The University of Notre Dame鈥檚 Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) has received a $2.06 million award from Porticus to support Tout Moun Ladan 2.0 (TML 2.0): Each One, Teach One. Running from August 2026 through December 2028, the project will sustainably strengthen social and emotional learning (SEL) across the entire Grand North region of Haiti.
Tout Moun Ladan, Haitian Creole for 鈥淓veryone Is In It,鈥� builds on the whole-school, whole-diocese approach implemented in the North Department from 2024 to 2026. The program is expanding child-centered SEL practices from 82 schools to 275 Catholic primary schools across the North, Northeast, and Northwest Departments.
Addressing cascading crises
Haitian schoolchildren face a cascading series of acute-on-chronic crises. Young children live in a general context of poverty, where families struggle to meet basic needs in an environment punctuated by both natural hazards鈥攈urricanes, excessive rain, and earthquakes鈥攁nd man-made crises. Since 2021, armed violence has displaced record numbers of people nationwide, reaching 1.4 million by 2026. This has overwhelmed communities in the Grand North as they absorb internally displaced persons fleeing violence in the capital.
Nationwide, over 1,600 schools closed due to violence in the 2024-2025 cycle. Catholic schools that remain open in the Grand North provide a lifeline to thousands of children and families who need safe havens that promote the SEL skills necessary to navigate their lived reality.
To address this, TML 2.0 employs an 鈥渆ach one, teach one鈥� approach, in which each system-level actor in the Haitian Catholic education ecosystem is paired with their counterpart in a neighboring diocese. Arch/Bishops, directors, and lead coaches in the Regional Office of Catholic 91视频s, parish priests, school directors, and master teachers will each serve as mentors and leaders to embed child-centered practices in schools and communities.
鈥淎s communities across the Grand North absorb thousands of displaced children and families fleeing violence, ensuring our schools are safe, nurturing sanctuaries is more urgent than ever,鈥� shared Kate Schuenke-Lucien, GC-DWC director for Haiti and senior associate director for strategic planning. 鈥淭hrough TML 2.0, we are deeply embedding child-centered social and emotional learning practices across the entire regional system, empowering local Haitian education leaders to mentor one another and drive lasting, institutional change from within.鈥�
Sustainable local leadership
The single greatest lever of sustainable change to improve SEL outcomes in Haiti is the Haitian Catholic education ecosystem, which serves roughly 20 percent of Haitian students. TML 2.0 brings a marked shift in leadership, with the Global Center administering and supporting the work with the goal of fully transferring the implementation, management, technical, and research capacity to partners within that ecosystem, including the National Office of Catholic Education; the University of Notre Dame, Haiti; and diocesan leadership.
Supporting this transition to local leadership is a robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework, in which dedicated Global Center staff oversee the design, implementation, and analysis of activities in close partnership with staff from the National Office of Catholic Education and the Regional Office of Catholic 91视频s. Grounded in systems-level change, this approach focuses on qualitative data collection and tracking signals of change across mindset shifts, tools and approaches, and power dynamics. Structured reflection processes, including monthly check-ins, quarterly cross-diocese peer learning meetings, and mid-year learning checks, will directly connect learning to action, ensuring that evidence and implementation findings inform program adaptations across the Grand North and are shared across technical and non-technical fora.
Project reach
Over its 29-month timeline, TML 2.0 will directly impact 65,000 primary school students, including recently displaced children; 1,925 teachers and 275 school directors across 275 schools; 16,400 parents and caregivers through parent awareness meetings on SEL; three bishops and archbishops; three directors and 20 coaches from the Regional Office of Catholic 91视频s; and approximately 100 master teachers.
鈥淯sing SEL to transform school culture is something we excel in,鈥� Neil Boothby, professor and director of the GC-DWC explained. 鈥淏y equipping local leaders across every layer of the Catholic education system, TML 2.0 ensures that safe, inclusive, and nurturing environments are sustained for children across Haiti for years to come.鈥�
To learn more about the Global Center's work in Haiti, please visit:
Originally published by Brooke Parker at .