Chapter 5: Haiti: Educational Leadership for Social Change

There are few countries which share a similar, challenging history of social change with Haiti. The first Black republic, which declared universal primary education in its first constitution over 200 years ago, has seen dramatic ebbs and flows in the development of its social capital. We begin the chapter by providing an overview of the tumultuous experience of Haiti with social change (Lundahl, 2011). A consideration of how education and schooling has contributed to this history also provides the opportunity to consider how educational leaders can contribute to social capital development and societal change in Haiti and beyond (Sider Jean-Marie, 2014). We examine case studies of school leaders in Haiti who are engaged with localized educational projects which are contributing to national social capacity-building. Drawing on a framework of social change (Coleman, 1988; Collier, 1998), we examine key educational leadership factors which contribute to sustainable, steadily improving societal culture in fragile states such as Haiti.