Josette Perard

Josette Perard
Port au Prince, Haiti

Josette Perard is the co-founder of the Lambi Fund of Haiti, whose accomplishments include 12 years of working with peasant organizations in Haiti on sustainable development and environmental justice. Her work with Lambi Fund of Haiti has accompanied over 100 peasant organizations on grassroots projects that have impacted over 1.2 million Haitians. Every year, Perard organizes two conferences for grassroots women in Haiti, training them to be environmental activists. In addition, she has motivated grassroots organizations to commit to planting tens of thousands of trees.

Perard talked about her work and said,
"I am the Haiti Director of the Lambi Fund of Haiti,which organizes grassroots organizations on sustainable development and environmental justice. Sustainable agricultural projects, ox plows and grain mills help increase food security and income for peasant families. Many of these projects benefit women, who bear more of the burden in the agricultural economy.
The conservation of Haiti's waning natural resources is central to all Lambi Fund projects. Community cisterns and irrigation systems help communities secure safe and efficient water supplies while community reforestation projects curb deforestation – the most rapid in the Western Hemisphere.
I organize women's groups in the North and the South every year. Last year I organized a conference called 'Women, Organizing and the Environment' and we taught Haitian grassroots women to use alternative energy sources such as solar ovens. This year I organized a Haitian women's conference called 'Families, Health and the Environment' and we discussed water quality, hygiene and how it relates to family health."
-from womensearthalliance.org

Lambi Fund of Haiti website
Women's eNews names Perard one of the 21 leaders for the 21st century, 2006