News Information

• NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti NGOs
• NEWS_POSTED_ON: Apr 20, 2015
• Views : 236
• Likes : 1
• Category : Diaspora News
• Description : Press Release of the Haitian Diaspora Federation
  Date: April 19, 2015
  
  Recognition of Katleen Felix as Woman of the Year 2015 by Radio Tele Solidarity
• Location : Palm Beach Gardens, FL, United States

Overview

• On April 3, 2015, Radio Tele Solidarity, named Ms. Katleen Felix as the Woman of the Year after a panel of judges considered her work in comparison to other strong women who are engaged in making a difference in the fight of Haitian people for a better quality of life. The Board of the Haitian Diaspora Federation is exceedingly proud that our very own Interim President has been honored with such recognition. Katleen dedicates this award to our suffering Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic who live a life of persecution. She also seizes this moment to appeal to all Haitian people especially those in the Diaspora to heighten their efforts to be organized as a strong force to counter the abuses our people suffer and to help to strengthen Haiti as the only long term solution to our problems. She invites all to join the Haitian Diaspora Federation and to participate in its elections on June 27, 2015 electronically or in person in Chicago, IL. Please contact hdf.elections@gmail.com for any interest in joining our efforts.
  
  Mrs. Katleen Felix is one of the pillars of the global Haitian Diaspora. She values organized efforts on an international level to help protect and advance Haiti’s interest. She works tirelessly to build, consolidate and enlarge our international effort in the Diaspora. She has stated on many occasions that: “Without such an international organization as the Federation constituting of members from Europe, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Dominican Republic and, certainly, the United States, the Haitian Diaspora will not be able to leverage its value to Haiti.”
  
  As it concerns the value of organizations in the fight for the development of Haiti, Katleen has and continues to fight for fortification of the Haitian Diaspora organizations as a key link to advancing and protecting the best interest of Haitians in Haiti and in the Diaspora. She has found and made time necessary to fuel the Haitian Diaspora Federation which is an international association of Haitian activists and organizations. Upon the premature resignation of the president of the Federation, she has assumed the leadership. As its leader, she has moved the Federation to raise its voice on various crucial issues. She traveled to the Dominican Republic, in the midst of open and antagonistic state-sponsored revocation of the birthrights of Dominicans of Haitian descent rendering close to a million people stateless, to support the resistance to this egregious violation of human rights and to understand the issue.
  
  She has recently led and completed a major international multi-nation, multi-state campaign to survey and ascertain the attitudes and disposition of Haitians in the Diaspora to invest and do business in Haiti. This initiative will result in a production of a comprehensive White Paper to guide policy to NGOs, policy makers and civil society who want to engage with the Haitian Diaspora for the economic development of Haiti.
  
  The initiatives that she has undertaken are beyond those that the Federation requires of her because she is active on a global scale. As expected, she was central in identifying the diaspora organizations involved in the relief effort for Haiti to help the victims of the earthquake in 2010. As the President of Haitian Hometown Association Resource Group (HHTARG.org) she helped with the coordination of efforts. Beyond her involvement at that level, Katleen has advocated to the international community to involve the Diaspora in humanitarian efforts. She was one of the Haitian leaders who appeared at the UN and at ECOSOC meetings of international donors to articulate the needs of engaging Diaspora in Humanitarian efforts.
  
  Katleen has intensified the work of actualizing the value of the Haitian Diaspora to Haiti. She travels and confers with Diaspora experts in Israel, Ireland, Philippines sharing her expertise in Finance and International development on specific issues of maximizing the use of remittances towards economic development. She has also traveled and consulted with experts in Mexico, Spain and others on the issue of micro-finance and social business. She has taken these lessons to Haiti to consult with government officials, give workshops and empower small businessmen and women on to how to access capital to support and grow their local businesses. She is a consultant and the Diaspora liaison for Fonkoze and was instrumental in the creation of the crowdfunding platform Zafen.org in partnership with the HHTARG and the Vincentian Family. Since 2010 Zafen has mobilized over $2M in loan for 500 enterprises and associations, create over 800 jobs and provide them training in Haiti.
  
  In the midst of all of this work driven by her passion for Haiti, she shares herself with her husband, two sons and other family members.
  
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  Haitian Diaspora Federation
  PO Box 6373
  Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410