Learning, Working, Rebuilding: Vocational Training in the Face of Fragility in Haiti

Since 2018, the PROFESE project has been bringing training centers, artisans and businesses closer together to transform “learning by routine” into quality, inclusive training pathways connected to the market. As the crisis in Haiti has deepened, the project has also evolved: from employability towards resilience, and from training towards reconstruction.

When it began in 2018 in Haiti’s South and South-East departments, the PROFESE project aimed to strengthen private-sector involvement in vocational training and facilitate vulnerable young people’s access to employment or self-employment.

The context has changed profoundly since then. The 2021 earthquake, the pandemic, insecurity, road blockages, economic contraction and population displacement have progressively reduced opportunities for internships and salaried employment. Companies that readily hosted interns in 2019 were no longer able to do so a few years later.

But PROFESE did not abandon its approach. The project adapted, while maintaining one central conviction: The essential principles of dual vocational training remain relevant in fragile contexts as long as there is a willingness to tailor the model to the setting.

Between overly formal schooling and “learning by routine”

In Haiti, there is a significant gap between a training system that is often long and formal and a labor market that is extremely fluid, local and informal. Many young people who cannot afford to attend a vocational school are already learning a trade from an artisan or a boss. They observe, repeat tasks and gradually take part in workshop activities. This is what is locally known as “learning by routine.”

This form of apprenticeship has real advantages. It is accessible, close to where young people live, and directly connected to local clients and markets. It also allows them to become part of the professional networks that will be essential for finding work, accessing tools or starting their own business.

But it also has limitations: Learning is rarely structured, quality varies, and the skills acquired are generally neither assessed nor certified. An apprentice may also spend a long time in a workshop without being exposed to the full range of skills required for the trade.

The International Labor Organization and the international DC dVET network recommend strengthening these informal apprenticeship systems rather than replacing them. This involves building on what works, improving the quality of skills transmission, supporting master artisans and progressively introducing recognition, safety, inclusion and certification. The principles of dual vocational training — two places of learning, shared responsibility and a strong practical component — can thus be adapted to informal economies and fragile contexts.

Structuring what already works

PROFESE builds a bridge between these two worlds. The project doesn’t seek to fully formalize traditional apprenticeships or to move all training into classrooms. It simply adds the elements that are missing.

This includes young people alternating technical courses with time in the workplace. Training centers and artisans define more clearly what needs to be learned. Internships are prepared, monitored and discussed when learners return to class. Training companies are supported in their role, and at the end of their pathway young people receive a certificate recognizing their skills.

This dual approach does more than transmit technical skills. It creates professional habits such as arriving on time, planning one’s work, following safety instructions, communicating with a client, solving a problem or collaborating with other trades. Above all, it helps establish lasting relationships between training centers and the world of work.

It is easier to develop these mechanisms with organized structures such as the Association des Techniciens pour la Construction or the Atelier Pilote de la Technologie, which bring professionals together and already have networks of workshops and businesses. But there are few of these organizations and they are not present in every community. To keep training accessible, PROFESE must also work directly with small businesses and individual artisans, which are often the only economic actors able to host young people close to where they live.

When the context shifts, the project changes course

The deterioration of the Haitian context has gradually transformed the nature of the intervention. When companies reduced recruitment, self-employment and entrepreneurship became more important. When travel became difficult, training had to be more flexible and closer to communities. When long-term prospects became less clear, personal support for young people became just as essential as teaching a trade.

Young people supported by PROFESE often face multiple vulnerabilities. Data collected during the project’s first phase show that 52% would not have been able to undertake training because of financial difficulties and that 21% had experienced school failure. Participants came from families with an average of five children; 9% were orphans, 24% already had at least one child, and 45% were contributing to household income even before their training.

It is difficult to ask a young person to define a career plan over several years when their daily life remains constantly uncertain. This is why PROFESE introduced the “Life Project” approach. Before and during training, young people are supported to identify their aspirations, skills, family constraints, and the resources available to them. They gradually develop a realistic plan that may combine employment, self-employment, further training or entrepreneurship.

Between 2023 and 2026, 437 young people received specific support to develop their Life Project. Training centers, trainers and associations were also strengthened to provide mentoring, life skills and, when needed, psychosocial support.

In a larger development context, this evolution takes vocational training beyond just a means of accessing income: It also becomes an instrument for protection, personal rebuilding, preventing marginalization and stabilizing communities.

Paying for pathways that lead to results

One of the main tools used by PROFESE is results-based financing. Rather than financing only training places or days of instruction, the project links part of the payments to the different stages of the pathway. This includes the selection of vulnerable young people, regular participation, completion of training, access to an internship, follow-up and economic integration.

Payments are disbursed in instalments, with the final payment made once the agreed results have been verified. In an economy where formal employment contracts are rare, economic integration is not defined too narrowly: A job, a paid internship or profitable self-employment sustained over several months may be recognized as a result.

This mechanism has encouraged training centers to better prepare young people, reduce drop-outs, follow graduates after training, and to identify new training fields when the occupations offered no longer matched market opportunities. It has also made them more accountable for finding internships and supporting young people towards employment or entrepreneurship. Since 2018, 1,271 young professionals, with almost equal numbers of women and men, have been trained through PROFESE.

A worthwhile investment

Follow-up studies conducted among graduates show that these pathways produce lasting effects, despite the deterioration of the national context. Among former participants surveyed:

• 79% say their living conditions improved after the training
• 70% now contribute to their household income
• 84% of those who found work did so within one year of the training
• the proportion of people without earning opportunities fell from 50% before the training to 26% afterwards
• the proportion of self-employed workers rose from 5% to 17%

Beyond income, graduates highlight the recognition associated with their trade, greater self-confidence and a better ability to envision their future. In a context marked by constant uncertainty, many young people do not only lack confidence in their own abilities — they have also lost confidence in the future. When daily life is dominated by displacement or difficulties meeting basic needs, it becomes difficult to dream and develop long-term plans. This is why the Life Project approach is particularly important in a fragile context.

The cost-benefit analysis also confirms the economic relevance of the investment. Based on conservative assumptions, each franc invested during the first phase generated at least CHF 1.45 of economic value in Haiti, mainly in the form of additional income for graduates. Over a longer period, the benefit-cost ratio reaches 2.28. Net present value is estimated at CHF 422,331 and the internal rate of return at nearly 149%.

Yet these figures monetize only part of the project’s effects. They largely exclude benefits for businesses, improvements in the services of training centers, stronger local networks, reconstruction of infrastructure or social effects related to confidence, dignity and community cohesion.

Rebuilding the school that trained them

After the August 2021 earthquake, two partner training centers were severely damaged. Their reconstruction became a very concrete opportunity to put the skills developed by young people into practice.

Ten technicians took part in the work at the Centre Professionnel des Ingénieurs Réunis (APTECH). Among them were three former learners, including Alexis Diana and Joseph Mirlène, two young women trained in metal roofing work. They installed the posts, trusses, purlins and roofing alongside other professionals.

Their presence on the construction site attracted attention. Construction trades remain widely considered male occupations, and women still have to overcome numerous obstacles to secure contracts. Yet they performed the same tasks as their colleagues during nine days of intensive work.

“We are proud to serve as role models for other girls in the South,” said program participant Diana Alexis.

Another former learner, Ezéchiel Azar, did the plumbing work and was paid as a professional. For him, rebuilding the center that had trained him meant more than a contract: it meant giving other young people the opportunity to also learn there.

This story gives concrete meaning to the principle of “building back better.” The young people did not merely receive skills to cope with the crisis. They used them to restore the infrastructure on which the next generation of learners will depend — while also breaking gender stereotypes.

Skills to stay, return and rebuild

The Haitian context continues to evolve. The southern regions are receiving more young people and families who have left Port-au-Prince, while returns and deportations from abroad are placing new pressure on local communities.

The next stage of PROFESE will need to integrate displaced people, returning migrants and the communities that host them more explicitly. This will require shorter and more flexible learning pathways, training that is close to where people live, psychosocial support, stronger support for entrepreneurship and access to capital.

The experience gained over the last decade shows that there is no need to choose between a formal dual system and informal apprenticeship. The challenge is to translate the principles that make dual vocational training effective — practice in real-life situations, shared responsibility, proximity to the market, quality and recognition — into the institutions and relationships that already exist.

For funding partners, the lesson is equally important: In a fragile context, financing skills means investing simultaneously in employment, resilience, reconstruction and local stability. This requires clear objectives, but also enough flexibility to allow the project to change when the context changes.

In Haiti, learning a trade does not guarantee that the next crisis can be avoided. But it allows young people to face it with more resources and sometimes to rebuild with their own hands what has been destroyed.

About the Authors

Kerby Fleurant is the PROFESE Project Coordinator for Helvetas in Haiti.

Adrien Rebord is a Senior Advisor for Vocational Skills Development at Helvetas.