Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake destroyed nearly 90% of the country's schools. 38,000 children died in school buildings and half a million children were no longer able to attend a school, leaving just half of primary school-aged children enrolled in education.
A mobile phone company, Digicel, has embarked on an ambitious school-building programme to create a brighter future for Haiti's children. The company has also trained teachers, provided mobile libraries for remote communities and helped bring financial support to families in need.
Following the disaster, Digicel moved swiftly to accelerate and scale up its existing school-building project in Haiti, committing to a further 150 schools by 2014.
While the earthquake-proof schools were being built, Digicel brought in 20ft containers to act as temporary classrooms. To tackle the lack of trained teachers, it partnered with academic institutions including the Université du Québec, offering teacher training over two years to 20 teachers, who then trained more teachers in the field.
Through a collaboration with the charity Libraries without Borders, it introduced mobile libraries to bring a choice of 400 books to 30,000 pupils every week. Working with the Haitian government, it helped families to access much-needed welfare support via its TchoTcho service, which enables people to make financial transactions via their mobile phones.
Digicel has so far invested $35m in the programme, built 115 schools, trained 700 teachers, and helped 10,000 mothers to send their children to school. Around 50,000 children are receiving education in Digicel-built schools, with the remaining 35 schools on schedule to be built by September.
Boosting Haiti's economic prospects is also allowing Digicel to build a relationship with an emerging market.
Katharine Earley is a journalist and copywriter, specialising in sustainability.
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