them with fun, fulfilling opportunities to support our students and teachers
- Find partner organizations and funders to rebuild the 20 schools in our network that are in need of new infrastructure
- Laugh, a lot.
- Raise funds to supply new textbooks for the 21 schools in our network currently using out of date materials
- Spend a day at the beach. Maybe a few.
Cheers to the New Year!