“Doudly Elius Receives U.S. State Department Alumni Impact Award for Work Empowering Disabled Haitian Women”

U.S State Department in Washington D.C, May 31st, 2016
Professional Fellow Congress

The U.S. Department of State’s Professional Fellows Program announced this week that Doudly Elius is one of four recipients of the spring 2016 Alumni Impact Awards (AIA). The award is given to alumni of Professional Fellows programs who continue to make significant impact on their communities after participation in the program. Doudly has been honored for outstanding achievement in founding and directing the Empower Haitian Women organization. Empower Haitian Women’s work has included the creation of initiatives to provide business skills training and support to one of Haiti’s most vulnerable and underserved populations: women living with disabilities.

Doudly participated in a fellowship with the Small Business Development Center at Rutgers State University through Partners of the Americas and NJ-Haiti Partners. Following his participation in the Professional Fellows Program, Doudly obtained a grant for a community project to deliver business training to people living with disabilities as well as Training of Trainers sessions for senior business students. Building on this work, his Empower Haitian Women project won the Alumni Engagement and Innovative Fund grant competition in 2014.

Women at the business training
BSEIPH, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, September 2015

His team trained 40 disabled women in Port-au-Prince on business planning, communication, and leadership. Doudly and the Empower Haitian Women team are currently engaged in work to further develop and expand business skills education training programs for women living with disabilities both within and outside Port-au-Prince. Speaking on the award, Doudly noted that the AIA (Alumni Impact Award) will provide him with greater opportunity to connect his community to appropriate resources and a larger platform to discuss Empower Haitian Women.

As part of the award, Doudly attended the Spring Professional Fellows Congress in Washington, D.C. from May 31 to June 2, 2016 to discuss his work and connect with other international fellows.  

Written by : Anastazyia Vareschi

Empower Haitian Women Communication Manager

Fulbright English Teaching Assistant
United States