In Haiti, civil society organizations (CSOs) serve as both service providers and advocates. Those that focus on service provision are often faith-based organizations or Haitian CSOs established by diaspora organizations. These CSOs aim to fill the void left by local and central governments in the provision of services by actively fostering political participation among the general population, combating corruption, and formulating public policy. However, despite their extraordinary efforts to date, these organizations have been unable to meet the demand for basic services. Furthermore, the ability of Haitian CSOs to improve access, coverage, quality, and efficiency in partnership with central and local governments remains a challenge. Due partly to core institutional capacity gaps, Haitian service CSOs still face major challenges in providing services to people that the government cannot reach.
To date, millions of Haitian households remain without access to reliable and steady sources of electricity, food, clean water and sewerage, health care, and basic education. Local CSOs continue to advocate for the rights of the most vulnerable Haitians whom the government has been unable to reach. However, CSOs’intervention has been severely hampered by their lack of organizational capacity.
Therefore, USAID intends for the Civil Society Strengthening Program (CSSP) to provide CSO partners with the relevant organizational support to help them be more efficient in serving their communities. CSSP was developed to strengthen the capacity of Haitian civil society organizations, including faith-based organizations and diaspora groups, so that they can develop, implement, and monitor their advocacy and service-delivery activities to the highest quality standards.