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Founded in 1995 | Thousand Currents Partner since 2023

Plateforme Haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif (PAPDA)

Resisting neoliberal and capitalist forces through research and advocacy

The Plateforme Haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif (PAPDA) is a collaborative of 6 Haitian grassroots movements and movement support organizations that work on influencing public opinion and policy through media, advocacy at conferences and debates, and collaborations with institutions and movements nationally and internationally, on themes such as:

  • Food sovereignty
  • Economics
  • Democracy
  • Climate justice
  • Gender equity
  • Alliance building
  • International solidarity
  • Gender equity

PAPDA believes the development of Haiti depends on resisting neoliberalism and unbridled capitalism, strengthening the agency of grassroots movements, and a food sovereignty model based on community mutual aid and agroecology as the best way to battle hunger. By conducting research, training, popular education, advocacy, and public policy reform, PAPDA hopes to fulfill its main goal of strengthening the movements’ ability to intervene on public issues. PAPDA’s solidarity economics initiatives with 3.200 families of peasants and workers provide technical support on agroecological production, processing, and commercialization in four different regions.

PAPDA was successful in stopping the establishment of special economic zones on arable land along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In conjunction with local universities and agricultural training centers, PAPDA is beginning to implement a new agroecology initiative using a combination of Indigenous and scientific knowledge. To counter land grabbing and environmental contamination, PAPDA coordinates a peasant collective that was successful in passing a legislative resolution prohibiting the government from granting new mining permits in the country.