In a key step to bolster Haiti’s social protection infrastructure, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) welcomed a 14-member delegation from Haiti’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) at its Santiago, Chile headquarters this September. Led by MAST Director General Marie Herolle-Michel — which included Economic and Social Assistance Fund Coordinator Marie Judith Fanfan — the visit centered on a four-day regional technical exchange workshop designed to upgrade Haitian officials’ expertise in information systems, program management and social registries for social protection initiatives.
Organized by ECLAC’s Social Development Division, the workshop drew on decades of successful social protection implementation from four experienced Latin American nations: Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Paraguay. The agenda was structured to combine hands-on training, cross-border knowledge sharing, and expert insight from leading global development bodies. ECLAC specialists led core training modules, while counterparts from social development ministries and civil registry agencies across the four host countries shared on-the-ground lessons from their own national programs. Representatives from three major international institutions — the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank — also delivered presentations on global best practices for social protection frameworks and social registry management.
On September 3, the third day of the workshop, participants undertook a structured technical field visit to the Chilean municipality of Lo Espejo, arranged in close coordination with Chile’s Ministry of Social Development and Family (MIDESOF). During the visit, the Haitian delegation gained first-hand insight into the daily operation of Chile’s integrated One-Stop Shop for Social Services for Public Sector Employees, local social management systems, and national social transfer programs. Later the same day, the delegation traveled to MIDESOF’s central offices, where Head of the Social Policy Division Cristóbal Ruiz-Tagle led a focused discussion on practical experience with social registration, program design, and the use of centralized social registries during emergency response scenarios.
By the workshop’s final session, participants and facilitators had collaborated to draft concrete, actionable recommendations to address longstanding systemic challenges facing Haiti’s social protection and social registry sectors. These tailored recommendations are framed as a critical foundation to advance Haiti’s goal of building inclusive social development anchored in a universal, comprehensive, sustainable, and disaster-resilient national social protection system.
The initiative reaffirms ECLAC’s longstanding commitment to supporting MAST through targeted technical assistance and capacity-building programming. This ongoing collaboration dates back to 2019, when ECLAC partnered with the WFP Haiti office to launch a series of targeted development projects in the country. Key past achievements include technical support for the design and rollout of Haiti’s National Policy for Social Protection and Promotion (PNPPS) — the nation’s overarching strategic framework for the sector, approved in 2020 and still in force today. Earlier this year, ECLAC also presented a new analytical publication, *Analysis and Recommendations Concerning the Institutionalization of the National Policy for Social Protection and Promotion in Haiti*, at a hybrid seminar in Port-au-Prince this past June. This September, the 2026 updated edition of ECLAC’s signature course on social protection and promotion will also be made publicly available to continue expanding capacity across Haiti’s social sector.