Press Release: Haitian Diaspora Unity Congress (Aug. 6 – Aug. 9, 2009)

The second international Congress of the Haitian Diaspora “Haitian Diaspora Unity Congress” is being organized by The Haitian League with the cooperation of its chapters and affiliates, and numerous other supporting organizations and agencies. This will be the first time that representatives of Haitian Diaspora in a number of countries will convene under one roof to find long-term solutions to the major issues that plague Haitians in and out of Haiti.
Themed “HAITIAN DIASPORA UNITY CONGRESS”, the purpose of the 2009 Congress — “La Grande Reunion de la Famille Haitienne” — is to coalesce and capitalize on the Haitian Diaspora´s resources (intellectual, financial, professional, and charitable, etc.) to develop solution-oriented strategies to aid Haitians at home and abroad.
For Haiti, the emphasis will be on economic independence — boosting tourism, stimulating agricultural production, restoring forests and ecology, managing water supplies, preparing for disasters, achieving literacy, thus creating new jobs in cities and the countryside.
For the millions of Haitians outside Haiti, the emphasis will be on ways to improve the Diaspora´s integration into the fabric of their adopted countries – increasing education and employment opportunities, overcoming declining earnings and relative poverty, and advocating justice and fair immigration and justice.
Conference participants are expected to gain a consensus how to best tackle the daunting challenges of Haiti´s underdevelopment, and how to best leverage our adopted lands´ capital (educational, professional, electoral, etc) to improve ours and our children´s future and how to transplant change to Haiti.
For a specific schedule of the weekend´s events, please see the Haitian Diaspora Unity Congress website.