Latest Updates
SOIL Board Members Reflect on Haitian Heritage Month
Haitian Heritage Month is celebrated annually across the globe during the month of May to recognize the rich history, culture, and contributions of Haitians to society. Particularly in the U.S., Haitian Heritage Month is an opportunity to promote awareness and understanding of the Haitian-American community. This year we asked members of SOIL’s Board of Directors to share some of their thoughts about their own Haitian heritage and what this month means to them. Daniel Tillias (Board Co-Chair) Haitian Heritage Month is important to me and to my family. For the ...
Meet Winnie: SOIL’s Research, Innovation and Advocacy Director
Winnie touring and working at SOIL's composting facility in Haiti
We’re thrilled to introduce SOIL’s new Research, Innovation and Advocacy Director, Winnie Felix-Jean! Winnie comes to us with a background in microbiology and global public health advocacy and with many years of experience with both clinical research and project management. Winnie has worked as a clinical researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer center where she was responsible for the planning and oversight of the myeloma and hematology services and also led clinical oncology trials. She has ...
SOIL visits Sanima in Lima
Researchers touring Pamplona
SOIL’s Chief Operating Officer Nick Preneta and Research Associate Maya Lubeck-Schricker traveled to Lima, Peru last month to meet up with fellow research partners from the Off Grid Cities project for a series of presentations and discussions about progress to date, challenges faced, and steps forward. Off Grid Cities research focuses on an emerging off-grid sanitation paradigm in the form of container-based sanitation (CBS) across four country contexts – Haiti, Peru, Kenya and South Africa. The group works to address sustainable city-w...
A Better Way to Partner on Carbon Offsets?
Over the past decade there have been major innovations in formalizing the carbon offset market in order to reduce global emissions. There is also still A LOT of work to be done in the carbon market space to make it an equitable playing field for organizations like SOIL to become accredited – organizations that are able to quantify carbon mitigation, but unable to bear the heavy burden of associated costs in order to participate in the formal market. The standard model of carbon offset financing is for businesses and individuals to offset their carbon footprint by ...
SOIL Researchers Make Data Publicly Available
SOIL's Container Based Sanitation Suitability Map
Since the fall of 2022, Haiti has faced escalating instability, a scarcity of goods and services, and ongoing political unrest. While these challenges affect the population at large, it is often the country’s most vulnerable citizens who shoulder the heaviest burden during difficult times – their already tenuous access to food and fuel and other services made ever more precarious. Compounding the ongoing humanitarian crisis, is the recent resurgence of cholera in Haiti. Over the past few months, as our team ...
Women in Sanitation: SOIL’s Georgette François
The women at SOIL are passionate about increasing access to improved sanitation in the communities of Cap-Haitien because they know how much this access improves other women’s lives. This incredibly personal connection to the work often makes women some of the most passionate advocates for household sanitation. Having a toilet at home ensures that women have a private, safe space to use the toilet and manage menstruation, and it increases safety from violence as women no longer have to rely on using a shared or public option outside of the home. We recently spoke ...
Women in Sanitation: SOIL’s Nazulia Dejoie
We are continuing to celebrate this Women’s History Month by sharing interviews with some of the incredible women staff we have working at SOIL. We are proud to be working at the forefront of providing dignified, formal livelihood opportunities to Haitian women in the sanitation sector. We celebrate these women this month and every month! Recently we had the opportunity to speak with Nazulia Dejoie, a long-time member of SOIL’s Compost Site Staff and 2023 nominee of the TNUSSP Women in Sanitation, about her life and her job and what it’s like to be a woman ...
Meet Madame Petit: DINEPA’s Director of Sanitation
During this Women’s History Month, we are celebrating the often unheard voices of Haitian women working in sanitation and celebrating those who were selected as 2023 Women in Sanitation nominees. Recently we had the opportunity to speak with Edwige Petit, Director of Sanitation at the Haitian Sanitation Authority (DINEPA), about her life and her job and what it’s like to be a woman working in sanitation. Interviewer: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Edwige: I am the head of sanitation at DINEPA. I am a Haitian citizen who has big dreams for my ...
Support SOIL’s Growth & Help Us Grind More Bonzodè
SOIL's current grinders and bonzodè production.
As Haiti's capital and surrounding areas continue to be gripped by ongoing insecurity and unrest, our hearts and minds have been heavy with thoughts of the families who are leaving their homes and the city, hoping to find respite from the turmoil. In these troublesome times, when so many Haitians are experiencing hardships that many of us can barely begin to imagine, we here at SOIL remain evermore committed to standing in solidarity with our Haitian colleagues and friends. We start from the supposition that access to ...
Meet Yvrose: EkoLakay Coordinator
At SOIL, women’s voices are at the forefront of our work. As a women-led social enterprise, we’re committed to gender equity in livelihood creation and in hiring women in all positions, making a significant effort to recruit female employees. During this Women’s History Month, we are celebrating the members of our staff (and DINEPA) who were selected as 2023 Women in Sanitation by sharing interviews and videos of these current history-makers that we are so proud to work alongside of. Recently we spoke with Yvrose Pailleur, one of SOIL’s EkoLakay coordinat...
