USAID-Funded Apparel Center to Provide Training to Thousands of Haïtians

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. The Washington, DC-based agency provides assistance in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Eurasia. Many people, for justifiable reasons, criticize the effectiveness of USAID’s programs and policies aimed at helping the world’s most underserved population. While I can write a book about many of USAID’s failures, and several have been written, I wish to discuss an initiative that has the potential of being one of USAID’s successes.

On August 11, 2010, USAID announced the opening of the Haïti Apparel Center (HAC). The new facility will help Haïti grow its private sector workforce by training more than 2,000 professionals per year to help meet the need for skilled workers in Haïti’s garment industry. In addition to providing vocational training, the center will further enable Haïti to maximize the benefits of the Haïtian Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act signed into law in May 2010, which improves U.S. market access for Haïtian apparel exports.

According to the USAID announcement, “In the 1980s there were about 150,000 garment workers in Haïti; now there are around 20,000. The value of Haïtian apparel exports to the United States in 2009 amounted to roughly $512 million, employing more than 25,000 Haïtians. The HELP Act, which has been widely supported by Congress, significantly expands Haïti’s trade preferences to the U.S. It also promotes investment in Haïti and supports the rebuilding of the garment sector which was significantly damaged over the years due to political unrest and more recently by the earthquake. According to a Congressional Research Service report issued in June, rebuilding costs for the industry are estimated at $38 million to refurbish damaged buildings, replace machinery and train new employees.”

The HAC is part of “Konbit Ak Tet Ansanm” (KATA), a four-year, $104.8 million USAID designed and financed job-creation initiative. In partnership with CHF International, it provides training and improves manufacturing skills of workers involved in the textile industry -- including sewing machine operators and mechanics and quality-control supervisors. The facility also offers executive seminars to senior managers, factory owners and leaders in the business community.

All applicants take a test on dexterity, color blindness, basic literacy and numeracy. Students who are accepted as sewing machine operators are then enrolled for a six-week course that includes training on how to work in a formal work environment and a curriculum developed by [TC]2, one of the leading associations that represents garment buyers. After graduating from the program, students will be highly sought after by employers. In advance of its formal opening, the HAC has trained more than 50 sewing machine operators, and 13 operator trainers have already graduated. All of these students are now employed -- and the operators now rank among the top performers in local garment assembly plants.

The more than 6,000-square-meter HAC facility was provided by the Government of Haïti and renovated and operated by USAID partner CHF International-Haïti. It is located in the SONAPI industrial park -- minutes from the garment factories in and around Haïti’s capital of Port-au-Prince and close to workers’ residential neighborhoods.

“Global Challenge” Competition to Reward Graduate Students for Developing Business Solutions that Support International Development

College students worldwide are receiving an education not to solely benefit financially in a future career, but to make a social difference as well. Aspiring business leaders are reevaluating success not on the basis of a financial return on investment, but on the social return on investment and the impact on the environment and surrounding communities. And more than ever are we seeing the need to understand the critical role of the private sector in international development. The Global Challenge, a collaborative effort by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will reward graduate students from across the United States to employ their creativity, research skills, business acumen and passion for seeking solutions that advance growth and reduce poverty.

According to a press release dated January 28, 2010, the Global Challenge is “a first-of-its-kind competition that challenges teams of MBA (Master of Business Administration) and other graduate students to develop business solutions that support international development. Teams will be tasked with devising a new public-private alliance that allows a private enterprise to meet its long-term business goals while contributing to international development initiatives in a specified region.”

G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business, said, “We invite MBA and graduate students from across the nation to employ their creativity, research skills, business acumen and passion for seeking solutions that advance growth and reduce poverty. It is our hope that future business leaders balance profit-making with social impact and take all stakeholders into account when making decisions, values we are committed to fostering at the Smith School.”

In describing the format of the innovate competition, the Smith School’s announcement explains, “In round one of the competition, teams will submit written proposal in response to a specified Global Challenge prompt, then up to eight groups will be invited to compete in the oral presentation final-round competition at USAID’s headquarters at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2010. Judges will include representatives from USAID, industry-leading private sector companies, and academia.”

Teams will compete for $8,500 in cash prizes: $5,000 for first place, $2,500 second place, and $1,000 third place. Furthermore, students will have the opportunity to establish relationships and receive guidance from business leaders, international development experts, and other students. Winners of the Global Challenge will have their work published and distributed to international development professionals worldwide. Teams may register online through February 5, 2010.

The Global Challenge is sponsored by USAID’s Business Growth Initiative and the Smith School’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and Center for Social Value Creation. Launched in 2009, the Center for Social Value Creation’s mission is to engage students in courses and experiential learning programs to enable them to become global leaders who understand how to use business as a vehicle for both economic prosperity and transformative social change, and to support faculty research in related areas.