“What I found most of all in Haiti were people who had a great hunger for knowledge and a strong desire to develop their systems of governance, but lacked the tools to achieve these objectives.” - Michel Pinault, Chief Administrative Officer, Town of Granby
Helping Haitian national associations of local elected officials to strengthen governance
Michel Pinault, the Chief Administrative Officer of the Town of Granby, Quebec, has taken part in four missions to Haiti, working with three national associations of local elected officials to strengthen their governance and their capacity to represent their members’ interests to Haiti’s central government.
Through FCM’s Haiti-Canada Municipal Cooperation Program (MCP), Pinault first travelled to Haiti in 2015, undertaking two missions to work with municipalities from the Région des Palmes, to the southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as leaders from three national associations of local elected officials: the Fédération nationale des mairies d’Haïti (FENAMH), the Fédération nationale des conseils d’administration des sections communales d’Haïti (FENACAH), and the Fédération nationale des assemblées de sections communales d’Haïti (FENASEC).
“One of the first issues we had to work on was to underscore the difference between what is administrative and what is political,” says Pinault. “This difference doesn’t really exist in Haitian local governments, so discussing the difference between the role of a mayor and the role of a city manager was vital.”
With the associations of elected officials, Pinault supported them to assess their needs and develop a range of tools to improve the management, monitoring and operations of their organizations. These included how to develop work plans, activity reports and job descriptions, as well as mechanisms for coordinating and supporting staff members, organizing meetings and setting achievable targets.
Pinault engaged his counterparts as a guide, a coach. He developed his training sessions to emphasize practical learning and exercises, keeping the theoretical components to a minimum. “We are not there to give solutions but to sow the seeds so they can find solutions themselves,” he says. He also understood the importance of working at the pace of his partners.
“I soon understood that the best way of supporting them was to listen to what they said they needed,” says Pinault. “This helps build trust as well. It led me to adapting my sessions with them so they could have a more hands-on experience of what they were learning. You have to develop the human side of the partnership at the same time as the professional side.”
A fourth association has recently been added to the program, the Fédération nationale des femmes maires d’Haïti (FENAFEMH), which will bring Pinault to work with Haiti’s women mayors and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment at the municipal level. It is a challenge he relishes.
Mobilizing the community
Pinault’s colleagues in Granby describe him as a “super volunteer”—someone who has the ability to mobilize his colleagues, council and the whole community behind a project to ensure its success. Following his initial missions to Haiti, Granby Mayor Pascal Bonin lent his support to the project and together they have brought a significant community dimension to the initiative.
“There have been some collateral benefits to our work in MCP,” says Pinault. “For example, we have been able to donate a fire truck to the commune of Carrefour. The truck will be of enormous use to the commune.”
In addition, a collection of used books, initiated by Pinault and the Town of Granby, has led to some 17,000 books being sent to Haiti. And some 600 soccer jerseys have been donated through an initiative with the “Cosmos de Granby”, the local soccer club.
“I think my involvement in the Haiti program has made me a better person, which in turn has made me more sensitive to the needs of our citizens here in Granby,” says Pinault. “It has helped me become a better human and is helping me provide better leadership.”
This story is one in a series highlighting the work of the nominees for FCM's International Awards 2019. The awards recognize outstanding contributions of individuals and municipal institutions in sharing their expertise and building relationships in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. FCM’s international programs are funded by Global Affairs Canada.