Introducing FONKOZE

The Stiller Foundation supports Fonkoze. Fonkoze is a family of organizations that work together to provide the financial and non-financial services to empower Haitians—primarily women—to lift their families out of poverty.

WHAT THEY DO

Offering both financial and development services, Fonkoze’s Staircase Out of Poverty provides a comprehensive approach to poverty alleviation in Haiti. Each of its four Steps is uniquely designed to provide a woman with the resources and support that she needs to ascend from poverty, wherever she is in her climb. Along with the four main Steps, Fonkoze’s Staircase includes “Handrails”—programs that provide members and clients with business skills training, education, and health services to support them as they progress. The accompaniment is designed to help women succeed as they do the hard work required to climb the Staircase, creating a better future for themselves and their families.

Step One:

Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM)

Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM), or “the pathway to a better life,” provides Haiti’s poorest women with the tools and support needed to pull themselves and their families from ultra poverty into self-sufficiency, with hope and vision for their futures.

Step Two:

Ti Kredi

Ti Kredi (“Little Credit”) provides microfinance services, along with business skills training, mentoring, and weekly life skills education, to women who do not qualify as ultra-poor, but who remain incredibly vulnerable, both personally and financially.

Step Three:

Solidarity

Solidarity lending, Fonkoze’s core microfinance program, provides joint loans to groups of five women (called a Solidarity group).

Step Four:

Business Development

Fonkoze’s Business Development program provides clients with individual 12-month loans beginning at $1,300, helping entrepreneurs generate essential economic activity and create jobs in rural areas throughout Haiti.