232 results for tag: In Haiti

Research Collaboration Has Increased Efficiency of EkoLakay Collection

photo credit: Felipe Jacome The SOIL team is continually researching and testing new ways to increase our operational efficiency in order to provide better sanitation solutions and position our service for sustained growth.  In April we began implementing a new routing app that optimizes the collection routes between our customers’ households in Cap-Haitien. The app was developed for SOIL by DataKind, a nonprofit that collaborates with organizations to design and build out impactful data tools.   The SOIL Research team has been working closely with DataKind to understand and trial ways to make our collection services more efficient using tools ...

October 2020 Newsletter: Haiti’s long history in the fight for social justice

Dear Friend, We wanted to take some time this month to acknowledge the incredible collective action we have witnessed this year, with protests around the world highlighting the ongoing struggle for social justice and accountability.  As an organization based in Haiti and run by a community of Haitian staff, board members, partners, beneficiaries and donors, over the years our team has borne witness to similar calls for action and protests against policies and complex systems of power that disadvantage the majority of Haitians. Haiti’s long history of collective political action can be traced back to its independence from France in 1804 – when ...

SOIL featured in Expo 2020 Dubai Global Best Practice Programme | Untold Stories

In 2019 SOIL was awarded the Innovation Impact Grant by Expo Live, an innovation and partnership program launched by Expo 2020 Dubai, for our sustainable social enterprise solution to sanitation in Haiti. The goal of this grant is to provide support to help grow social enterprises and projects and promote creative solutions to that improve lives while preserving our planet. As part of this incredible effort put forth by Expo 2020 Dubai to highlight and showcase the over 200 organizations participating in the Expo, SOIL was also chosen to be featured in their Global Best Practice Programme, Untold Stories. The Global Best Practice Programme is a ...

An Interview with Entre Nous: A Big Problem in Haiti – the Environment

Haiti's environmental issues recently caught the attention of Entre Nous journalist Vladimir Laguerre, who sat down to speak with SOIL’s Senior Manager, Romel Toussaint and Sakala’s Co-founder, Daniel Tillias (and member of SOIL’s Board of Directors), to learn more about the work the two organizations are doing to address environmental and human rights issues in Haiti.   Both SOIL and Sakala have been working in Haiti for over a decade to promote human rights, environmental protection, and sustainable urban communities. SOIL’s household toilet and ecological sanitation model provides dignified and safely managed sanitation service to ...

Yon ti chita pale ak “Entre Nous”: Yon Gwo Pwoblem an Ayiti – Anviwonman an

Degradasyon anviwomnan peyi Dayiti te atire atansyon jounalis Vladimir Laguerre ki te fe yon chita pale avek SOIL e Sakala, 2 oganizasyon kap travay pou pote soutyen nan lit pou yon anviwomnan ki pi sen. SOIL ap travay depi lane 2006 an Ayiti nan domèn sanitasyon ekolojik kote li transfome deche imen a travè 2 pwogram li genyen ki se Ekolakay ak Konpos Lakay. Ak twalèt EkoLakay, SOIL kolekte deche ke li transfome an konpos. Sa bay anpil moun posibilite pou gen yon espas ijienik pou fe bezwen yo. Dapre yon kliyan, EkoLakay pote yon gwo solisyon pou moun pa fe bezwen nan sachè. Romel te rapote ke “gen moun ki gen twalèt flòch ki itilize twalèt ...

Reflections on Research: Biogeochemist Gavin McNicol shares insights from his research at SOIL

Gavin McNicol and a team of researchers at SOIL's compost facility in Haiti. Earlier this summer, SOIL was pleased to share newly published research in the journal Nature Climate Change  that revealed groundbreaking analysis on SOIL’s sanitation solution and climate mitigation potential.  We are particularly grateful for the remarkable and dedicated team of researchers who worked on this research with SOIL, and who are endeavoring to help solve the global climate crisis while simultaneously promoting the inclusivity of vulnerable and less privileged populations in the climate conversation. We are thrilled to share a brief personal reflection on ...

SOIL’s EkoLakay Toilet Service Bridging the Gap in Haiti’s Sanitation Sector

“It allows you to live with dignity.” A new analysis conducted by SOIL on the long-term trajectory of SOIL’s user base reveals some promising data on sustained access to sanitation. Millions of people in Haiti lack access to private improved sanitation (privately owned latrine, flush toilet or dry toilet). Without access to private sanitation options, people must find an alternative means for sanitation through a shared latrine or toilet, a neighbor’s toilet, a church or school toilet, a public toilet or latrine, or open defecation. With a significant portion of the population living without a private option, the lack of safely managed ...

A Devastating Blow to Haiti’s Most Vulnerable

It is with heavy hearts that we share news of the complete destruction of the Shada II neighborhood of Cap-Haitien, the community where SOIL first launched our work in 2004. On Monday, June 15, the entire community, home to more than 1,500 families, was razed by tractors and heavy machinery. Community members have reported receiving no warning about the impending destruction of their homes. SOIL has a long history of working in and partnering with the Shada II community, and without their support and feedback we would never be where we are today. We have staff who have lived in Shada for decades, and SOIL provides household toilet service to more ...

New Routing App Streamlines SOIL’s COVID-19 Response

SOIL began partnering in 2019 with DataKind, a nonprofit committed to helping organizations leverage cutting-edge data analytics to maximize impact, to develop a route optimization tool for our sanitation collection services. What was SOIL’s puzzle for our friends, the data experts? We needed to figure out how SOIL collection teams can navigate the container collection routes between households on our service in the most efficient way possible through growth. With collection happening weekly for the families who depend on SOIL for safe sanitation, any reduction in gas, time, or distance is important for our broader goals to increase efficiency and ...

National Geographic: Explorers in the Field visits SOIL

photo credit: National Geographic Education “What if your faucet had no clean water coming out of it and no way for human waste to get out?” As many classrooms move online, National Geographic brings the reality of the global sanitation crisis to screens around the world. And, they do it by bringing viewers to Haiti where they meet with SOIL’s Sasha Kramer to learn about the historical context for Haiti’s lack of sanitation infrastructure, what it means for public health and the environment, and how SOIL’s practical, climate-positive solution is responding to the challenge. The SOIL team is truly excited to share our most recent spotlight ...