Reaching the Most Vulnerable: Working in Partnership with Haiti’s Government

The Kore Lavi program was designed to tackle how to reinforce social protection in Haiti while insuring that all the advancement is not lost after four years of implementation. One answer is to work in very close partnership with the government to ensure that vulnerability targeting is consistent, transparent, objective, and sustainable. An important part of this approach is to treat the government as an equal partner in designing and building systems, such as choosing the vulnerability criteria and how to handle decisions when conditions on the ground change. The challenge for Kore Lavi was to build relationships with the Government of Haiti and instill ownership over the project. This involves creating time and space for equal collaboration, considering the realities of government systems, budgets, and staff issues, and continuously balancing the different challenges and perspectives of all of the different partners.

This case study was submitted as part of USAID's CLA Case Competition, held in August 2015. This collection of examples illustrate the diversity of ways collaborating, learning, and adapting approaches are being operationalized in the field. To view more CLA cases like this one, visit the CLA Case Competition page.