The Papaye Peasant Movement, Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) in Haitian Creole, is a grass-roots organization recognized as the largest peasant movement in Haiti. MPP has approximately 60,000 members, including 20,000 women and 10,000 youths. It is localized in the Central Plateau, home to about 13% of the Haitian population, the majority of whom are rural subsistence farmers or agricultural workers. MPP focuses on re-establishing food sovereignty in Haiti through a number or programs and methods which include educating people on sustainable farming methods and organizing skills. While these are the primary foci of MPP, the organization has expanded to provide a plethora of other services to its members, including legal aid, health care services, and university scholarships. The movement seeks to empower peasants to control their own livelihood, thus decreasing dependency on multinational organizations which have flooded the Haitian agricultural market in recent decades.
Organization Workers in the same neighborhood join to form groups which meet weekly. At least seven groups in the same region form a local assembly, which meets monthly. The regional assembly, comprising at least four local assemblies, meets every three months, while the general assembly – which all local assemblies attend – meets once a year.
History The Papaye Peasant Movement was established in 1973 by Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, a Catholic lay-worker turned agronomist, with the intent to collaborate with rural farmworkers in order to develop more efficient and more sustainable farming methods. Though Chavannes originally worked with two small groups (groupements) of workers, MPP now includes over 4,000 groups. The organizations' activities have diversified over time, in a slow but methodical manner, beginning with economic initiatives. In 1976, MPP implemented a savings and credit union, SERE POU CHOFE (Haitian Creole for "Save to Warm") in part because the heads of the movement saw increasing personal income and tackling hunger is being inherently linked to one another. SERE POU CHOFE enabled members to where members deposit savings from which other members could borrow and then replenish. In 1978, MPP created Konbit Sèvo Men Ak Kè Ansanm (Union of minds, hearts and hands), also known as KOSMIKA, a multi-sector union which focused on storing and producing agricultural products, finding and building warehouses to store farming tools, and establishing a farmer's bank. The following year, MPP founded a youth leadership program and the Young Peasant Workers association or Jeunes Travailleurs Paysan (JTP) which works to educate youths on a variety of subjects and prepares them to take on leadership roles later in life. The Movement of Women of MPP, along with a separate association for and run by women, was established in 1981 in order to attack gender inequality within the movement. These two entities focus on tackling violence against women, defending social and cultural rights, as well as promoting economic independence. During its early years, the MPP had to maintain a relatively low profile due to political and economic oppression imposed by the Duvalier regime in Haiti. When Duvalier was forced out in 1986, the movement began to gain political traction, and played a large role in supporting Operation Lavalas, Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party. Aristide became the first democratically elected president of Haiti in 1991, only to be overthrown a few months later. Many of the leaders of MPP went into hiding, while others were imprisoned or tortured. Chavannes Jean-Baptiste himself went into exile from 1993 to 1994. Nevertheless, the movement continued its activities and opened an office in Boston in order to spread information on a worldwide scale. Full operations resumed in 1994 when Haiti established a constitutional government.
Intervention areas
Community education and legal aid MPP provides a number of training education programs and workshops for group members, while also providing university-level training for middle managers who often come back to the organization. Higher-level workshops are also provided to trained instructors. The youth education program, JTP, is organized by a three-tier system: pre-nursery JTP (PPJTP) for children ages 5 to 10, nursery JTP (PJTP) for children ages 10 to 15, and JTP for people ages 15 to 30, though members of JTP can also become group members or leaders within MPP. JTP programs provide courses on sex education, sports, music, dance, theater, and cultural activities. Some participants receive university scholarships and are sent to study in Port-au-Prince or abroad. MPP also has a legal aid department which informs members of their rights, basic legal training, as well as legal services.
Economic services MPP develops cooperatives within different assemblies and trains assembly members to manage the financial aspects of their projects. The organization also conducts feasibility and productivity studies, helps groups prepare reports, and provides economic counseling. In February, 2013, MPP celebrated the inauguration of a modern corn storage and processing mill which was built with the help of two Canadian organizations: Développement et Paix and ACDI.
Community healthcare MPP has a number of health projects relating to hygiene, sexual health, nutrition, and parenting skills. It also has a health center with a laboratory, and a pharmacy where community members can receive services and medical consultations. MPP also has a community health worker program.
Programs
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