In a landmark step to reinforce Haiti’s public sector technical capabilities and bridge a long-standing gap in talent integration, Minister of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE) Sandra Paulemon has officially launched a 12-week internship program for 18 final-year students from the Center for Planning Techniques and Applied Economics (CTPEA).
CTPEA, an autonomous academic institution overseen by the MPCE, trains students in three high-demand fields for public service: applied economics, statistics, and development planning. This new internship initiative aligns directly with both the Haitian government’s strategic priorities and the 2016 founding decree that established the MPCE’s mandate to build a skilled, capable public administration.
Speaking at the launch event, Minister Paulemon framed the program as a long-term investment in the next generation of technical leadership for Haiti’s state institutions. By bringing early-career talent directly into ministry operations, the initiative aims to sustainably boost the state’s capacity to design and implement effective development planning. The minister emphasized that the program reflects the administration’s goal of gradually strengthening the MPCE’s workforce with well-trained, qualified professionals, operating fully within established civil service rules and requirements. Ultimately, the effort is part of a broader vision to build a public administration that can deliver rigorous data-driven analysis, model future development scenarios, craft evidence-based public policies, select high-impact public investments, and accurately measure policy outcomes.
Addressing the participating students directly, Minister Paulemon shared four core guiding principles for their internships and future public service careers: unwavering integrity in all professional duties, strict rigor in analytical work and project delivery, consistent humility to support ongoing learning, and a deep-rooted commitment to public service.
Guy Roméro Latry, Director General of the MPCE, noted that this program marks a historic turning point for the institution. Until 2025, he explained, CTPEA graduates had no formal pathway to integration into the MPCE’s workforce. He praised the initiative as a reflection of the dynamic new leadership within the ministry, and highlighted the strengthened collaborative relationship between the MPCE and CTPEA that has made the program possible. With this new partnership, Latry added, CTPEA is poised to reclaim its role as a premier breeding ground for specialized talent and expertise in Haitian development planning.
The 18 participating students, drawn equally from CTPEA’s planning, applied economics, and statistics programs, will complete a structured curriculum covering nine critical thematic areas relevant to public service work. These modules include general public administration orientation, strategic foresight and development planning, poverty reduction and combating social exclusion, spatial planning and subnational development, public investment programming and budgeting, monitoring and evaluation for public projects, development cooperation coordination, NGO activity coordination, and sectoral public policy design alongside Public Investment Program (PIP) planning.