AMURT-HAITI

AMURT-Haiti (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team) is the Haiti branch of an international humanitarian and development organization that promotes human-rights-based strategies to alleviate poverty and empower the poor through programs in the areas of Child Protection and Education, Rural Livelihoods, Disaster Risk Reduction, Social Organizations and Leadership, WASH, and Emergency Relief. Our vision is a Haiti free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the opportunity to realize fully her or his potential.  Our mission is to strengthen the capacities of communities and individuals most affected by inequity and calamity through a participatory approach and constructive change while fostering universal values.

AMURT-Haiti seeks to  facilitate a dynamic process of exchange allowing for the expression of the full potentialities of each person and community through increased leadership and participation. We actively build partnerships with local committees, reinforcing their capacity to plan, realize, and manage in the long run their own projects. This accompaniment approach reveals AMURT’s philosophy of implicating the community in all phases, and working with them as equal participating partners and leaders rather than mere beneficiaries of the development process. Similarly, we pay special attention to working closely with women, children, and youth, and structure our programs so that they become actively involved in the facilitation process.

AMURT-Haiti’s mission is to reinforce the capacity of communities and individuals affected by inequity and calamity to meet adequately their physical, mental, and spiritual needs. Since 1998 our long term initiatives in Haiti have always begun as rapid disaster response following calamities such as the earthquake in January 2010, addressing the very basic requirements of life such as medical care, food, shelter, and child protection.  Only months within the initial response the programs transition into capacity-building initiatives such as community organization and leadership, integrated education and health care, environmental restoration, and rural livelihoods.  Together with the local communities we seek to develop sustainable initiatives helping build an atmosphere of transparency and harmonious balance between economic growth, social development, environmental sustainability, individual and collective interests.