This report details the findings of their research, gives an overview of the Project Einstein curriculum adapted for Haiti and provides recommendations for how training young people will be a critical aspect of reconstruction, providing 21st century skills and an infrastructure of empowerment by monitoring aid and corruption.

Project Einstein Haiti

The project on the ground was led by two students at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Joshua Haynes and Chrissy Martin. Chrissy had this to say about her experiences:

Project Einstein Haiti developed out of a serendipitous meeting in New York with Mark.  I was leaving for Haiti in a few days to conduct research with youth on their attitudes towards finance.  Despite experience working on and researching financial inclusion and mobile technology, I didn’t know much working with youth.  As a result, I reached out to Digital Democracy, aware of their work with youth and digital photography.

I walked away from the meeting with a research methodology, four digital cameras, and the nicest phone I’ve ever used: a Nokia N97.  The Project Einstein methodology was an ideal way to accomplish my goal of understanding the youth attitude towards finance in an engaging and fun manner that would be rewarding for the participants as well as the researchers.

The two days that Josh and I spent with the twelve high school students in Gros Monde were extremely rewarding.  We spent time discussing the power of photography to tell stories, as well as time discussing how difficult it is to earn money in their community. I was extremely impressed by their enthusiasm and the ease at which they engaged with a technology that they had never used before.

I could not be more thankful that I had the opportunity to work closely with this group of Haitians before their country was destroyed just three days later.  A few pictures survived, although I regret that their photographs did not.  I can only hope that they will again have an opportunity to tell their story through digital tools that will allow the rest of the world to hear.

Because of tools such as photography, Twitter, Facebook, and SMS, Haitians have been able to contribute to the international coverage of their own crisis in a way that would not have been possible just a few years ago.  Mainstream media sources including CNN and CBS News have relied on these alternative sources for aspects of their coverage, giving voice to locals rather than relying solely on international journalists. In addition, new tools such as Ushahidi allowed international organizations to plan their response based on near real-time mapping of reports from Haitians through a wide variety of media sources. Amidst the devastation, I find hope in the possibility of leveraging these technologies to give Haitians a voice in their own reconstruction as well.

For more information about our work, please download the following report:

Digital Democracy Haiti Report 2010

In early January 2010 we partnered with Tufts University’s Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) to conduct research and a photography training with young adults in Haiti. Researchers Chrissy Martin and Joshua Haynes, using the Project Einstein curriculum, worked with young adults ages 18-24 to explore – through the use of digital photography – how these youth view money and finance in their society.

Several days after the completion of this training a devastating Earthquake shook the country. In this episode of DdTv, Chrissy discusses her experiences being in the Earthquake, witnessing first-hand the toll it took on the country and its people, and her reflections on the photo training that took place only 3 days prior. In addition, the emergency response through the use of Ushahidi, spearheaded by Chrissy and Josh’s classmates at the Fletcher School and our Co-Directors Mark and Emily, which helped get critical updates including information about missing persons, locations of danger zones and available aid to groups working on the ground.

In South Africa many people own multiple phones to be used for different purposes.

Dd is partners with a research team  from The Fletcher School at Tufts University supported by the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) and the Mastercard Foundation. Two students, Chrissy Martin & Joshua Haynes, are using Digital Democracy’s Project Einstein curriculum & equipment to work with local youth to have them investigate the economic lives of those around them through photography.

Stay tuned for fascinating photos from the youth.

Project Einstein: Haiti developed following the  “Savings and Chance” scoping study conducted by Kim Wilson and team in July 2009.  The goal of that project was to comprehend the possibility of adapting the lottery (borlette) culture to promote savings, as banks around the world have been able to do this successfully. The team is investigating the current financial strategies of youth to better grasp the potential impact of lottery-linked savings programs on individuals’ longer-term financial sustainability.

Thank you to the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) & The Fletcher School at Tufts University for initiating this project and to the Mastercard Foundation in supporting their expenses. Support was provided to us by WOMworld/Nokia for phones and video cameras.