World Merit Haiti Honors Doudly Elius and Darline Desca at its 1st Anniversary Celebration

Darline Desca, singer (left), and Doudly Elius, founder of Empower Haitian Women (right),

honored with World Merit Haiti’s YO MERIT-L Award.

Celebrating its 1st anniversary, World Merit Haiti concurrently held the 6th edition of their popular program Young Merit Leaders. World Merit is a platform for young global citizens who will work hard collaboratively to make the world better. Their strength is based in fantastic diversity and desire for positive impact. They strive to connect talents with opportunities.

An informal talk on youth issues and sustainable development in Haiti was held. Speakers and YO MERIT-L honorees were Doudly Elius, founder of Empower Haitian Women Organization, Association pour l'Autonomisation des Femmes Haitiennes à Mobilité Réduite (in French), and Darline Desca, author, composer and finalist in the 2015 RFI Discovers competition.

An audience composed of 70 graduate students, senior management students, and assorted young professionals were present to hear Mr. Elius and Mrs. Desca share their experiences, failures and successes along their journeys. Their talks were followed by a lively audience Q&A.

 Speaking to the challenges faced by young leaders, Elius remarked, “Young people should never be discouraged since discouragement is the main factor that prevent us from succeeding.” He also emphasized the importance of serving as an "inspiration to the people around us by influencing their lives with sustainable impact."

In her talk, the “A Plein Temps” singer Desca paid particular attention to the ups and downs of her journey to become the respected and accomplished artist she is today. She advised the audience to follow their dreams; believing in them fully and never abandoning them no matter the difficulty.

 

World Merit is an international community of young people taking initiative to create positive change on a national and global scale. Consisting of young Haitian volunteers, World Merit Haiti aims to create strong representation of Haiti in World Merit’s international community.

YO MERIT-L presented Desca and Elius with awards to encourage them on in their contributions to a strong Haiti in realms of social enterprise, governance, culture, economy, and civil society.