Girls in Lidè discover their unique voice through our arts programs, which include creative writing, theater, photography, and visual arts. These programs are designed to support girls to: foster healthy relationships, appreciate diversity, strengthen their ability to resolve conflict, and cultivate flexible thinking, adaptability, innovation, and hope. The arts also enable girls to deepen awareness of their emotions, develop a growth mindset, improve their cognition and communication skills, build their ability to problem-solve, and develop a sense of dignity and confidence in their ability to create a better world.
Our arts programs become a gateway into an academic education as well as a means for improving literacy, leadership and critical thinking. And, all our arts activities incorporate values-based themes, such as compassion, service, kindness, and justice, which help adolescent girls explore the life questions that all youth face on a local and global scale.
2023 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
This year, in addition to our ongoing arts instruction in dance, theater, photography, and creative writing, we engaged our participants in arts-focused celebrations about girls’ rights.
Our participants in Les Coteaux created beautiful posters to highlight children's rights as part of National Children's Day, a national holiday which is celebrated in Haiti every year in early June. The posters illustrated children's rights to protection, education, health, nutrition and more.
In celebration of International Day of the Girl, we organized theater, dance and singing activities. It was a day of joy and celebration and offered an opportunity for reflection and exchange.
Our girls also participated in the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence by performing in Coteaux Time Square, using the arts to convey important messages about health, violence prevention, and girls' rights. Through theater, singing, dance, and posters, participants raised awareness about: the rise of cholera in the area, sexual abuse of minors, domestic violence, and children's right to protection and freedom
from abuse.
“The benefits of introducing the arts and cultural practices into learning environments showcase a balanced intellectual, emotional and psychological development of individuals and societies. Such education not only strengthens cognitive development and the acquisition of life skills – innovative and creative thinking, critical reflection, communicational and inter-personal skills, etc – but also enhances social adaptability and cultural awareness for individuals, enabling them to build personal and collective identities as well as tolerance and acceptance, appreciation of others. The positive impact it gives on the development of societies ranges from cultivating social cohesion and cultural diversity to preventing standardization and promoting sustainable development.”
-United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)