Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis

"In a world more and more dominated by money, and to often by easy money, in a world where violence, all kinds of violence, has become a way to operate, a way of life, we have to make a difference. Creating new abilities to live that will express the respect we have for life, for children, for parents, for the environment. It is through such an approach that things will change, not by magic, or by miracle. But only through the united efforts of all of us, men and women alike."

This is how, a year ago, Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis spoke before the students of the "Aurore" promotion of Lycée Pétion who had selected her to sponsor their graduation ceremony.

Since returning to Haiti in 1976, Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis has actively worked towards the development of her country. Giving a particular attention to literacy and adult education, she is found teaching civics and moral values to peasants, training grass-root organizations in small project management, implementing associations for women in rural areas where she holds training sessions for traditional midwives of the Northwest, in cultural development programs, public reading projects for the young, pronouncing conferences throughout the country, in Limbé as well as Petite-Rivière de Nippes, opening libraries, and making education her pet topic.

In 1976, she is National Instructor in the campaign against illiteracy launched by Misyon Alfa. In 1991, President Aristide entrusts her to redefine the government's assignments, to coordinate relations between the President and his Administration, to take into account grass-root organizations' needs concerning the agrarian reform. Her knowledge of the country is enhanced by her experience in the public sector as Assistant Director of the International Airport (1979-1982), as well as in the private sector, as Credit Manager of the Bank of Nova Scotia (1976-1979), or Officer in charge of Administration and Human Resources of the Haitian Finance and Development Corporation (Société financière haïtienne de Développement, SOFHIDES, 1983-1984).

Executive Director, since 1995, of Fondasyon Konésans ak Libèté, FOKAL (Foundation for Knowledge and Liberty) defending the fundamental belief that true change can only happen if those concerned by it become its first protagonists, she is involved in education, culture, community development, the environment, gender equity, civil society, young entrepreneurs training.

She travels throughout the country on foot, on horseback, in mud, under the rain, where no vehicle could go, living closely with the people, working directly with the communities of Grand Bois Cornillon, Savanette, Diny, Vallue, Fonds Baptiste, as well as Ti-Bois, Dos Malfini, Ivoire, to ensure the success of projects funded by FOKAL.

While learning to understand and assess the complexity of her country’s reality, its history, its culture, she acts, convinced that the resources and contradictions in implementing principles are worth more than theory which she will elaborate only from her own experiences, making sure to apply on a daily basis her ideals of struggle.

Throughout the last thirty years, issues on identity, freedom, memory, cultural heritage, the construction of democracy, inclusion, civic responsibility, relating to others, public service, common good, always come back in the conferences she pronounces, in her publications, her speeches, her actions, her interviews. Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis follows a constant, near-obsessional quest: emancipation and justice for all. "We cannot continue to live in a country where the majority of the people are denied the rights and responsibilities of being full-fledged citizens. The next century should be for Haiti the century of citizenship. We owe it to ourselves to make our country a place where all can live in peace, a country to build and not destroy… There is something in all Haitians, a sense of freedom, the ability to be at ease with oneself, even in poverty. When I look at the faces of those who are most destitute, I touch freedom and grace. Here, I can communicate with everyone, here we laugh together. I have a real passion for this country, so strong it hurts sometimes."

Anxious to prove that change is possible in Haiti, Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis believes that the country's largest crisis concerns the peasantry. "The Haitian farmer is exhausted, he can no re-form himself, we must invest massively in farming and at the same time, in association with peasants, invest in water, in land and in production". In 1986, she publishes in the newspaper Le Nouvelliste an article entitled “Plea for food self-sufficiency". She hopes to be able to bring to people’s minds the understanding that solidarity is fundamental for the success of the deep change which the Haitian society seeks, particularly its historically marginalized sectors.

Standing all her life, since the age of 16, in a position of "existential" involvement Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis considers her designation by President René Préval to be Prime Minister of Haiti to be a new opportunity, a new commitment to help rebuild her country. "This is where I must live and nowhere else. What holds me is our capacity to deal head on with life, to be creative, even creators. I must continue to work with the young, in the hope that they will understand the importance of certain things. It is vital to stimulate the pockets of hope and I wish that with or without me, something will start. I cannot stop hoping because I believe in people, in their capacity to improve; I cannot and will not despair. It is a matter of ethics, a personal position."