Spring 2016 Alumni Impact Awarded, Doudly Elius visited Habitat and Partners of the Americas office in D.C.

While attending the Spring Professional Fellows Congress in Washington, D.C., Doudly Elius, MSMEs Business Connections Coordinator at Habitat Haiti, paid a visit to the Habitat.org Government Relations and Advocacy Office. Habitat for Humanity representatives shared with Doudly the program work and project activities of the D.C. office. Doudly also had the opportunity to share about the work that led to his being given a 2016 Professional Fellows Alumni Impact Award.

Government Relations and Advocacy Office in D.C
June 2nd, 2016

He shared how the work he is doing with his organization, Empower Haitian Women, was made possible by his participation in the Partners of the Americas program as a Professional Fellow at Rutgers States University in their Small Business Development Center (SBDC). As a result of the skills he developed and the connections he made, he returned to Haiti with a vision to create a project to empower Haiti’s most vulnerable population: disabled women. 

Doudly’s turned his vision into a small community project to train 10 disabled people living with disabilities on business skills and entrepreneurship.

By 2014, his community project idea had grown four-fold, as he expanded training to 40 women living with disabilities by winning the U.S. Department of State’s Alumni Engagement and Innovation Fund grant competition.

Meeting with Habitat staff in D.C
Doudly speaking about his experience

Doudly expressed in his visit to Habitat that accessibility remains one of the largest barriers for handicapped people in Haiti. Whether in private homes or public spaces, it is often unsafe and inconvenient for people with limited mobility to move around the country. To secure a handicap accessible space for past training activities, it took an exhaustive search that resulted in the formation of a partnership with the Bureau du Secrétaire d'État à l'Intégration des Personnes Handicapées in Haiti. This partnership was created in the hope that future Empower Haitian Women business skills training will be conducted in the bureau’s handicap accessible spaces.

The visit to Habitat also resulted in Doudly being able to pay a visit to the Partners of the Americas headquarters, as both organizations share the same building. Doudly was thrilled to pay a visit to the organization that he feels launched his journey just three short years ago. He feels Partners of the Americas connected him to training and resources that allowed him to make major contributions to accessibility and economic empowerment issues for disabled women in Haiti. 

Written by : Anastazyia Vareschi

Empower Haitian Women Communication Manager

Fulbright English Teaching Assistant
United States